GlobalSupplier - Daimler

Germany, US, Brazil, and South Africa
and the demand from the Mitsubishi
Motor Corporation in Japan was jointly
negotiated online. Using Covisint’s
market place, well-known global computer
manufacturers submitted bids from
Europe and the US for a total of 16
order packages. Particularly relevant for
the success of the online bidding event
was the excellent co-operation between the
global procurement and IT departments
as well as intensive communication with
the suppliers during the planning and
preparation phase. According to Ulf
Nordmann, manager of
purchasing for standard IT equipment, “the
online bidding event (OBE) allowed us
to negotiate transparently, efficiently, and
highly competitively for the first time
at such a complex level with regard to
content and geographical location. Nevertheless,
it was a challenge for our PIC
team (Permanent International Commodity
Team) and for the suppliers involved with
regard to co-ordination, concentration, as
well as commitment.”
Materials Purchasing Passenger Cars
negotiated engine components in an online
bidding, together with colleagues from
the purchasing locations for the brands
Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler and Mitsubishi.
Suppliers from three continents participated
in the online bidding event.
“Excellent proof for the international
co-operation within Purchasing in our
company”, says Pia Zimmermann,
responsible for parts purchasing in
Stuttgart and supervisor of the bidding
event.
Both Pia Zimmermann and Ulf Nordmann
agree that preparing and co-ordinating
this global event required much effort. In
the end, the requirements of all parties
involved must be taken into account.
eShop und eDocs –
two e-Business
applications in GP&S.
Even just coordinating the timing of this
online bidding event so that partners
from completely different time zones
could participate simultaneously created a
challenge. But the effort in the run-up
to the event paid off. During normal
purchasing negotiations, such a complex
award process would have taken weeks
because the individual production locations
would have had to establish the general
terms in individual negotiation talks with
the suppliers. The online bidding events
had results within just a few hours. Only
through online bidding is it possible to
reduce this process so substantially for
suppliers bidding competitively and for
the purchasing departments at Daimler-
Chrysler. In both the above examples,
online bidding proved effective not only as
a purchasing tool, but also for bundling
large purchasing volumes globally.
Catalog Buying: Online Procurement.
Office supplies, tools, IT components or
machine spare parts – beginning next year,
DaimlerChrysler employees will be able to
order all of these via the Intranet. Following
the positive experience that was the result
of a catalog solution tested in Germany,
the eShop system was developed this year
and is fully integrated in the back-end
systems. The electronic catalog in eShop
has a comprehensive assortment of goods
on offer from the non-production area,
including detailed product descriptions and
prices previously negotiated with Daimler-
7
Chrysler. The catalogs are prepared through
Covisint on the basis of suppliers’ gross
data and then transferred into the eShop
catalog system. A defined group of users
will be provided with access to eShop
via the Intranet and from there they can
send orders through Covisint directly to the
supplier.
eShop is the first global procurement
solution to be implemented at Daimler-
Chrysler. In the first quarter of the coming
year, eShop will undergo a pilot phase in
the German pilot plants of Sindelfingen and
Wörth. The US plants, Chrysler Mack (II),
Jefferson North Assembly Plant and CTC
(Chrysler Technology Center) are going
to test the catalog system beginning in
December 2001.
After the full completion of the launch,
15,000 users will be able to procure several
million items through eShop. (See also
Global Supplier, Issue 02/2001, Page 8)
Optimising Quality Processes through the
Internet. The goal of the activities in the
eQuality unit within procurement is to
achieve web-based automation of all qualification
and certification processes, from
product development to series production
and spare parts. To this end, e-Extended
Enterprise is working closely with the
internal quality departments in the
company’s head offices and the production
facilities. The web marketplace Powerway
provides a new Advanced Quality Planning