Work field

Materials Management, Procurement & Logistics

Materials Management, Procurement, and Logistics ensures that all of our products are at the right place at the right time. They are in charge of inventory management, managing and planning materials, the logistical procurement of goods and services, and delivering K+S products to customers. The employees in this area develop and implement important guidelines and processes so that logistics, supply chain, materials management, and procurement are more effective and efficient.

Materials Management

The materials management department coordinates logistical processes including inventory management, as well as warehousing and transportation of deliveries, products and equipment by ship, rail or HGV to ensure an adequate supply of goods and services.

The economic efficiency of all these activities is a keyfactor here and is continually monitored. Inventory counts and the analysis of stock etc. ensure that various types of stock are monitored.

Other tasks

Ensuring the optimum availability of goods
Managing warehouses
Carrying out maintenance and repair tasks
Efficient and uniform design of systems and material master data
Coordinating day-to-day and project business between purchasing, technical, production, IT, and corporate departments
Provision of decision-relevant purchasing and inventory controlling
Location-related and cross-location optimization of spare parts inventories

Procurement/Purchasing

The procurement department is a strategic partner for all transactions involving third party suppliers. The department achieves this by developing and implementing efficient and effective procurement and logistics strategies, identifying and using the potential for synergy, as well as managing suppliers. Procurement constantly creates opportunities to optimize costs, which significantly contributes to the competitiveness of the K+S Group. Employees working in Procurement also prepare requests for quotations, carry out negotiations, place orders and conclude (general) agreements or contracts.

Other tasks

Analyzing national and international procurement markets
Identifying, evaluating, qualifying, developing, and supporting possible procurement sources/suppliers
Requesting and reviewing offers, negotiating and concluding (framework) contracts, placing order orders and monitoring and handling purchasing processes
Supporting cost optimization initiatives
Clarifying quality issues (defects, delivery time, compliance with company guidelines, financial aspects)

Logistics

K+S raw materials and products often cover huge distances. Our logistics experts work on sophisticated concepts so that shipments are on schedule despite the huge distances and the different modes of transportation involved. The greater the distance the goods travel from the source to the customer, and the more services arranged, the more complex the processes become.

The Group has 25 supply chain departments to manage the logistics processes throughout the Group. They track the whole the transportation process. The K+S logistics experts also work with shipping companies, rail and road haulage companies, and warehousing and handling companies all over the world.

Other tasks

Coordinating material and information flow between suppliers, producers, distributors, and customers
Maintaining and executing volume and demand planning and forecast analyses, as well as delivery and production schedules based on internal and external information.
Performing strategic supply chain analyses
Identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the supply chain