To remain competitive, businesses must strive to optimise operational efficiency by saving on wasted resources and cutting unnecessary expenses. In addition to negotiating the best price for parts and materials, there may be hidden costs surrounding purchasing and storing stock which add up.

For small parts, internal processing costs may exceed the actual value of the goods many times over. In addition to the cost of parts, materials and labour, hidden operating costs include man hours spent on clerical tasks such as organising invoices, dual entry of documents and more.

An accurate measure of stock levels and storage space is also required to combat high costs. Reordering required products at a critical time can prevent further delays in productive works, while mistakenly reordering plentiful products may be considered a waste of financial resources.

Your company can save time and money in purchasing and procurement duties of accounts departments by linking purchasing system with Würth UK’s systems. Orders can be automated to save time regularly spent on stocktaking, preparing order lists and processing payments.

Paper waste and repetitive filing tasks can be reduced when documents are digitised, further saving time and avoiding manual errors.

Digitising your procurement system can give you a complete overview of purchases and stock levels, to help avoid unnecessary overstocks and to recover space while enable swift reordering of components with low stock levels.

Below are some examples of the E-Business Solutions a digital connection with Würth UK can offer.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

An EDI connection can help your business avoid mistakes and delays incurred when working with paper documents such as order confirmations, delivery receipts and invoices.

Electronic Data Interchange allows the automatic and instantaneous transfer of information that purchasers and suppliers traditionally took for granted as requiring paperwork, signatures and postage. Instead, this information is shared between the purchaser and the supplier and is automatically kept up to date as the information is updated.

Purchasing systems can automatically provide users with digital delivery notices, invoices and order confirmations, to save time spent filing documents and communicating with suppliers.

Cost Centres

Even when turning a profit, companies may ultimately waste resources due to a poor understanding of what funds are spent on which areas. While materials are often purchased in bulk to be used in multiple projects or at different sites, accurate cost analysis must still be conducted to assess cost-effectiveness of each team, department or site. With Würth’s E-Business services, Cost Centres can be easily established to analyse expenditure at a very granular level.

With an e-Shop account, the cost of particular orders or items can be attributed to specific departments, teams or tasks to improve accuracy in accounting and provide more useful data in budgeting and tracking expenditure. Data can then be exported for calculations and digital record keeping.

Open Catalog Interface (OCI)

An Open Catalog Interface simplifies the procurement process by establishing a direct connection between the customer’s purchasing system and the vendor’s e-commerce site, enabling direct access to the supplier’s product catalogue without the need to enter any login credentials.

Customers that use a compatible purchasing system such as PunchOut can save time spent logging into Würth UK’s e-Shop to fill a shopping basket and checkout, instead accessing product data within their own system. When an order is completed, it is automatically transferred to Würth UK’s system, generating an order number for the warehouse logistics team to pick and pack right away.

Connecting computer systems through an Open Catalog Interface can save purchasing departments valuable time creating order lists, inputting orders and finalising the purchase, instead working the entire time conveniently within their own system.

Würth UK’s e-business services have saved time and cut costs for businesses of all sizes. Think we might have an e-Procurement solution that fits your company? Visit our e-Procurement homepage to learn more about our available solutions or to get in touch to arrange a consultation.