The SAP Ariba project was launched in 2019, with the new system going live in early June 2020 at the Wieselburg site and in January 2022 at the ZKW plant in Silao, Mexico. Further roll-outs are planned for January 2023 at the production plant in Slovakia, October 2023 at the plant in China and 2024 at the electronics plant in Wiener Neustadt. SAP Ariba Guided Buying offers users clearly structured online catalogues from a wide range of suppliers for ordering regularly required consumables. The Guided Buying system offers a particularly user-friendly web shop interface for end users – as is also common in the B2C sector. The demand reports go through an approval process and are then automatically converted into orders and placed with the supplier. The entire procurement process is thus digitally mapped and processed via the Ariba network. More than 60,000 purchase requisitions have already been made via the procurement portal, saving valuable time for users and buyers.

Many tasks mapped in one portal
But also the onboarding of new suppliers as well as the communication and management of suppliers are now handled via the new software. Suppliers can manage their master data themselves and upload current certificates in the self-service area. “The new platform reduces the effort of master data maintenance enormously. By bundling requirements in catalogues alone, we were able to achieve a significant reduction in procurement costs. Special thanks go to the project team, which made the rapid introduction of the software possible with active support from the specialist departments and plants,” says Bernhard Strilka, Group Vice President Purchasing ZKW.