Global Purchasing Processes in the Business Sector Automotive Aftermarket: Development of a Reference Model

109 Pages·2014·2.976 MB·English

by  Anna-Lena Jäger (auth.)

BestMasters
Springer awards “BestMasters” to the best application-oriented master’s theses,
which were completed at renowned chairs of economic sciences in Germany,
Austria, and Switzerland in 2013.
Th e works received highest marks and were recommended for publication by
supervisors. As a rule, they show a high degree of application orientation and deal
with current issues from diff erent fi elds of economics.
Th e series addresses practitioners as well as scientists and off ers guidance for early
stage researchers.
Anna-Lena Jäger
Global Purchasing
Processes in the Business
Sector Automotive
Aftermarket
Development of a Reference Model
Forewords by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Gottschalck
and Dipl.Ing. Jochen Polke
Anna-Lena Jäger
Pforzheim, Germany
ISBN 978-3-658-04647-7 ISBN 978-3-658-04648-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-04648-4
Th e Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografi e;
detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013956639
Springer Gabler
© Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 2014
Th is work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole
or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical
way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, compu-
ter soft ware, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereaft er developed.
Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or schol-
arly analysis or material supplied specifi cally for the purpose of being entered and executed
on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this
publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of
the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained
from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright
Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law.
Th e use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date
of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal re-
sponsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. Th e publisher makes no warranty,
express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
Printed on acid-free paper
Springer Gabler is a brand of Springer DE.
Springer DE is part of Springer Science+Business Media.
www.springer-gabler.de
Foreword V
Foreword
The present work connects in an exemplary manner methodical approaches to a practical
problem formulation and provides a crucial solution in the end. Through this, it was possible
to begin the implementation of the compiled suggestions in a contemporary way at the Robert
Bosch GmbH. Exactly this is the aim of the education in the course of studies Business Ad-
ministration and Engineering at the University of Applied Science Pforzheim.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Gottschalck
Professor for Purchasing and Logistic at the University of Applied Science Pforzheim
Foreword VII
Foreword
"Processes make slow”, “processes interfere, cost time and resources". These or similar
statements can be heard often when processes should be implemented new or reworked; and it
may be even right partially if there are no guidelines or every business unit only did what and
how they wanted to. However, if an enterprise or a functional area reaches a certain size, sev-
eral locations are to be led in different countries or even regions, processes are more than es-
sential. The savings of resources and time by avoiding iterations, the "do it right at the first
time", balance from experience each additional effort.
The business division Automotive Aftermarket of the Robert Bosch GmbH, and with it also
the purchasing area, has grown enormously in recent years. Especially purchasing plays a
crucial importance with its strategic significance and responsibility regarding cost-quality-
logistic. Today a considerably three-digit number of employees deal in almost three dozen
locations worldwide with purchasing subjects and purchasing quality management. Supplier
A delivers product B in region C and product D in region E; the product group F is purchased
from supplier G from region H for the regions I and J. These and similar complex relations in
a worldwide operating, transnational and vertical function are only controllable successfully
with standardized and globally consistent processes which are at the same time „lean, fast and
focused“.
The present thesis describes the approach as well as the results of the modification of existing
purchasing processes and accordingly the development and implementation of new guidelines
and standards; the suitable process development was very challenging and both criteria - the
process design as well as with the innovative aspect - were realized.
The real attractiveness of the work was that the subject was not a theoretical issue. The entire
purchasing process map is implemented worldwide and for the first time more than 20,000
employees in a business division are affected and act integrative within their daily operations
by using the new guidelines and standards.

