Efficient centralization of purchasing across three locations
published on
25.3.2024
🏗 Industry: Automotive industry
🗺 Company headquarters: Kassel (North Hesse)
🧍 Employees: > 350
💶 Turnover ~ € 95 million per year
Purchasing volume ~ € 70 million per year
WEGU Holding GmbH, an established medium-sized company with almost 75 years of history, specializes in plastic and rubber parts. In three production sites - Kassel, Slovakia and China - WEGU produces technical rubber-metal articles as well as plastic injection-molded articles for the automotive industry. As part of a transformation process, WEGU is focusing on new engine technologies such as electric and hybrid drives. With a clear focus on sustainable and resource-saving production, WEGU is striving for the future and focusing on continuous improvement and growth in order to establish itself as an innovation leader in the industry.
"Our aim is to return to a central purchasing organization and at the same time establish a uniform product group management system. This comprehensive project can only be realized through the use of Tacto. Tacto is essential for us to successfully implement our transformation process towards centralized purchasing." - Sascha Priester, Vice President Purchasing WEGU
WEGU is originally organized on a decentralized basis, which is reflected in a clear organizational and disciplinary separation of the purchasing departments. This structure also extends to the decentralized handling of various purchasing and compliance issues, including TISAX (data and information security).
WEGU's supply chains are characterized by diverse requirements, particularly with regard to the different materials rubber, metal and plastic. The increasing sustainability issues and customer requirements are adding to the complexity. Particular attention is being paid to the requirements of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), which require production from Europe for the European market.
This initial situation led to various challenges in purchasing at WEGU.
The decentralized organization created a major problem of duplication of work at WEGU. The holding company's sister companies were performing identical tasks manually at the same time, which led to considerable data chaos and a high level of inefficiency.
In addition, numerous Excel evaluations were created and used in the past as a basis for managing suppliers. SAP as WEGU's ERP system could in no way replace the need to carry out decentralized evaluations and administration at various digital locations using Excel. The manual processing of Excel spreadsheets led to incorrect evaluations due to a lack of automation. The search for acquired and evaluated data took more time than if the evaluation had been carried out again.
A significant amount of individual emails were used for requests of all kinds (NDAs, LSAs etc.) as there were no tools to coordinate these centrally. For example, new non-disclosure agreements had to be sent individually to 50 suppliers, including reminders if the suppliers did not respond via 50 separate emails. The preparation of TISAX data in Excel was particularly prone to errors. Data was entered incorrectly and new NDAs had to be concluded with classified suppliers via separate emails, which led to difficulties in correctly assigning the information.
Establishment of uniform product group management
Centralization of the process landscape in purchasing
Development of a strategic purchasing organization across all locations
For years, Sascha Priester was looking for a suitable system that was tailored to the requirements of medium-sized companies in order to be able to map supplier management automatically. After a long search, Sascha Priester finally came across Tacto and was 100% convinced.
"Our aim is to return to a central purchasing organization and at the same time establish a uniform product group management system. We are striving to source suppliers centrally and to automate and centralize the processing of TISAX. This comprehensive project can only be realized through the use of Tacto. Tacto is essential for us to successfully implement our transformation process towards centralized purchasing." - Sascha Priester
On the one hand, Tacto supports WEGU in solving existing challenges and becoming a long-term partner for future challenges.
"Tacto is the central tool for mastering both current and future challenges. As we used to operate manually, Tacto gives us a whole new level of automation. It is clear that Tacto is an essential tool, especially with regard to upcoming challenges such as import bans or the Israeli war. With Tacto, we have completely new ways of responding." - David Tangri, Buyer
Tacto simplifies WEGU's daily business considerably. All relevant figures, data and facts for all suppliers can be displayed with just one click. In addition, all inquiries, whether in the context of NDAs for TISAX or LSAs, can be automated and clearly displayed in individual supplier views.
"Tacto's individual supplier views enable us to react specifically to internal requirements. It acts like an intelligent modular system that allows us in Purchasing to adapt flexibly to changes in internal requirements." - David Tangri, Purchaser
In addition, Tacto's supplier filter function opens up new ways of working, for example by performing automated queries on QAAs or LSAs for strategic suppliers. At a glance, existing agreements can be identified and it becomes clear which suppliers should be worked with in the future, as they could potentially become crucial for WEGU. This leads to a completely new way of working that did not exist before.
Centralization of essential purchasing processes across all locations (TISAX, NDAs, LSAs, etc.)
Massive time savings in operational purchasing
Fast response and adaptability to upcoming challenges in purchasing and therefore better planning in purchasing
The overarching goal for the future with Tacto is to centralize the purchasing units across the three locations. The challenge is to establish a central organization alongside the day-to-day business. A key component of this is the standardization of processes. WEGU aims to identify and develop synergies from various processes to ensure that everyone in Purchasing follows the same procedures. Issues such as connecting suppliers, sending inquiries and carrying out day-to-day operations should be standardized. Tacto plays a central role in this overall strategic approach. The aim is for WEGU to be able to handle all relevant issues centrally via Tacto.
"We see Tacto as our future partner and are striving for joint development on an equal footing. The need for Tacto lies both in our organizational transformation and in the upcoming challenges of the future. Given that we spend more than 60% through our suppliers, our main focus is where we can significantly influence the company's success: in purchasing. Tacto is therefore our companion for the future." - Sascha Priester, Vice President Purchasing
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Many thanks to Sascha Priester, David Tangri and the entire WEGU team for our partnership and trustworthy cooperation.
Thanks to partners and customers like you, it is possible to further develop our product in close exchange and close to daily events, as well as to talk in joint webinars about the topics that concern the procurement of industrial medium-sized companies today.
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