Purchasing Organization

A clearly structured organization within purchasing and supply management at ThyssenKrupp allows our Group companies to act autonomously and to apply the best sourcing strategies to their respective businesses; at the same time, our organization ensures that there is a unifom strategic approach across the Group and that market activities are coordinated.

Please move your mouse over the four fields below to illustrate the steering of strategic purchasing.

Group company purchasing

In each Group company, the purchasing function is responsible for managing the company's supply of goods and services. Orders are awarded directly in the relevant supply markets. Where Groupwide framework agreements exist, they are used by all Group companies to reduce purchase prices and process costs in the resepctive Sourcing Categories.

Category teams, working groups and strategic project teams.

Among the most important instruments for optimizing costs are our tools to pool demands and to leverage economies of scale effects. Specially appointed Global Category Officers (at international level) and Category Managers (at national level) with their teams are responsible for market-orientated sourcing strategies and for Group framework agreements across the Group for our shared spent categories (Sourcing Categories). Strategic topics are driven by Groupwide working groups and strategic project teams.

Please move your mouse over the fields "Purchasing Council" and "Purchasing Synergy Meetings" to demonstrate the coordination of strategic purchasing.

Purchasing bodies across the Group

A permanent executive board committee of ThyssenKrupp AG is dedicated solely to all issues concerning purchasing and supply management across the Group, underlining the importance of the function as an important value-driver for ThyssenKrupp. Representatives of all Business Areas form the Group Purchasing Council which is chaired by the Corporate Center. The Council agrees on Groupwide purchasing activites and Sourcing Categories. Our regularly held Purchasing Synergy Meetings form an essential part of the regional cooperation among our Group companies. This is where important information are exchanged, market-orientated strategies and activities are agreed upon and Category Managers for the regions are nominated.

Corporate Center Materials Management

The cooperation among the official bodies and team activities are coordinated and supported by Corporate Center Materials Management of ThyssenKrupp AG. This Corporate Center is also responsible for purchasing non-production materials, energy, investments and IT supplies and services. The Corporate Center develops global strategies and implements strategic purchasing projects. This also includes the provisioning of harmonized state-of-the-art systems, methods and tools to all purchasing functions in the Group. Overall targets are more transparency, ongoing process optimization and synergy effects. This safeguards the further development of both the centralized and decentralized purchasing functions within ThyssenKrupp.