DaimlerChrysler Receives Purchasing Award

DaimlerChrysler Truck Group, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler AG has recently received the 2007 Successful Practice in Purchasing award, given by the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology (IPT). The award was specifically handed to Procurement Truck Group and Buses (PTG) of the Stuttgart-based car manufacturer. PTG is responsible for the sales and purchasing activities of the company’s truck and bus brands including Thomas Built Buses, Sterling Trucks, Western Star, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi Fuso, Dodge Trucks, Orion Bus Industries, and Setra. Each year, Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology selects a company that made successful strategies, tools, and processes in purchasing and present them the award.

This year's awarding ceremony took place at the Consortial Benchmarking in Procurement conference in Leverkusen early this March. The jurors include representatives from popular German and international companies including Bayer HealthCare AG, Benteler Automobiltechnik GmbH, Carl Zeiss Industrielle Messtechnik GmbH, Grohe AG, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, Saurer GmbH & Co. KG, Wilhelm Karmann GmbH, and Windmöller & Hölscher KG.

“The key element of our award entry was the new PTG Lead Buying concept, which enables us to make our procurement activities more efficient by, for example, pooling commodities with significant synergy potential,” said Stefan E. Buchner, Head of Procurement Truck Group & Buses.

"The PTG Lead Buying concept stipulates that an employee must coordinate and improve global cooperation between all buyers of the commodities he or she is responsible for, regardless of whether these buyers are located in Portland, Tokyo or Brazil. The advantages of this global approach are obvious. The expanded perspective of the procurement situation it creates opens up new negotiation possibilities which eventually result in savings worldwide.
Not only does this system enable the unit to negotiate higher procurement volumes, it also allows it to draw upon a large number of global suppliers. Lead Buying deliberately focuses on selected groups of parts offering global optimization possibilities. Together, these groups account for around half of annual PTG procurement volume." Buchner added.

During the awarding ceremony, Stefan E. Buchner further commented:
“Our worldwide systems for comparing price-to-performance give us greater transparency and provide us with a global database that helps us to optimize our purchasing decisions,” adds Buchner. The award once again confirms that our globally positioned procurement organization has created the basis for a successful future. It provides our suppliers with unique prospects, for example, when cooperating in future-oriented projects for new products. The new Lead Buying concept acts as the foundation for a collaboration that benefits both DaimlerChrysler and its suppliers.”

DaimlerChrysler AG, the parent company of the US-based Chrysler Group, which produces the Jeep off-road models with quality Jeep Suspension Kit received the award because the jurors was impressed with the company's commercial vehicle procurement activities in Wörth plant and Mercedes-Benz truck manufacturing processes.