In the webinar "The BME Award Winner - How VEMAG decodes purchasing signals with AI", Steen Bösche (Project Manager for Digitalization, VEMAG) and Melinda Behncke (Business Development, Tacto) show how VEMAG not only realized savings potential with its AI-supported purchasing strategy, but also won the BME Procurement Excellence Award. This success is based on the ability to strengthen negotiations, increase transparency in the purchasing process and efficiently identify cost potential.

Initial situation - improving the basis for negotiations and increasing efficiency

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At VEMAG, Procurement was initially characterized by scattered information and manual processes. Price changes, market movements and supplier data were stored in different systems, which made it difficult to analyze them quickly and precisely. Negotiations were often based on individual assessments and empirical values, without a systematic database.

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The challenge was to bring more transparency and clarity to the purchasing processes and to put the negotiation process on a more sound, data-supported basis. The aim was to use AI-supported solutions to automatically decode purchasing signals in order to make faster and better decisions.

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AI as a lever - how intelligent systems make purchasing signals visible

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With the introduction of Tacto, VEMAG has implemented an AI-supported approach that makes it possible to automatically recognize purchasing signals and make potential savings visible at an early stage. Thanks to the seamless ERP integration, all relevant data, such as orders, invoices and supplier information, is evaluated directly without media disruptions.

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Key functions of the solution at VEMAG:

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• Automatic analysis: AI agents continuously search the purchasing data for potential savings and forward relevant information directly to the buyers.
• Proactive recommendations: The system automatically recognizes when quantity adjustments, alternative suppliers or market changes offer potential savings and makes appropriate recommendations for action.
• Learning optimization: Feedback from buyers is used to continuously refine the analysis processes, which reduces false alarms and increases accuracy.

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Implementation - Technical implementation and successful enablement

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The implementation of the AI solution was not only a technical challenge, but also a cultural change. VEMAG relied on strong change management and engaged all relevant team members at an early stage. This not only familiarized the purchasing team with the technology, but also enabled them to actively implement the knowledge gained in negotiations.

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The VEMAG team worked intensively with the AI-generated information, reviewed it and made well-founded decisions based on the data. This has created transparency across the entire supplier base and all order quantities, and the purchasing team can now act faster and in a more targeted manner.

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Results - savings, transparency and further implementations

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The AI-supported solution has delivered measurable results for VEMAG:

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• Six-figure savings through targeted negotiations based on precise purchasing signals.
• More than 1,500 deliveries avoided per year thanks to optimized order quantities and consolidated deliveries.
• Reduced process costs thanks to more efficient handling of ordering and delivery processes.
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Thanks to this successful implementation, VEMAG received the BME Procurement Excellence Award, which underlines the impact and success of the project. VEMAG plans to further expand the use of AI in order to become even more efficient in other areas such as quantity contracts and process optimization.

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Conclusion - Successful AI transformation in Procurement

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The VEMAG example impressively demonstrates how AI and automated analyses can make Procurement more efficient and transparent. VEMAG has not only identified cost potentials and realized savings, but has also decisively strengthened the negotiating power of procurement through fact-based arguments. The BME Procurement Excellence Award is proof of the success of the AI-supported procurement solution.

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In the webinar, Steen Bösche (VEMAG) and Melinda Behncke (Tacto) report on how the AI-supported solution at VEMAG has not only revolutionized daily work in Procurement , but has also won the BME Procurement Excellence Award. They will also explain the next steps to make the procurement organization even more efficient.