Supplier Relationship Management at MANN+HUMMEL is in a class of its own

Vienna | Ludwigsburg, 07.05.2014 – Supplier Relationship Management at MANN+HUMMEL, a global leader in the filtration system market, is in a class of its own. In order to implement its category-specific supply base strategy, and in order to direct global purchasing more efficiently, the established company has chosen to employ purchasing solutions from POOL4TOOL. This cooperation has allowed MANN+HUMMEL to realize their vision of having “One portal, one face to the supplier”.

As a development partner and series supplier for the international automotive and mechanical engineering industries, MANN+HUMMEL places a great deal of emphasis on their SRM. Having the right supply base is essential for MANN+HUMMEL, and ensures that the company is able to put innovative, high quality products on the market, and achieve its strategic goals. An important step in facilitating smoother and improved cooperation with suppliers was the decision to introduce a supply base portal. "As a world market leader in automobile filtration, it is important for us at MANN+HUMMEL to establish the right supply base which is strategically significant for healthy and sustainable growth. POOL4TOOL opens up the possibility to implement strategically important processes even more efficiently, and to improve the control of purchasing at a global level,” explains Hanno Höhn, the Group Vice President of Purchasing at MANN+ HUMMEL.

MANN+HUMMEL chose to use POOL4TOOL’s Supply Base Portal, which creates the basis for implementing commodity-specific supplier strategies. Previously, suppliers had to go through multiple systems. The platform brings the purchasing organization one step closer to their vision: “One portal, one face towards the supplier”. "POOL4TOOL opens up the possibility to implement strategically important processes even more efficiently, and to improve the control of purchasing at a global level,” says Hanno Höhn in praise of the portal’s value.

It Depends on the Commodity

Supplier registration and approval is very complex at MANN+HUMMEL, and is completed via the supply base portal. Suppliers were invited by MANN+HUMMEL using workflow-based registration. The specialized approval process has multiple steps and is unique because MANN+HUMMEL differentiate between suppliers for production materials and suppliers for non-production materials and services when completing the registration and approval process. Depending on the type of commodity, a different internal approval workflow is initiated. Precise information about each supplier’s performance, which is critical for the decision-making process, is gathered from the commodity-specific questionnaires. Information about suppliers, commodities, conditions and prices all come together in one central location in the system, and form the basis for all significant tactical and strategic sourcing processes.

MANN+HUMMEL has high expectations and requirements for their suppliers when it comes to quality, which is why the initial approval is only finalized after an audit carried out by Supplier Development. The online portal makes it much easier to manage these differentiated and standardized processes, and is therefore necessary to ensure an optimal supply base. Despite a high level of standardization, specialized regional requirements sometimes demand a specialized solution within the system. Once a supplier has been approved, they are automatically classified at the regional level in order to evaluate local and global demands in the entire MANN+HUMMEL portfolio. This makes the entire supply base strategy more efficient and helps to control the number of suppliers for each commodity.

Strategic Suppliers Preferred

Processing RFQs via the supply base portal makes things much easier for Purchasing. The eRFQ module allows buyers to create an RFQ directly in the system and send it to selected suppliers via email. The suppliers then submit their offers online, where they can then be compared automatically with the Quote Comparison feature, which includes a standardized cost break down. The standardization of the entire RFQ process within the corporation increases process quality significantly. Within the framework of eRFQs, only approved suppliers for specific commodity and region can be invited to receive RFQs. This allows MANN+HUMMEL to focus on strategic suppliers for new contract awards by using the “Approved Vendor List.”

About MANN+HUMMEL: The MANN+HUMMEL Group is a leading global expert for filtration solutions and development partner and original equipment supplier to the international automotive and mechanical engineering industries. Employing 15,100 people at more than 50 locations worldwide, the company achieved turnover of about 2.77 billion euros in 2013 (preliminary figures). The group’s product portfolio includes air filter systems, intake manifold systems, liquid filter systems, cabin filters and plastic sound components (known as 'symposers'), as well as filter elements for vehicle servicing and repair. For general engineering, process engineering and industrial manufacturing sectors the company’s product range includes industrial filters, a series of products to reduce carbon emission levels in diesel engines, membrane filters for water filtration and filter systems. www.mann-hummel.com

About POOL4TOOL: POOL4TOOL is a cloud-based supply chain and procurement solution suite for connecting business partners across the value chain. With POOL4TOOL, companies can implement a single, natively integrated suite to support multiple internal processes and communicate with suppliers. The portfolio includes software solutions for over 40 processes, including supplier relationship management, sourcing, supply base management, supply chain management, eCollaboration, quality control, and product costing (PLC). With more than 10 years of experience in the manufacturing industry, POOL4TOOL’s solutions are tailored to support manufacturing procurement processes and requirements, e.g. sourcing of direct material, BOM, drawings, should cost model, and VMI functionality. Beside the headquarters in Vienna (Austria), the POOL4TOOL incorporation runs subsidiaries in Munich and Stuttgart (Germany), Paris (France), Detroit (USA), and Singapore. The company serves more than 200 international clients, i.e. Alcan, Behr, Carl Zeiss, Dürr, Kärcher, Miele, Modine, ThyssenKrupp, and Trumpf. – www.pool4tool.com

POOL4TOOL AG
Altmannsdorfer Straße 91
1120 Wien
Österreich

This release was published on openPR.