Purchasing Brose Group has once again come out on top against international competitors, winning the World Procurement Award in the category “Risk Mitigation”. The highest accolade in the industry was awarded on 17 May 2018 in London.
The global supply and process chains in the automotive industry are becoming ever more complex while the risk of interruptions to the supply chain rises steadily. Brose developed a comprehensive risk management system that builds on intelligent big data software specifically to address these issues: whether supplier insolvencies, natural disasters or political unrest – the program continuously analyzes information on all 62 Brose locations, 15,000 suppliers and sub-suppliers and all critical supply chains. In the event of a relevant risk, contacts in the affected technical departments are informed automatically and a structured problem-solving process is launched.
“Today we can identify and assess risks much sooner, act quickly and protect our company from damages,” explains Periklis Nassios, Executive Vice President Purchasing Brose Group. This innovative approach results in cost savings, lower assembly line downtime, a stable and transparent supplier network and standardized measures in the event of an emergency. This also convinced the World Procurement Awards panel of experts, who found the comprehensive, systematic approach and consistent implementation of the concept exemplary. They said Brose risk management is “first-class” and considers strategy, participants, processes, measures, customers and suppliers equally.
In 2018 Purchasing Brose Group received a second award nomination in the category “Future Leader”. This award is presented to employees with high development potential whose personal ambition, determination and business acumen help drive the purchasing role forward and who take on important leadership tasks. “We take career and succession planning seriously in our HR work at Brose. This is why we are so pleased that our employee Matthias Werb is one of the top seven young leadership talents in the industry,” says Nassios.
The World Procurement Award is considered the international “Oscar of purchasing”. It is presented once a year by the global purchasing association Procurement Leaders, which has 27,000 members from more than 700 organizations and over 50 countries. Brose has already received the award in the categories “Innovation” (2015), “Best Procurement Team” (2016) and “Cross-Functional Collaboration” (2017).
The family-owned company’s Purchasing team procured materials, services and capital goods worth 4.8 billion euros worldwide this year. 60 percent of purchases are made in Europe, and around 20 percent each in America and Asia. The global purchasing volume is slated to grow to 6.3 billion euros by 2020. Purchasing Brose Group has its headquarters in Bamberg. Other key purchasing locations are in China, East Asia, North America, Brazil and India.
