Supply Chains Halve Manufacturing Lead Times Through Digital Procurement

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In manufacturing, every minute counts—making it all the more problematic when components for maintenance or retrofitting of equipment are missing. However, there are solutions that can even drastically reduce delivery times.

The specialist in lifting, lashing, and attachment technology, RUD, regularly requires components for these purposes—quickly, flexibly, and precisely tailored. Through Facturee, a specialist in digital procurement, the company sources CNC components such as milled and turned parts—both as individual pieces and in small series. The result: previous procurement lead times were halved, administrative effort was reduced by 20 percent, and supply security was improved.

RUD Ketten Rieger & Dietz GmbH u. Co. KG was founded in 1875 in Aalen, Swabia (Germany), and achieves an annual turnover of approximately $270 million with around 1,700 employees in over 120 countries. At locations in Germany, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Romania, and the USA, the family-owned company produces lifting and lashing components, traction chains, hoisting chains, and conveying systems.

Fast Delivery of Urgently Ceeded Components Required

Since short delivery times are becoming increasingly important for customers in the industry where RUD operates, the company has been regularly sourcing components through Facturee since 2021. These are primarily used for maintenance and specific customization of production facilities, such as special tools or precision spare parts in chain and component manufacturing. RUD also turns to Facturee when customized mechanical components are needed at short notice for equipment or to meet individual customer requirements in lifting and lashing technology.

"We turned to Facturee because we increasingly needed a wide variety of parts, often at short notice," explains Gisela Quintenz, Operations Manager at RUD. "Today, Facturee supplies us with a wide range of mechanical components. These are often very different parts, from single pieces to small series—mainly CNC turned and milled parts."

Speed Through A Large Manufacturing Network

With its holistic digital procurement model, Facturee handles all administrative tasks—from supplier search and technical consultation to manufacturing and post-processing—from a single source. Facturee has a network of over 2,000 manufacturing partners worldwide.

As the sole contractual partner, Facturee handles the entire process for RUD: from the inquiry to technical clarification, through to the manufacturing of parts including post-processing such as heat treatments or coatings. The digital procurement specialist covers a very wide range, from 3- to 5-axis machining to laser and welded parts.

Gisela Quintenz says: "We always receive offers very quickly, and delivery times are also short. This allows us to adapt flexibly in our production, for example, when making adjustments. This gives us a high degree of planning security and prevents costly downtimes. The large manufacturing network ensures that even short-term requests are implemented quickly. With a dedicated contact person managing the entire process for us, we save valuable time and effort."

Administrative Effort Reduced by Around 20 Percent

Since the beginning of the partnership, Facturee has supplied RUD with more than 500 different custom parts. "Out of 132 orders, we had only one complaint, which was quickly and easily resolved. Thanks to Facturee, we were able to halve delivery times in procurement and reduce the administrative effort from order processing to goods receipt by around 20 percent. This allows us to gain valuable time for our core business and, in turn, improve our own delivery reliability," explains Gisela Quintenz. (mk)

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