Digital purchasing in production companies: Georg Fischer
Where purchasing takes a close look: Georg Fischer
Georg Fischer Fittings GmbH, based in Traisen, Austria, produces threaded fittings and compression fittings made of malleable cast iron for a wide variety of piping systems. As digitalization continues to advance, the site is now introducing e-procurement. A striking advantage of this solution is the fast and efficient transmission of order requirements to the supplier. The approval processes that are important for the company can be handled easily with the digital ordering solution.
"Our aim in the purchasing department of a manufacturing company is to check the purpose of every order. Purchasing brings together a lot of information from different areas, which is necessary to assess a purchase requisition," recalls Martin Engelmayer, the responsible purchaser at Georg Fischer Fittings GmbH.
Digitalization should accompany reality
Engelmayer talks about the digitization efforts to date: "A few years ago, every request was made using paper documents and handwritten approvals. This process was of course associated with an enormous amount of administrative work and the same amount of time and resources." The first digitalization initiative therefore provided for the use of email and Excel forms. "This accelerated the process, at least up to the point where the request was to be transferred to our ERP system - i.e. typed in. The implementation proved to be too time-consuming, but it also created an awareness that we needed to develop further in this area," says Engelmayer.
Decision for DIG
"When choosing the right e-procurement provider, we drew on experience from the surrounding area and region. DIG emerged as the favorite," says Engelmayer. A recommendation that was also confirmed by Max Winkler MBA, Global Head of Group Procurement at the Neuman Aluminium Group (see also How to digitalize purchasing properly). "As an important part of such a solution, we were also interested in the experience of the suppliers," emphasizes Engelmayer and discussed DIG's e-procurement solution with major suppliers such as Haberkorn and Sonepar. His conclusion after the research: "DIG is a clear recommendation from both customers and suppliers." The decision was made.
E-procurement with fixed completion date
The budget was drawn up after an initial discussion in 2022: "The opportunity was favourable due to the digitization funding awarded at the time - but this was also the reason for a tight schedule," Engelmayer recalls the start of the project and adds: "That's why the end date was fixed." A separate process was also created for ordering spare parts for machine maintenance. An order is created directly from the maintenance software. "The user jumps from the maintenance software via Punchout to the supplier's website, where the shopping cart can be put together. This is then transferred to DIG eProcurement. The order itself is placed, including all approvals, in the ERP system," explains Engelmayer.
Various catalog types incl. multi-suppliers
"We use various types of catalogs and have also connected well-known suppliers such as Kaiser & Kraft, Haberkorn and Hoffmann via OCI," says Engelmayer. In addition, multi-supplier catalogs are used to easily map recurring orders from various small suppliers. At Georg Fischer Fittings GmbH, these include various raw materials as well as sanitary materials and drawing-based metal blanks.
Sensitive roll-out strategy
"In addition to the technical clarifications, employee involvement is an essential factor in order to fully exploit the strengths of the digital ordering solution," emphasizes Engelmayer. For this reason, all requisitioners and their supervisors were trained following an intensive test phase. Engelmayer explains: "In addition to the practical workshop on how to create an order in the system, it was also important to explain the advantages and benefits of the e-procurement solution to the entire staff. Saving time and money through faster procurement and reducing the disproportionately high administrative costs are just two of the many advantages of DIG."
