The event organized by the German Association for Supply Chain Management, Procurement and Logistics (BME) offers a unique platform to enable discussions between procurement professionals and SMEs at the highest level. The 6th CEE Procurement & Supply Forum brought together industry purchasers and suppliers from the automotive, machinery, plant engineering sector and its partners from the CEE markets, including the EIC funded company Schrott24.
Historically SMEs have faced a range of barriers in accessing procurement opportunities and in winning contracts. Whilst these barriers still exist, the German Association for Supply Chain Management, Procurement and Logistics (BME) have a specific focus on supporting SMEs to engage with procurement processes. The 6th CEE Procurement & Supply Forum intended to connect Central Eastern European suppliers from 20 countries with buyer’s needs in the automotive, machinery and plant engineering sector, as well as the electronics.
“It's a perfect platform for us to get high quality leads”
The Forum is giving a promising perspective for the EIC funded companies. Jan Pannenbäcker, Co-founder & Managing Director of Schrott 24 GMBH participated in the event and gave his testimony:
“The conference was a perfect match for us. In the end, 13 out of the 19 buyers were a fit. One wants to start instantly. It's a perfect platform for us to get high quality leads. We will stay in touch with the BME guys”, he added.
Schrott 24 is a developer of an online marketplace for scrap metals. The company's platform offers customized sales concepts for bulk quantities and lets users choose between self-delivery, pick-up, parcel shipping or collection systems. This service enables scrap metal sellers to maximize their financial returns and scrap metal recyclers to operate at full capacity. The project has received a Phase 1 and Phase 2 grant from the EIC SME Instrument program in 2018 and 2019.
Amongst major German industry purchasers, BME invited: Amazonen-Werke H.Dreyer, Boyd Corporation, BPW, Diehl Controls, Eberspächer Exhaust Technology, GRAMMER AG, KIRCHHOFF Automotive, ROFA Industrial Automation, Sikora, SMS group, Stabilus, Webasto Roof & Components SE.
Eyes and ears are the best tools a supply chain professional can use to manage and improve supplier performance. Through this networking event, a buyer can determine if a new or existing supplier has the necessary leadership, organizational structure and operational process controls to meet the company’s material and service requirements. In front of these 20 major buyers of the sector, 150 SMEs from Eastern and Central Europe were invited to present and pitch their potential products and feed these industry purchasers. More than 400 individual B2B-Matchmaking were organized.
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.