KSB uses Heiler-Software for Procurement

Stuttgart, 28. July, 2003 – Fluent processes are the order of the day for the KSB group. That does not only apply to the product range of the traditional company with pumps, armatures, and the appendant systems, but also for the purchase: as of now KSB uses solutions and services of Heiler Software AG, in order to optimize and automate procurement processes.

With a turnover of ca. 1.2 billion euro, and approximately 12,000 employees the KSB group is one of the globally leading suppliers of pumps and armatures, as well as of hydraulic systems for the transport of liquids. Parallel to the continuously increasing company success the desire for an e-procurement solution, which would facilitate the dialog with the suppliers, arose at KSB. The goal was to relieve the purchase department at the procurement of c-items, like office and consumable supplies, thus saving precious resources.

The most convincing offer for the solution of this problem was the one of Heiler Software AG: with the Heiler Premium Business Catalog (PBC) the employees can order directly from their work station via electronic catalogs. In order to provide that KSB does not have to control that the suppliers enter their product information punctually into the electronic catalog in the most current version according to the frame contracts between KSB and the suppliers, service provider Heiler Software AG manages the handling of the content management, and the operation of the entire solution. The benefit for KSB: the purchase department now just has to check the catalog contents and the offered conditions – completely unstressed by the administration effort, which usually arises at the introduction of electronic catalogs.

"We invest 20 billion euro a year into research and development of new materials and trend-setting technologies. Part of this is also to always improve the life-cycle costs of our products and services. We have discovered that an efficient procurement holds a great saving potential here", explains Oosterveen, head of purchase at the KSB-group. "The logic consequence was to reorganize our purchase so that we became able to gain maximum results at the smallest possible effort. This plan led us to Heiler."

"The key to success at procurement solutions is on the one hand an exactly maintained content, on the other hand the user acceptance. With this premise both the requirements for the suppliers and the purchasing company increase. Suppliers have to provide up-to-date product information for the catalog, in order to be able to achieve the optimum turnover. And the companies just benefit from their investment in an e-procurement system, if the employees really work with it", explains Rolf Heiler, CEO of Heiler Software AG in Stuttgart. "From the example KSB one can clearly see how our solution solves the problems on both sides."

Heiler attends more than 100,000 licensed users at well-known suppliers and purchasing companies. If you wish further information or are interested in a background discussion, we are pleased to be at your disposal.

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