Have you read our guidelines yet? One of the commitments we make there is transparency. We would like to start living up to this promise here.
Get an impression of the programs with which we design and control, in a uniform manner, the decisions and processes in the Purchasing division worldwide.
It is like in sport: you do not become a champion by an accident of fate. Before commencing any task, we set ourselves a goal. A goal which represents a true challenge.
In the Bosch Purchasing division, competeS shows us the direction to head in. competeS stands for
company program for economic and technical empowerment of Suppliers
The operative word is "empowerment". Our goal is to make the supply partner strong. competeS therefore marks our central new direction in our collaborative activities. In sporting terms, this means a team spirit; in business terms, it means a mutually-beneficial alliance.
All the other programs in the Bosch Purchasing division (GPMT, STEP and eProcurement) follow the competeS maxim. As equal elements under the competeS roof, they represent different aspects of the partnership.
Every new product starts with a single, initial step. We take this step and so does our supply partner. In the past, the supply partner made this initial step long after Bosch had first made it, whereas now both Bosch and the partner launch into the new product at the same time.
This simultaneous engineering (SE) trend is nurtured by our STEP program:
Supplier Technical Empowerment Program
STEP allows Bosch to involve its supply partners in product development early on, to use their combined fund of technical and creative potential and to convey to their partners the attractive elements that make up the value chain.
STEP defines this process and actively supports the supply partner in implementing it. The strategic objective of STEP is to reach cost objectives together, to further increase the number and quality of the SE products and to procure more and more complete assemblies.
Bosch has suppliers across the globe. However, our globalization has a second dimension to it as well.
Global Purchasing Management Team
GPMT is both team and strategy. Each GPMT has one representative from each of our 15 divisions, as well as executives from the Mechanical / Electrical engineering and Electronics division in the head office. Each one of these GPMT is responsible for a specific material field. GPMT controls the purchasing of the worldwide supply of its material field for the entire Bosch Group, i.e. it acts as the top-level purchaser for all divisions and plants.
The members of the GPMP apply the same, objective criteria in selecting and evaluating the suppliers with the aim of concentrating on the most efficient supply partners. This volume pooling offers us cost advantages, and it offers you a very attractive order volume.
In total, we have defined23 Material fields and their GPMT. These represent around half of our purchase volume, and this figure is rising.
Tempo and action: eProcurement today gets purchasing processes off the ground almost everywhere. But Bosch would not be Bosch if we did not use particularly progressive platforms in this area.
A central example of this is the virtual supplier market place SupplyOn. Bosch founded this together with leading automotive suppliers so that request, quotation and order can be handled quickly and easily over the Internet. SupplyOn also offers a supplier information request function, online bidding, and logistical and engineering functions.
competeS specifies the strategic direction for the programs in the Bosch Purchasing division: partnership. These three programs are the pillars that support competeS.
23 Material fields
