Supplier management at REHAU
Supplier and Material Group Management
Our supplier and material group management is the pillar of strategic purchasing at REHAU.
We have clustered our requirements into purchasing categories and, assigned below them, material groups. Depending on its criticality and value contribution, the material group represents the first step of strategy creation. Within our purchasing categories and material groups we maintain our supplier pools. Supplier management at REHAU is based on supplier selection, evaluation, classification and supplier development.
The selection of new suppliers follows a multiple-step process. After a supplier has applied for a category or have been invited by our purchasing department, new suppliers are assessed and if necessary audited. The scope of this measure depends on the purchasing category.
One major component of your strategic supplier management is the supplier evaluation, which consists of technical and commercial criteria. We work closely with our internal customers, to achieve a detailed picture of our suppliers’ performance. Based on the result of this supplier evaluation, we classify our partners in order to gain a basis for a potential common development.
Supplier evaluation
The evaluation of our suppliers is the core of supplier management at REHAU, because we are convinced that regular assessments of our collaboration can even improve it.
Thereby, we differentiate between a continuous evaluation, which is based on statistical criteria, a project based evaluation, which is conducted for major purchasing projects, and the strategic evaluation, which is applied in regularly for all strategic suppliers. Identifying common optimization projects by transparently displaying our suppliers’ performance is the target of the evaluation process.
Depending on purchasing category, material group and criticality we apply different evaluation dimensions. These include quality, logistical, commercial and sustainability criteria. However, a brief evaluation of quality aspects is mandatory for all suppliers. The individual criteria are then balanced against each other to receive an evaluation result.
This allows us to find the best suppliers for our requirements. Moreover, it sets the foundation for common developments and innovations. Because we think that we can do a lot more with great partners!