Category Manager (interim) – Maintenance, Repairs and Operations
Client:
- Leading European aluminium rolling and recycling company
Key figures of the company:
Industry: Aluminium industry
Turnover: > 5.7 billion euros
Employees: > 5.000
Project duration: 2024 (8 months)
Situation:
The company is a leading European aluminium rolling and recycling company. At a total of eleven recycling and rolling production sites in Germany and Norway, including its own research and development, the company recycles up to 650,000 tons of aluminum per year and produces around one million tons of rolled products.
The plants include the joint venture Alunorf, the largest aluminum rolling mill in the world, and Grevenbroich, the largest finishing plant in the world. With around 5,400 employees, the company is proud to supply some of the most well-known industrial companies in the global automotive, packaging, printing, engineering, construction and construction sectors.
Main
Interim assumption of the purchasing function of Category Manager – Maintenance, Repairs and Operations for the production sites in Germany and Norway with an annual purchasing volume of approx. EUR 80 million and approx. 2,500 suppliers.
Measures
- Development of the current status quo of category management in the area of responsibility with regard to process standards, interface management, competence profiles and contract management
- Conception and implementation of external workshops with interface partners of the German sites to take stock of the overall situation in the material field
- Defining and describing optimization approaches and potentials
- Collaboration and coordination of activities in the area of responsibility within special purchasing projects
- Carrying out data analyses to develop and derive purchasing strategies in the area of responsibility with the help of AI tools
- Conducting supplier meetings and negotiations
- Preparation and conclusion of supplier contracts
- Derivation and creation of approaches for short- to medium-term purchasing strategies within the area of responsibility
- Preparation and handover of financial statements and results documentation for the period of interim activities
- Handover of the area of responsibility and induction of a new employee
Results
- Development and definition of medium-term savings measures with a potential for improvement of approx. 5.6 million euros in the area of responsibility of the
Category Managers – Maintenance, Repairs and Operations - Development and definition of various medium-term purchasing strategies to improve the purchasing process in the area of responsibility
- On-time implementation of various measures to support the go-live date for the launch of the Coupa purchasing platform
- Successful support in the definition and implementation of measures in day-to-day business within escalation management
- On-time handover of financial statements and results documentation
On the basis of all the measures introduced and the willingness to support employees from the interfaces of plant purchasing and technical service, a successful re-start of category management for the Maintenance, Repairs and Operations area was achieved and the basis for good and trusting cooperation in the
The future was created.
Special Challenges
- To transform the high level of uncertainty and low culture of trust at the beginning of the mandate among the purchasing staff and the internal interfaces into an open communication culture
- To recognize the expectations and demands within the company of a Catergory Manager for Maintenance, Repairs and Operations and to successfully manage them in the interests of the company
