Our success depends on the skills and calibre of our employees. For this reason, we extended our Fit4 Procurement programme in the year under review and conducted subject-specific training courses focusing primarily on how to manage virtual global teams.

Procurement with greater focus on the environment

The principal procurement initiatives during the year attached a high priority to environmental aspects of our business. For instance, we purchased computers that are certified as environmentally friendly and energy-efficient. In Germany, we switched most of our electricity supply to renewable energies; 100% of the electricity consumed by our corporate headquarters and more than 60% of the electricity consumed by our branches now comes from eco-friendly sources. In addition to the percentages of renewable energy that make up the power supply in Germany, this is realised indirectly by purchasing certificates from the Renewable Energy Certificate System (RECS).

Since 2008, our Green Team – made up of procurement managers from various regions and product groups – takes care of the environmental aspects of procurement. They have drawn up a Green Procurement Policy that requires all our major suppliers to provide information about any activities that impact the environment and to specify their carbon footprint. Furthermore, the team works together with suppliers to develop energy-saving solutions.

Work more closely with customers and suppliers

We have stepped up our co-operation with our internal business partners and increased the First Choice activities. For example, we improved both our internal workflows and the interfaces with internal partners and suppliers. An example is the assignment of temporary staff at the DHL facility in Brussels where we are now able to locate the right specialist more quickly when needed, resulting in lower recruitment costs.

Together with its business partners, Procurement regularly reviews the service quality of our key suppliers in order to identify and eliminate potential weaknesses at an early stage. We rely primarily on strategic partnerships to optimise costs and ensure high quality and flexibility in the supply chain. In the reporting year, nine suppliers were the best at meeting these requirements. We recognised them at our first Global Supplier Day for exceptional, substantially improved and innovative services.

Since 2008, all standard contracts have included our Code of Conduct for suppliers. In this way, we ensure that all the major companies we work with meet our ethical and environmental standards.