A done deal

Robert Bosch Packaging Technology GmbH is part of the worldwide Bosch Group – a leading global technology and services supplier. It recently invested in Radan to produce accurate procurement costings for the packaging machines it manufactures for the food and pharma industries.

With only a small in-house production team, the company outsources production of its sheetmetal parts. Dominik Bach is responsible for the material-field management of sheetmetal products in the headquarters at Robert Bosch Packaging Technology’s base in Waiblingen, Germany. He says Radan solved an important issue: “Our suppliers weren’t able to give us accurate and fast calculations regarding the sheetmetal parts,” he explains.

“We’d often receive late and incorrect offers and sometimes the part would be quoted at different prices. So we set-up a fixed order pattern using Radan. Instead of sending out a request to suppliers, receiving an offer, and then placing the order, we can now tell them the accurate cost of the component and its individual operations.”

To manage that, Bosch invested in several Radan modules: Radimport, Radprofile, Radmanager and Radquote, which automates most of the calculations. The engineering department produces 3D SolidWorks models which are imported into Radprofile through Radimport, and automatically unfolded, showing laser cutting time and material usage.

Predefined formulae are then inputted using popup menus for the costs of individual operations on the parts – including bending, straighten, deburring, welding, glass-bead-blasting, drilling, purchased parts, manpower and delivery.

“These calculations fix the price for machining cycle times and all additions,” Mr Bach says. “The only variable is the hourly rate for our suppliers’ shopfloor workers. But it means we fix the end price we’re prepared to pay each subcontractor, and we can back it up with our calculations produced by Radan.

“If a supplier has higher manpower costs we help them with supplier development tools (e.g. quick-change-over workshops) to optimise production to compete with a supplier who has lower manpower costs. For example, a supplier with fast laser cutting but slower welding rates, would lose out on a project requiring more welding. Radan gives us the ability to always select the best supplier. We send our calculations to the suppliers along with the order and the STEP files of the part.”

He says it’s a win-win situation both for Bosch and the supplier, citing three major benefits for both parties. For Bosch it shortens the overall lead time, by skipping the request for quotation time, between five and eight days; it achieves constant price and planning reliability. The errors caused by manual calculations are eliminated; and cost savings are made through optimal placement of orders according to supplier strengths.

For the suppliers: no calculations are required; no sales effort is necessary to win orders from Bosch; and they get a multi-year contract to produce the parts.

“Another major advantage is that the software shows each supplier’s individual strengths,” Mr Bach adds. “For example, if a part requires a number of welding operations, Radan will highlight which is the most suitable supplier for each part. It means that we not only control the price, but we choose the best subcontractor based on the part requirements. And the suppliers get orders from us which reflect their own strengths.”

Currently Dominik Bach and his team use Radan in this way, but if the pilot scheme proves as successful as early indications would suggest, it is likely to be rolled out to other Bosch plants around the world.

“Radan could eventually have a major influence on the efficiency of our procurement processes globally,” he concludes.

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