Basell: Pan-European e-Procurement System Produces Major Savings

Basell is the result of a merger of three companies belonging to the BASF and SHELL groups. It is the largest producer of polypropylene in the world, the leading European producer of polyethylene, and a major producer of advanced polyolefin materials. It has sites all over Europe.

"This origin often led to complex situations on the purchasing side," reports Benoit Demeure, Global Procurement Process Development Manager at Basell.

"Each of the three original companies had their own contracts with their preferred suppliers. Analysis revealed that we had 11,500 active suppliers. We received thousands of invoices a week, often for tiny amounts of rarely ordered material. We seldom ordered more than once a year from 33% of our suppliers. Obviously, a lot of effort and cost savings were possible with a streamlined purchasing process. We decided to take the opportunity of the implementation of a new ERP system for this operation. Additionally we wanted to implement an intranet e-procurement application. CSC was the partner we selected to implement the latter part."

Solution

Basell’s goal was to free up its procurement department for strategic sourcing. Administrative tasks like placing purchase orders and checking invoices had to be minimized. CSC helped Basell accomplish this by putting a completely new, intranet-based, e-procurement process into place.

The new system focuses on the procurement of technical materials, non-production-related costs, and lab consumables. It is like ordering a book on amazon.com. The individual placing the order can search by product code, key word, or product classification. Finding exactly the right product is a lot faster than before with the help of product specifications and pictures. And with complete information regarding delivery time and price.

Results

Now the requisitioner knows when the product will arrive and precisely what effect it will have on their budget. A lot of time-wasting tasks are now eliminated. The purchasing department can now concentrate on key activities like contract negotiations.

Why did Basell choose CSC?

"A basic blue print was drawn up within a very short time frame. Once key users approved the blue print, we moved quickly through the prototyping phase, the integration testing, and the user acceptance." says Demeure.

The project was completely rolled out on time and on budget with no unpleasant surprises. CSC trained the trainers, wrote the training manuals in several languages, and provided post-implementation support.

"The CSC project team has totally assimilated our company culture. There was consistently communication and cooperation with our people. They worked together with us as a team. Together, we turned this project into a success" Demeure concludes "A successful project. We will definitely consider CSC as a partner for new integration projects."