The Fronius Supplier Day

At the start of the event, guests were welcomed by Herbert Mühlböck, Management Board member for supply chain management at Fronius International with a short company presentation. The participants were perfectly prepared for the day with an introduction and inputs for the themes change/future of procurement, digitalization and network as wells as raw material supply. Moreover, the suppliers were invited to actively engage and be part of the workshops during the course of the day.

With the statement “Everything that can be digitized will be digitized and everything that is digitized will be automized” the next speech was introduced. Christopher Holly and Stefan Rabl, strategic development and procurement organization at Fronius International presented within the framework of “Fronius Procurement – Digital Tools” current projects regarding digital tools within the operational and strategical area. Here the importance of a value network and the referring development have been pointed out. The core of the speech was the detailed presentation of digital procurement tools regarding the operational and strategical side.

Under the title “Drivers of innovation within procurement – human & technology”, Bernhard Mitter, Materials Director Flex Ltd. gave very interesting insights into current projects related to digitalization within the supply chain. Two exciting projects that are addressed to robotic process automation and real time systems have been presented in detail. Within an online live-demonstration the usage and application of a real-time system for the query of supply chain data has been presented to the audience.

Subsequent followed another interesting expert presentation on the theme of “Raw material risks for the industry” from Dr. Hubertus Bardt, General Manager of the cologne institute for Economic Research. The main focus within this speech was on special risks related to the supply of different raw materials and preventive measures.

The second main part of the 10th supplier day featured future workshops regarding the topics

• Digital Tools
• The future of procurement and
• The future of raw material supply.

The participants had the chance to actively exchange with others, discuss together and bring in ideas in small workshop groups for special defined workshop questions. Each future workshop had a different setting within which a lively participation took place.

As usual the day was concluded with the traditional tour of the Sattledt site.