“It is now a one-stop-shop for everyone in the organization who wants to buy. Previously, if I was lucky, they would come to my desk. Now you can directly view the purchasing policy online, the purchasing conditions are ready, and the workflow with authorizations is immediately available. It guides you completely through the purchasing process without me as a procurement manager having to worry about it. It ensures that everyone works more efficiently and at the same time neatly follows the correct procedure.”
elho makes the world greener
If you have a Dutch flower pot inside or outside, there's a fair chance that it's from elho. The elho family business has been making plastic flower pots and similar items for 56 years! It's elho's mission to make your everyday a little greener with a collection that is currently made from 85% recycled plastic. We talked to procurement manager, Freddy Cleverkamp.
Finding the perfect supplier
To create a reliable supply chain, elho scout for suppliers across the globe. To ensure they always live up to sustainable standards, elho has recently started using Mercell Intake Management. This guarantees that the purchasing policy is not just a piece of paper, but a method that is followed by everyone who purchases something in the company.
Freddy Kleverkamp started four years ago at elho as a procurement manager with the aim of professionalizing the purchasing function. Until then, everyone bought and did this in their own way, so different agreements were made with each supplier.
“You saw a lot of differences in the conditions and payment terms. For example, there were payment terms of 8, 14 or 30 days and even advance payments. Everything passed. The first step was therefore to draw up a clear purchasing policy with purchasing conditions, so that unambiguous agreements could be made with suppliers. Although everyone was happy with the policy, compliance with it turned out to be quite a challenge. I couldn't imagine that this was a problem only at elho and that there was no application yet that helps the business to purchase in a better way.”
Although Freddy immediately saw how Intake Management from Mercell would help him and his colleagues to purchase in the right way, he still had to convince the board. “A process was already underway to optimize the operational procurement processes. For example, we implemented a system for processing invoices. The advantage of this was obvious to everyone; our paper invoices with the old-fashioned stamp went completely digital."
With Mercell, Freddy optimizes the tactical processes that are less tangible for non-purchasers, but which ultimately determine the success of all purchasing activities. If the business does not work with qualified suppliers, or not under the right conditions, sooner or later this will have consequences for the daily operation.
Think of discussions when a conflict arises, existing framework contracts that are insufficiently used, or damage to elho brand because a supplier doesn't comply with the rules. The management pays less attention to these kinds of risks, while a buyer is called to account when things go wrong.
Eventually Freddy got the green light and he got started with Mercell Intake Management. The entire purchasing policy, including all relevant documents, is woven into the module.
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Freddy Cleverkamp - Procurement Manager at elho
A tutorial video made a difference
The new platform still had to be introduced to everyone. That turned out to be difficult during a pandemic. "I started posting short messages on our internal social media introducing this new way of purchasing. The introduction of Intake Management was part of the larger process of digitizing our purchasing processes, just like Easy Invoice.
By periodically paying attention to it online, I was able to explain the bigger picture to everyone. For example, I recorded a presentation and a video with a tutorial on how the form works." The introduction turned out to be a success. A look at the newsfeed of elho's internal social media portal shows a number of great reactions from colleagues who are happy with the new working method.
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“This has also improved the transparency. They now know exactly how to perform all purchases. In general, everyone likes shopping and they think they can do it very well. I am therefore not going to claim that I can negotiate better deals, but the process must be aligned. It's best for everyone that we do everything the same way. You can avoid discussions with suppliers about sales conditions, for example, if our purchasing conditions are used in the purchasing process.'
“It is nice to work for a company of this scale. You have a real impact on the organization. For elho, the system works as gatekeeping upfront, before the money is spent. It is the easiest way for the buyers to purchase efficiently and correctly.”
‘We can also continuously improve the intake form. I manage it completely by myself, and it is available to all buyers in the bookmarks of their browser.'
Organizations manage the form for Intake Management independently in a user-friendly environment. Freddy can therefore add fields, set dependencies or update texts and documents.
“We can easily implement feedback from colleagues ourselves. And there is still room for improvement. For example, we are now looking at how we can automatically forward the follow-up process when a new supplier is added in finance.”
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