ME MOBIL ELEKTRONIK GMBH

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🏗 Industry: Development and production of complex control and steering systems for mobile machinery, commercial and special vehicles

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🗺 Headquarters: Langenbrettach, Germany

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🧍 Employees: ~ 130

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👥 Procurement Team: 5 part-time employees

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💲 Revenue ~ $27M per year

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🧰 Procurement Volume: ~ $11M per year

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ME MOBIL ELEKTRONIK GMBH, or ME for short, is an internationally operating high-tech company in family ownership that has been developing and manufacturing complex control systems for renowned manufacturers of mobile machinery, commercial and special vehicles since 1972. Since then, ME has been setting new standards through innovation, dedication, and creativity, and true to the motto "Steer-by-Wire," ME is a pioneer and global market leader for electronic steering systems in terms of range and expertise.

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Challenge:

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For some time, the topic of procurement digitization had been on ME's agenda, and in early 2019, ME began searching for a procurement solution that would, on one hand, transparently display all figures, data, and facts in a procurement dashboard and, on the other hand, streamline and digitize time-consuming strategic processes and workflows. At that time, ME was using proALPHA as its ERP system, which only supported operational procurement activities. However, strategic procurement had no system support whatsoever: manual and Excel-based data analysis, cumbersome and MS Office-based organizational processes with suppliers, and labor-intensive price evaluations were part of daily operations. For example, ME was unable to produce reliable analyses of items, suppliers, and product categories or to view price trends.

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With nearly 400 RFQs sent per year, consolidating quotes and evaluating them was extremely time-consuming, costing the entire procurement team several days per month. Similarly, ME spent approximately two to three days per month working with IT to generate data exports from the ERP, prepare the data, and analyze it using Excel. Data errors and inconsistencies were common, requiring constant verification while delivering only limited value. Particularly as a relatively small procurement organization with $11M in procurement volume and 5 part-time employees, managing the entire supplier and document portfolio of over 400 active suppliers was an almost insurmountable challenge. Preparing regular supplier meetings, collecting supplier self-assessments, and requesting ISO certifications via email and MS Word dominated daily operations and took approximately three days per month.

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For these reasons — and especially in times of macroeconomic challenges such as material shortages and rising raw material prices — the desire for system-based procurement support was strong. However, the search for procurement software proved disappointing in many respects, characterized by lengthy and costly implementation processes and limited added value. Often these were point solutions that could only partially address the need for software that unifies process and data management. Frequently, after initial implementation, only incremental improvements could be achieved, and further customizations requiring IT support were needed. Employees also struggled with the available alternatives, longing for an intuitive and user-friendly solution for price and data analysis. For example, using the company-wide data analytics tool required extensive programming skills that could not be learned on the side.

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Especially as a growing small mid-size company and pioneer in electronic steering systems, ME had no time for such resource-intensive and lengthy implementations.

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In short: The needs of an SMB were inadequately served by established software vendors. Things were different with Tacto.

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3 Needs and Challenges ME Wanted to Address

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Create data and spend transparency across procurement activities — without IT resources or error-prone Excel-based data analysis

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Automate manual, operational procurement tasks: From supplier onboarding to document management to compliance queries (REACH)

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System-based support tailored to the needs of an SMB that unifies data and process management

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‍Solution

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In the jungle of solutions, ME ultimately discovered Tacto — the procurement software for mid-size industrial companies — through a recommendation from HUBTEX. The positive experiences and initial insights quickly convinced ME that Tacto is the solution for digitizing and unifying the data and process management in SMB procurement.

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"What particularly impressed us was Tacto's philosophy and approach of developing the software in close collaboration with procurement professionals from mid-size companies, staying close to day-to-day operations. The opportunity to co-innovate and shape the software as a customer is truly unique."

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Within a very short time after initial contact and just two weeks after providing data from the ERP, ME could transparently track price trends and lead times in the procurement dashboard. In daily operations, Tacto quickly delivered value and digitized relevant processes, as the software is specifically tailored to the needs of SMB procurement and works hand-in-hand with ME's procurement workflows.

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"What particularly impressed us was the fast and straightforward implementation as well as the employee adoption from day one. Employees proactively ask for access to the software and are extremely satisfied with how it works."

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Especially thanks to its intuitive usability, Tacto has become a valued tool in employees' daily operations, as it provides the right analytics and reduces complexity in procurement. Resources that would have been spent on manual analysis can now be used for strategic procurement, enabling actionable measures and informed decisions. For example, preparing for supplier meetings is easier because trends in suppliers, lead times, materials, and product categories can be directly tracked. Through the transparent overview of procurement activities in the procurement dashboard — including all price trends and potential savings opportunities — price increases for input materials can also be calculated directly for the sales team. Additionally, ME can use the analytics module as a planning foundation to uncover fluctuating lead times and undetected deviations and systematically improve them.

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Furthermore, ME was able to significantly improve supplier management and supplier relationships with Tacto. For example, procurement professionals can send requests with digital forms to suppliers at the click of a button. This makes it possible to onboard new suppliers directly through Tacto and handle onboarding workflows including supplier self-assessments, agreements, and documents such as ISO certifications. Similarly, long-term supplier declarations and essential REACH regulation information can be collected from suppliers, and the supplier portfolio can be sustainably aligned and developed. Email ping-pong and time-consuming back-and-forth with suppliers is a thing of the past.

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"With Tacto, we have a scalable solution that works hand-in-hand with our procurement processes and grows with us as a rapidly growing SMB. This allows us to say goodbye to error-prone Excel analyses and bring the company into the digital age. Tacto simply covers all the processes we were looking for a solution for.

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3 Wins with Tacto:

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With transparency across supplier data and procurement activities, ME was able to reduce supplier meeting preparation time by up to 50%

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Manual processes such as supplier inquiries, document management, and onboarding processes in supplier management can be structured and automated, resulting in up to 50% time savings

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The combination of process and data management enables the strengthening of strategic procurement and targeted management of the procurement department

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What Does ME Particularly Value About Tacto?

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"On a personal level, we especially value the partnership-based collaboration as well as the agility and willingness to address our needs. At Tacto, individual customer needs are taken seriously, and we have the opportunity to help shape the product with our ideas and feedback."

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Thank you to Robin and the entire Mobil Elektronik team for our trusted partnership and collaboration. We especially enjoy collaborating on webinars and BME events! Congratulations once again on winning the BME Procurement Excellence Award for SMBs with Tacto as an example of successful digitization in procurement.

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Through customers and partners like you, it is possible to continuously improve our product through close collaboration and hands-on engagement, with the goal of making procurement organizations future-proof. We look forward to continuing our partnership with you!

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Discover how ME achieved up to 50% time savings in supplier meeting preparation and other operational processes (supplier inquiries, supplier onboarding, etc.) with Tacto.