Flint Group, a major supplier of digital printing presses, inks, pressroom chemicals, and other products to the global printing and packaging industry, has recently announced that it has streamlined its indirect materials and services procurement processes by implementing SAP Ariba Procurement System.
By centralising Flint Group’s manual procure-to-order processes, the SAP Ariba Procurement System improved the company’s efficiency, allowed it to have greater control over its spending, and further reduced costs in operations.
With a unified platform in the cloud, Flint Group standardised its purchasing process throughout the business and enabled its managers, suppliers, accounts payable (AP), and employees to have more transparent buying, invoicing, and accounting transactions.
Prior to deploying the SAP Ariba solution, Flint Group’s indirect procurement was time-consuming and costly given that it has a vast and diverse network of suppliers in over 130 centres operating worldwide. Furthermore, the company had an incomplete view of expenses and costs due to inconsistent data and lack of spend transparency before implementing SAP’s central procurement platform.
Arno de Groot, Vice President, Procurement Packaging, Flint Group, said in a statement:
“We have vastly improved our employees’ buying experience and process efficiency with our shift to the cloud and implementation of the SAP Ariba solutions.”
Describing the solution as a “complete unified procurement system”, he added that:
“We have greater visibility into spend, enabling more informed buying decisions and a positive effect on our bottom line.”
Centralising Procurement Processes with SAP Ariba Solution
The implementation of cloud-based SAP Ariba solution makes buying easier for employees and ensures Flint Group is making the most out of its budget. The procurement platform also has a Spot Buy capability that allows buyers to connect with trusted supply sources across multiple marketplaces for fast and compliant purchasing.
By leveraging SAP Ariba Procurement System and integrating its solution to the company’s back-end SAP ERP applications, the Flint Group has been successful in:
- Allowing its employees to have an intuitive user experience to make well-informed buying decisions while decreasing maverick spend.
- Attaching a corresponding Purchase Order (PO) to nearly every invoice to make tracking easier for AP, and execute accurate accounting and compliance.
- Maximising incentives and rebates while boosting the supplier experience.
- Establishing a preferred supplier program and reducing its tail-spend vendors.
- Avoiding unnecessary and duplicate purchases by obtaining greater visibility into existing stock.
- Reaching spending goals by facilitating bundle spend by category with a given vendor
Goektuerk Simsekol, Digital Transformation Director, Flint Group, said that the company now has a full-blown procurement system after deploying the SAP Ariba solution. He added that:
“Management can see detailed buying data over time, allowing them to identify trends and direct buyers to the best suppliers, prices, and promotions. They can also use spend data to negotiate better deals that save us money.”
Moreover, Simsekol stated that implementing the solution enabled the company to have clear visibility into purchasing behaviour. He maintained:
“Now, we can hold buyers responsible and empower approvers to look more than price — to really review what each purchase is for.”
About Flint Group
Founded in 2005, Flint Group was established by the union of XSYS Print Solutions and Flint Ink Corporation. Headquartered in Luxembourg, the company manufactures, develops, and markets a vast portfolio of printing equipment and printing consumables such as inks and blankets.
Flint Group utilises Ariba, an electronic transaction processing platform by SAP, in handling its supplier onboarding process and issuing invoices and POs. The company has been transacting electronically on the Ariba Network as a standard part of its operations.
