Mathias Grünewald

Mathias Grünewald studied economics before embarking on his three decade procurement journey.

Starting immediately after studies, he witnessed procurement functions in many industries change from a tactical to a strategic role as he was working in the automotive industry.

He joined Merck, the pharmaceutical manufacturing company in 1993 to take up a Team Leader role in the indirect spend area, where over time he became responsible for most of the indirect sourcing categories.

Later, he moved to direct material sourcing, before becoming the CPO for the electronic division in Merck KGaA Darmstadt. In this role he took responsibility for the global strategic and sourcing and was a member of the Global Procurement Board with the focus on developing overall Procurement. 

His focus was always value and business driven, he is a strong believer in having a sourcing community that understands the business needs and supports sourcing with an eye on the future.

Procurement is a key function and contributes significantly to the overall business success.

What is the mission for Merck procurement? 

It is our mission to strategically source high-quality goods and services at optimal costs, ensuring value creation and innovation while maintainingMatheus Grunwald, strong ethical standards and sustainability practices. 

It supports Merck Electronics' broader goal of “Advancing digital living”, that is, providing solutions that enable the electronics industry to reach the next level in digitization and Artificial Intelligence.

We are collaborating closely with our internal partners in the business to meet their sourcing needs with a focus on consistent supply, quality and cost-effectiveness. 

What are the chief procurement challenges at Merck?

Our procurement team navigates the complexities of sourcing for diverse business needs and a global network. We balance the multidimensionality of our organisation by ensuring we stay in close touch with our businesses. 

Our approach is to be ambidextrous, juggling business focus with market expertise to meet global priorities. It's essential to maintain flexibility and avoid rigidity, allowing for responsive support across teams to effectively manage this extensive portfolio.

How do you embed sustainability into procurement and supply chain?

Sustainability is a cornerstone of our procurement and supply chain strategy. We are committed to incorporating sustainable practices throughout our sourcing strategies and procurement processes. 

We engage with stakeholders, and aim to shape sustainability standards and approaches together with peers and industry associations such as TfS-Together for Sustainability for future readiness, fostering a culture of collaboration. 

We partner with suppliers to find sustainable solutions, prioritise sustainable sourcing, and strive to minimise our environmental impact.

How do you balance procurement and sustainability targets?

Sustainability is now a common topic of conversation in our relationship with key suppliers, alongside the classical procurement subjects. 

This is a two-way conversation and there is benefit on both sides. We have signed contracts with suppliers that include sustainability related clauses to reach mutual goals. Furthermore we have embedded sustainability elements  into our requests for proposals and consider the responses as part of the selection process

What does cutting-edge procurement look like?

To ensure our procurement operation at Merck remains at the leading edge, we partner with technology innovators and industry thought leaders to remain up to date with the latest advancements. 

By prioritising the strategic utilisation of big data, we augment data from various solutions and contextualise it within a procurement domain specific data ontology, all managed under a stringent data governance framework. 

This strong foundation empowers us to leverage advanced analytics, to deploy AI-driven tools, and to integrate state-of-the-art procurement solutions effectively and with speed.

To read the full story in the magazine click HERE

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