Dipl.Ing. Jochen Polke
Director Purchasing Quality Management Automotive Aftermarket, Robert Bosch GmbH
Acknowledgement IX
Acknowledgement
The present master thesis was written from March to September 2013 in the business sector
Automotive Aftermarket at the Robert Bosch GmbH in Karlsruhe in the Purchasing Quality
Management Department. Due to the purchase of many companies in recent years and a still
growing Automotive Aftermarket business sector, it was moreover indicated that a reorgani-
zation of the Process Map is unavoidable. It became clear that it was the only way to satisfy
the new complex process requirements in future as well as to coping with the new challenges.
Hence, the subject arose from suggestions by the Purchasing Quality Management Depart-
ment and the importance and implementation was confirmed by the management. The goal of
the master thesis is accordingly the development of a reference model for all purchasing pro-
cesses in the Automotive Aftermarket area.
I thank the Robert Bosch GmbH for the possibility to write the thesis in the enterprise. More-
over, I thank all employees of the involved Purchasing Departments for their active support
by the realization of the master thesis. In addition, I would like to thank particularly for the
extensive support and the professional assistance on the part of the enterprise Mr. Thomas
Wald, Mr. Jochen Polke as well as the whole team of my department.
I owe thanks to Prof. Dr. Jürgen Gottschalck for the extraordinary support and comprehensive
scientific supervision of the work by the University of Pforzheim. Furthermore I would like to
thank Dipl. Phys. Bernd Kuppinger for the second correction.
Finally I would like to thank all people who have supported me by the realization of my mas-
ter thesis as well as throughout my whole studies. These special thanks are valid above all for
my family and my friends.

Anna-Lena Jäger
List of Contents XI
List of Contents
List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ XV
List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................... XVII

1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Problem ........................................................................................................................ 1
1.2 Goals and Limitations .................................................................................................. 2
1.3 Structure and Contents................................................................................................. 3
2 Company Profile ............................................................................................................... 6
2.1 Robert Bosch GmbH ................................................................................................... 6
2.2 Business Sector Automotive Aftermarket ................................................................... 7
2.3 Organization Structure of AA/PU ............................................................................... 8
3 Theoretical Backgrounds ............................................................................................... 10
3.1 Business Process Management .................................................................................. 10
3.1.1 Definition ........................................................................................................... 10
3.1.2 Importance and Duties of Business Process Management ................................. 13
3.1.3 Business Process Management Loop ................................................................. 14
3.1.4 Different Approaches in Practice ....................................................................... 16
3.2 Business Modeling .................................................................................................... 17
4 Approach of the survey and modeling of processes ..................................................... 19
4.1 Preparation for the Process Analysis ......................................................................... 19
4.1.1 Principles according Modeling Rules ................................................................ 19
4.1.1.1 Intention of the principles ............................................................................... 19
4.1.1.2 Description of the single principles ................................................................ 20
4.1.2 Definition of general conditions ......................................................................... 21
4.1.2.1 Setting of a Framework .................................................................................. 21
4.1.2.2 Description and Selection of Survey Methods ............................................... 22
4.1.3 Procedure for the Process Modeling .................................................................. 24
4.1.3.1 Definition of the Modeling Purpose ............................................................... 24
XII List of Contents
4.1.3.2 Determination of Rules for the Modeling Purpose ......................................... 25
4.1.3.3 Definition of Modeling Language and Modeling Tool .................................. 26
4.2 Analysis of the initial situation .................................................................................. 28
4.3 Approach with the creation of the new processes ..................................................... 29
4.4 Implementation of the new processes ........................................................................ 32
5 Process Modeling with BPMN ....................................................................................... 35
5.1 The BPMN Language ................................................................................................ 35
5.2 Important Elements of the BPMN Language ............................................................ 36
5.2.1 Swimlanes .......................................................................................................... 36
5.2.2 Flow Objects ...................................................................................................... 37
5.2.2.1 Start and End Event ........................................................................................ 37
5.2.2.2 Activity ........................................................................................................... 37
5.2.2.3 Gateways ........................................................................................................ 38
5.2.3 Connectors .......................................................................................................... 40
5.2.3.1 Sequence Flow ................................................................................................ 40
5.2.3.2 Association ..................................................................................................... 40
5.2.4 Artifacts .............................................................................................................. 41
5.2.4.1 Data Object ..................................................................................................... 41
5.2.4.2 Data Store ....................................................................................................... 41
5.3 Modeling with inubit Suite ........................................................................................ 42
6 The Project “BPM@AA” ............................................................................................... 44
6.1 Project Description .................................................................................................... 44
6.2 Overview of the PU-Reference Model ...................................................................... 45
6.3 Optimized and Developed Processes ......................................................................... 47
6.3.1 Define and agree on RPP projects ...................................................................... 47
6.3.2 Define purchasing targets ................................................................................... 49
6.3.3 Evaluate existing parts to identify potential ....................................................... 51
6.3.4 Conduct contracting ........................................................................................... 52
6.3.5 Supplier enabling projects with suppliers .......................................................... 53
6.3.6 Release series production ................................................................................... 54