Reference Spitz

eMRO procurement in the food industry

The best change is the one that the user doesn't even notice. At SPITZ in Upper Austria, exactly this feat was achieved by perfectly integrating an actively used ordering system for MRO purchasing into the eProcurement platform. And although the user uses the familiar front end, the data quality in the background has improved significantly, leading to more efficient vendor invoice management (VIM) in the existing P2P process, among other things.

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Industry: Food & beverage manufacturer

Web: spitz.at

"We are delighted to have implemented this project," says Christoph Froschauer, Project Manager in Technical Purchasingat Austria's best-known food and beverage manufacturer. Even though the task was daunting: "Just analyzing the structures of financial accounting, purchasingand controlling was a challenge - but the insight into the structures of our group of companies generates lasting benefits." New requirements were constantly emerging, so for long stretches of the project, the path was created on the go - which didn't make project management any easier: "The fact that the requirements kept changing was difficult for both sides. However, DIG proved to be the perfect partner with productive de-escalation and rapid implementation!"

Complex structures and approvals

A decisive factor in the project was the connection to the ispro-NG maintenance software, where the stock of items is also managed and some goods receipts are posted. "This allows our colleagues to maintain the usual overview, even in the area of MRO purchasing." And the colleagues can be many: three divisionswith a wide variety of machines in the production of food and beverages; each division has its own technicians, maintenance staff and warehouse staff as well as a higher-level central technology department. This structure brings with it a wide variety of requesters in MRO purchasing and an enormous variety of user-related approval processes, reports Froschauer: "Someone from central technology can order something for one division, for example, but the cost center is assigned to another division. A shopping cart can also be filled by several users." The user-specific approval processfor each article includes the cost center and project managers - and depending on the value limit, other people up to the CEO. The approvers for the individual users can be customized by SPITZ itself.

Special process for free text orders for MRO purchasing

The BANF (purchase requisition) for MRO purchasing is created in ispro and transmitted to the e-procurement platformDIG.procure via an interface. Here, the existing catalogs are automaticallysearched for the required MRO articles and the hits are placed in the shopping cart. If none are found, a free text article is created in a different shopping cart, for which a separate approval process is provided with the involvement of technical purchasing: "We check the requirement, clarify the technical details and then obtain a corresponding quotation. This can also be a service, e.g. painting a wall or similar."

Hub for SAP and ispro-NG

Evenbefore approval,the MRO order is simulated via an interface toSAP in order to avoid errors: "It can happen, for example, that a posting is to be made to acost center for which there isno longer a budget. Or that thecost center description in ispro does not match the one in SAP, theG/L accountis incorrect , etc. The system then reports anerror that the user has to deal with. Over time, this leads tostandardization of the master data." Only whenno contradictions arise from theorder simulation and the necessaryapprovals are available is an order number created inSAPand the order status of the respective MRO items sent to ispro via DIG.procure to isprovia a second interface: "The information on the articles, which can be in split shopping baskets in DIG.procure as described above depending on the user, catalog or free text, is returned to the original shopping basket inispro." It can happen, for example, that only thecatalog items are approved: "Therefore, each item is provided with the necessary information so that the user is informed in detail."

MRO procurement: Full information for all systems involved

As DIG.procuretakes over full information management in the MRO procurement process (MRO purchasing), users can continue to work in the familiar ispro environment. In addition, the information transfer from the current content catalog ensures that the data (e.g. prices) is updated in ispro: "In this way, all information is continuously standardized, which is a significant advantage for us." In general, the standardization of master dataprovides added value for procurement efficiency, as Froschauer emphasizes: "Whether payment or delivery terms, a change of name or even a change of contact person at the supplier: Because all master datais replicated twice a day, we get the order out the same daydespite any contradiction . During the introduction of DIG.procure, we were also shown where, for example, freight costs, goods receipts or payment terms were created differently." The free text masks also ensure more information quality in the order thanks to the predefined data structure.

E-procurement with hundreds of thousands of items

In addition to the integration ofispro-NG, DIG.procure offers all departments full access tohundreds of thousands of articles: In addition to4 internal catalogs ( e.g. the IT department),11 more are available - some ascontent catalogs, some viaOCI punchout, whereby web stores can also be searched for the most part usingbackground search. "This makes it easy to compare prices." Around120 users have been using the system since it went live in July. By the end of November,2,530 orders with a volume of5.5 million euros had been placed . With this performance, SPITZ is one of the top examples ofhigh user acceptance: "Our colleagues appreciate thesimplicity and clarity of the system. The reliable transfer of the shopping cart into our own system after apunch-out is a huge advantage for us."

Orders sent to the supplier via EDI or PDF

As soon as the orders have been approved and checked in SAP, they are sent to the supplier - either by EDI route or as a PDF in SPITZ design by email. Incoming invoices that arrive via EDI are transferred to the VIM in SAP for clearing. A total of three booking options are available for goods receipts: These can either be made directly in DIG.procure and transferred from there to SAP or vice versa. Or directly in ispro, where this information finds its way into SAP via the eProcurement platform.

Simple and clear system
Reliable shopping cart transfer
Order transmission via EDI or mail/PDF
Clearing of incoming invoices

Target of 100% order processing and minimal free text orders

Froschauer has two objectives for the future: "Firstly, we are currently checking with the financial accounting department which procurements still bypass the systemand whether these can be mapped in the system. In any case, it is our wish to run almost 100% via e-procurement and thus reduce maverick buying to zero." The next step will be to minimize the number of free text orders: "To do this, we will make as many catalogs as possible available - the various catalog typesfrom DIG will also help us with this ."

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