Blog
October 29, 2024
Kicking off the discussion, Rasmus Nielsen of KK Wind Solutions shared how his organization is harnessing automation to tackle the demands of rapid growth. With KK Wind’s team tripling in size over the past three years, they’ve had to scale their sourcing operations in lockstep.
Leveraging Keelvar’s sourcing automation tools, KK Wind now runs over 4,000 fully automated sourcing events annually. For Rasmus, sourcing excellence means “working smarter, not harder,” allowing KK Wind to keep pace without compromising quality.
"To me," he explained, "sourcing excellence is all about challenging the status quo. It’s about working smarter, optimizing processes, and following along with growth."
"It’s about working smarter, optimizing processes, and following along with growth"
Bartosz Kalwinski from Mars brought an ambitious perspective. "What we set together with the leadership team is that we want to actually automate 50,000 events annually. It’s a bold statement, but with the volume of events we handle, it’s definitely possible," he shared.
Mars has woven Keelvar’s Autonomous Sourcing into their procurement framework, empowering teams to focus less on repetitive tasks and more on strategic initiatives. With automation now at the core of Mars’s sourcing approach, Bartosz highlighted the transformative power of Keelvar’s platform in supporting Mars’s commitment to sourcing excellence at scale.
Henkel’s Hardik Singhvi shed light on the integral role of digital transformation within their procurement strategy. "Our focus is to have an effortless and seamless end-to-end flow from sourcing to purchasing. That’s what true integration and automation bring to our process," he noted.
Henkel leverages Keelvar’s scenario analysis and seamless API integrations to improve decision-making, enhance efficiency, and boost adoption. For Henkel, sourcing excellence is about creating a frictionless experience through data-driven processes that optimize outcomes and reduce cycle times.
Each panelist acknowledged the importance of Centers of Excellence as part of their sourcing strategy. Mars and Henkel employ a hybrid model, combining centralized expertise with self-service capabilities for wider teams. This approach enables Mars and Henkel to leverage the COE’s advanced capabilities for complex projects while empowering procurement teams with tools to perform routine tasks autonomously.
"What we want to do with the Center of Excellence team is maximize the benefits of the system," Bartosz explained. "We’re focusing on the most complex projects, where we can really drive value for the business."
An essential theme throughout the discussion was quantifying the impact of digital sourcing. Rasmus underscored how automation and optimization drive measurable benefits, with KK Wind achieving significant efficiencies by integrating Keelvar’s tools across procurement activities.
Bartosz added that Mars tracks savings and productivity gains as essential metrics, using data to demonstrate the tangible value Keelvar delivers in enabling smarter, more efficient sourcing.
For Keelvar’s Dylan Alperin, driving adoption is all about creating pathways to make Keelvar the easiest option available.
"We shouldn’t be afraid of adding barriers to other tools we don’t want people to use. Make it more annoying, honestly, so people naturally go to where you want them to go."
"We shouldn’t be afraid of adding barriers to other tools we don’t want people to use"
Rasmus echoed this strategy, sharing that KK Wind had “made it impossible not to use Keelvar” by designing workflows that naturally push users toward the system, thus ensuring seamless adoption and operational consistency.
One of the key questions from the audience explored the flexibility of Autonomous Sourcing across categories. While Henkel and Mars noted that some categories lend themselves more readily to automation, Rasmus emphasized that success is ultimately about the process, not the category.
KK Wind has successfully applied autonomous sourcing across diverse categories, proving that with the right mindset and technology, sourcing excellence can transcend traditional boundaries.
"For me, it’s category agnostic," he said. "It’s really about challenging the way people are working and driving them in a new direction."
In closing, the panelists agreed that the journey to sourcing excellence is ongoing, with each organization continually refining its approach to drive greater value. Dylan highlighted the importance of integration, noting, "Integration, to me, is the key to really driving scale. When we talk about thousands of events a year, thousands of events a month, integration becomes really, really key in driving that adoption and scale."
From enhancing adoption to building integrated ecosystems, the path forward is one of collaboration, innovation, and an unwavering commitment to efficiency.
By leveraging Keelvar’s advanced sourcing tools, Mars, Henkel, and KK Wind are not only scaling their operations but also setting new standards for sourcing excellence. With the insights and strategies shared by industry leaders, it’s clear that the future of procurement is one where automation and integration enable smarter, faster, and more strategic sourcing decisions.
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