Anything but sustainable castles in the air

26.04.2022 - Circular economy, sustainability and clear cost leadership - these are the corporate goals at Steinbeis Papier. And Purchasing is responsible for achieving the latter goal in particular, taking sustainability into account. Torben Link has headed up the five-strong team for seven years. In this interview, the 42-year-old provides insights into procurement at Steinbeis Papier and reveals that the work is primarily characterised by solution-oriented strategies.

How is procurement organised?

A team of five takes care of procurement for four companies: Steinbeis Papier, Steinbeis Energie, EBS Concept and B+S Papenburg Energie. We are a generalist team here. We do not have a division into operational and strategic purchasing, but instead focus on specific areas of responsibility. In this way, we try to manage both the day-to-day operational part and implement projects in a customised way. This means that while we keep an eye on the operational side, we primarily focus on implementing projects and developing new strategies in order to ultimately operate cost-efficient and sustainable supplier management.

How does this work in practice?

Above all, personal responsibility and creativity are required from all team members. Everyone is encouraged and empowered to present their own ideas and process optimisations and is allowed to implement improvement processes. Purchasing has a special area of responsibility when it comes to security of supply. This involves optimising delivery quantities, delivery schedules and stockpiling. Purchasing offers a comprehensive 24/7 service for the various companies. In the background, the team looks at who the right partners are, which rules apply and how competition can be ensured.

How does a team of five people manage a 100 million euro budget?

Overall, we are very lean in terms of volume and responsibility. That is a hallmark of Steinbeis Papier. Due to high cost pressure and security of supply, we have to look at how we can act as a powerful unit with digital solutions and smart ideas and achieve significant success.

What does "sustainable procurement" mean at Steinbeis Papier?

Purchasing at Steinbeis Papier is responsible for achieving the corporate goals that have been set. Sustainability is one of them, but so is cost leadership. For our team, this means that we can't just build sustainable castles in the air, but must always keep an eye on costs. Ultimately, we have to look at what the goal is and how we can achieve it through sustainable purchasing. And that, in turn, is the challenge of combining social, economic and ecological aspects.

What does that look like in concrete terms?

The team constantly scrutinises what is actually needed. We look at whether small daily deliveries can be combined into larger medium-term deliveries. What about stockpiling? However, there is no golden rule in purchasing - we have to make individual decisions for each product group. In all of our activities, we always ensure compliance with Steinbeis Papier's cycles and the aforementioned principles of sustainability and cost leadership.

How do you work with suppliers?

In purchasing, we focus on long-term partnerships. Honest and transparent communication is the basis for good collaboration. Especially in challenging times - such as the pandemic - Steinbeis Purchasing holds intensive discussions with suppliers in order to develop targeted solutions. It is important that they recognise the value of their products and services, maintain their high quality and ultimately impress with their reliability and innovative spirit. However, this does not happen overnight. Suppliers are built up by Procurement over the long term, made strong, digitally connected and put in a position to deliver performance in terms of sustainable procurement.