Joining Forces to Meet Deadlines

RöchlingAutomotive together with POOL4TOOL is beginning their purchasing project inrecord time. Just four weeks after the project start the first suppliers havebeen integrated and the deliveries have been advised using POOL4TOOL. Optimization stepsfor purchasing and logistics department are following.

Röchling Automotive organizes their supply chainquickly and precisely. The global partner of automotive manufacturers and theirsystem of suppliers have had the implementation of a supplier portal on theirradar for a long time. Procurement and logistics processes, as well ascommunicating with suppliers are to be carried out and optimized using a supplierportal. The initiative for the actual launch of the optimization project camefrom the purchasing and logistics departments. Together with the softwareprovider, POOL4TOOL, the automotive plastics experts prepared a project planwith a very tight timeline: four weeks between the kick-off and liveintegration of the first suppliers. With the help of the staff and greatcooperation between the two project teams, the seemingly impossible task wasmade possible.

Record Breaking Project Start
The first phase involved the standard implementationof shipping  and delivery schedules into POOL4TOOL. Instrumental in therapid implementation was the IT department at Röchling. Despite it occurring atthe same time as the SAP release upgrade, which was their responsibility,Röchling IT took the implementation project on and was thrilled the deadlineswere met. “The project launch was amazing,” marvels Vivien Rebsdat, Head ofRöchling Automotive IT. “We are very excited that together with POOL4TOOL weconquered the challenge of starting the first project phases in a record four weeks!We look forward to the next steps, especially the implementation of the POM (purchaser order management)  process and othersupply chain optimizations.”

The kick-off was preceded by a comprehensive selectionprocess in which the automotive supplier Röchling confronted differentproviders with its requirements. “We were looking to accelerate our purchasingand logistics processes with a solution, which could support us worldwide,”said Rainer Lüchtenborg, the Purchasing Manager of Röchling Automotive.POOL4TOOL allowed them for the first time to use a supplier portal forlong-term optimization of both the purchasing and logistics processes.“Originally we wanted to use the solution only for a few suppliers who were notEDI-capable. Already we have now planned to connect 500 suppliers in two steps.The added value can already be felt by the catalogs and reaction times, provingfurther that we have made the right decision.”
 
About Röchling: Headquatered in Mannheim, Germany, the global plastics groupencompasses 60 companies. Together, they employ 7,500 people in 20 countriesaround the world. The globally positioned Group of small and medium-sizedcompanies is a world leader with a wide-ranging technology base in all areas ofplastics processing. With their High-Performance Plastics and AutomotivePlastics divisions, annual sales revenue from business in Europe, the Americas,and Asia amount to EUR 1.3 billion. These factors form the basis of theRöchling Group’s long-term entrepreneurial growth strategy. In focusing onplastic processing, they are concentrating on a material with outstandingfuture prospects. They have substantially promoted the development of plasticsin recent decades and now benefit from the experience and specialized knowledgethat their employees have amassed over the years. www.roechling.com

About POOL4TOOL: POOL4TOOL together with over 200 clients is the innovation leader foreSolutions designed for purchasing optimization. The All-in-One SupplierCollaboration Platform is a single solution, which basically combines allprocesses of modern, commodity-specific purchasing with all functions ofoperational purchasing, including all product development processes from EDIcommunication with suppliers to global product lifecycle costing (PLC). Withthe help of specialized proven methodology, flexible workflows and full ERPintegration, companies are able to holistically decrease process costs inpurchasing. Among our clients are: Amcor, Behr, Bombardier, Carl Zeiss, Metso,Modine, Stihl and ThyssenKrupp. More information under: www.pool4tool.com