Interview with Martin Ribbeheger, Head of Corporate Purchasing THIMM Group
The family-owned company THIMM is a leading solution provider for packaging and distribution of goods.
Have you conducted a potential analysis with Kloepfel in advance?
We have been working with Kloepfel Consulting since 2017. The potential analysis at that time was the starting point for our project and resulted in high savings forecasts that quite surprised us. The potential assessment was based on the consideration of purchasing structures, the procurement markets as well as empirical values and benchmarks. To this end, the purchasing consultancy carefully analyzed our purchasing data and compared it, for example, with standard market prices and costs.
Today it can be seen that the results determined were also achieved and in some cases even exceeded. In the end, the success was so sustainable that we are still achieving savings today that we probably would not have achieved – or at least not as quickly – without the project.
What were the goals of the project?
THIMM Group produces and consults through its specialized business units at 21 international locations in five countries. Until the project began, each business unit had largely purchased the goods and services it needed independently. This had supported our market development very successfully for many years, but it was not possible to leverage all the potential on the procurement side in this way. This applied to the categories of indirect materials and services.
An important goal of the project was therefore to identify relevant bundling topics in the Group to consolidate suppliers but also purchasing data across plants. To this end, we worked on various topics across the Group and were thus able to benefit from volume effects in tenders as well as negotiations. In addition, we reduced the number of small accounts payable during the project and were able to reduce our process effort accordingly. We also succeeded in harmonizing and significantly optimizing our suppliers’ payment terms.
The project also provided the impetus for reformulating the value contribution of professional purchasing, defining it in a vision and underpinning it with strategic action areas. This also included the development of new structures in purchasing at THIMM Group, which we are currently implementing step by step.
Where did you achieve the highest savings?
We achieved very high savings, for example, in wood products for our industrial goods packaging and in the areas of printing inks, temporary work, machine cleaning and office supplies.
What were the biggest challenges of the project?
Consolidating the purchasing data was certainly one of the biggest challenges, as it was very fragmented and the information situation was correspondingly jagged. The Kloepfel team took care of this issue almost completely. In addition, there was the challenge of winning over all colleagues for this project and bringing them to a common denominator.
How did you manage to get the employees on board for the project?
We brought all the employees involved to the table to pick them up step by step. In this way, the purchasing team was able to grow together internally, but also with the various specialist departments or locations. That this was successful is shown both by the success of the project and the acceptance and support of today’s group purchasing.
In addition, there is a lot of need for coordination and many questions from employees when purchasing structures and processes undergo such major changes. Therefore, with Derk Haring, the project manager on the part of Kloepfel Consulting, we have created a central interface to the various plants and departments to quickly clarify open questions and harmonize the various processes – wherever possible.
In this way, we have grown together over the years with the Kloepfel team as colleagues and coaches for a time.
Suppliers not only had to get used to new faces at the negotiating table, but also to changing requirements. What were their reactions?
I can cite the topic of wood products as a positive example. We held a supplier day on this subject. The suppliers were not familiar with this format. However, they found the supplier day very positive, because we showed them attention and appreciation with this format. It was possible to get to know each other and the companies better, as well as their competencies, in order to consider what a joint future could look like. This also helped us to develop innovations in wood product purchasing together with suppliers.
How does purchasing use the opportunities for digitalization compared to other departments or companies?
Through the project, we have significantly optimized the quality and transparency of our purchasing data and thus created a starting point for the project launch. In the current project, the real controlling developed by Kloepfel Consulting has supported us greatly in monitoring the measures and results. The task now is to transfer this into the digital future based on harmonized ERP landscapes.
What is the conclusion of the project?
We are very satisfied with the project and will gladly work with Kloepfel Consulting again in future projects.
Press contact
Kloepfel Consulting
Gerrit M. Schneider
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40211 Düsseldorf
T: +49 211 / 882 594 17
gm.schneider@kloepfel-group.com
www.kloepfel-group.com