Interim Purchasing Manager for Mechanical Engineering Company in Slovakia

The client was an Austrian mechanical engineering company with several hundred employees and several foreign productions in Eastern Europe.

The task was to bring the purchasing processes of the Slovak production company to an internationally standard level and to demonstrate which potential for improvement is available by using the example of a selected project, as well as to realize savings in procurement through framework agreements with the most important suppliers.

ACTION

The Austrian parent company was looking for an interim manager who, thanks to his expertise and experience, was able to bring the relatively small production, which primarily served as an extended workbench, to an international level in purchasing. An important prerequisite was experience in mechanical engineering, project-specific production and a hands-on mentality.

P+P Austria supported by P+P Slovakia was able to present a suitable candidate within 48 hours who could take on the task part-time for 9 months.

The task was to improve purchasing both strategically and operationally. The previous purchasing manager also failed to take into account existing production jumps and the associated changes in material requirements in the supplier contracts. The result was spontaneous and expensive additional purchases.

On the basis of his discussions with all employees involved in the procurement process, the interim manager prepared a comprehensive analysis of the current state of the process chain and showed the possibilities for structure and process optimization.

The interim manager combined his knowledge as a purchasing manager with his experience in production processes. He developed specific suggestions for improving internal processes from the issue of inquiries to discussions with suppliers and interface communication. In addition, the interim manager was also operational and was able to achieve remarkable savings at short notice in the at the beginning defined selected project.

RESULT

Firstly, the interim manager of P+P has significantly improved the coordination process with production, has concluded annual framework agreements and flexible access options with suppliers and has introduced second source for strategically important products.

Annual savings in material purchasing of over 5% were achieved and both the ability to deliver and the adherence to delivery dates were significantly improved.

As a positive additional effect, the interim manager managed to move the individual process owners to better cooperation through his extremely targeted communication.