Webinar
Webinar recording: Top articles in seconds, management reports in minutes – how WEINMANN saves time on A-parts and costs on B-parts
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In our webinar "Top items in seconds, management reports in minutes – How WEINMANN saves time on A-parts and costs on B-parts" , Jan Herburg (Head of Strategic Procurement & Category Management, WEINMANN) and Simon Vötter (Tacto) shared exclusive insights into how procurement intelligence turns scattered data into a clear basis for decision-making—enabling savings, transparency, and more confident negotiations.
Freeing up capacity – creating new scope in procurement
Increased cost pressure, fragmented data, and high manual reporting efforts present unique challenges for procurement teams at medical device manufacturers. WEINMANN Emergency—a specialist in ventilation and emergency medical equipment—faced exactly this situation: reports took hours to compile, A-parts tied up all available capacity, and there was hardly any time left for B and C parts.
The starting point – procurement analysis without a central data foundation
The situation was previously typical for many mid-sized companies:
- Fragmented data sources: ERP exports had to be manually consolidated in Excel using VLOOKUPs.
- Time-consuming reports: 8 hours of effort per analysis, often so labor-intensive that important reports were not created at all.
- Focus on A-parts, neglect of B/C-parts: Critical product groups tied up resources, while quick wins were left on the table.
- Lack of visualization: Results were graphically weak and failed to make a convincing impression internally or externally.
The result: a lack of transparency and missed opportunities in a procurement department that was actually under enormous cost pressure.
How procurement intelligence can be used in purchasing
Introducing procurement intelligence allows for the establishment of three core pillars in purchasing:
- Dashboards: Instant transparency regarding suppliers, volumes, and item movements.
- Structured decision-making: Price and volume trends, benchmarks, and index comparisons at a glance.
- Procurement radar: Alerts that automatically highlight anomalies in order quantities, prices, or suppliers.
This creates a toolkit that accelerates analysis, professionalizes reporting, and supports data-driven discussions.
Use Case 1 – Mastering A-parts, finally keeping an eye on B and C-parts
Impact: By saving time on A-parts, WEINMANN was able to systematically analyze B and C-parts for the first time. Instead of reviewing 30 items a year, they can now evaluate 450 items in the same amount of time. Alerts show, for example: "Item X is being ordered in small quantities too frequently – consolidate your orders".
Result: Savings and efficiency gains in areas that were previously overlooked.
Use Case 2 – Management Reporting & Major Supplier Negotiations
Impact: Reports such as "Top 10 suppliers by cost trend" or "Underperforming suppliers with rising prices" are now available in minutes – visually polished and ready for presentation to management and executive leadership.
Result: Approximately 200 hours saved per year in preparing for annual reviews. At the same time, greater transparency for fact-based decision-making and better preparation for strategic negotiations.
Use Case 3 – Ad-hoc Supplier Conversations
Impact: While spontaneous phone calls or Teams meetings used to be difficult to conduct on a factual basis, all item, quantity, and pricing information is now instantly accessible.
Result: Conversations are more confident and well-founded – WEINMANN can respond directly to inquiries and appears more professional in dialogue.
Use Case 4 – Team Management & Follow-up
Impact: Agreements, terms, and tasks can be documented immediately. Responsibilities are clearly assigned, and progress remains transparent at all times.
Result: Around 100 working days of relief for the team per year, as tasks are tracked in a structured manner and processes are managed more efficiently.
Conclusion
The webinar made it clear: Time savings are more than just an efficiency gain. It creates the scope to unlock previously neglected potential, convince management with professional reports, and conduct supplier negotiations based on facts. WEINMANN shows how procurement intelligence turns Excel work into strategic management – and how capacity, clarity, and cost advantages can be achieved even in highly regulated medical technology procurement.
In this webinar, Jan Herburg from WEINMANN Emergency and Simon Vötter from Tacto demonstrate how WEINMANN uses procurement intelligence to make item, volume, and supplier data available in clear dashboards, generate management reports in minutes, and uncover new potential through alerts. This creates the freedom to analyze B and C parts in a targeted manner, conduct fact-based supplier negotiations, and relieve the team through clear responsibilities. The result: more transparency, faster decisions, and a procurement department that gains capacity for real value creation.
