How JAGGAER Will Transform Global Procurement for ebm-papst

ebm-papst has selected the source-to-pay and supplier collaboration platform JAGGAER One for its procurement.

As the world’s leading manufacturer of fans and motors, the ebm-papst Group is looking to optimise its supply chain, supplier and product group management, as well as e-procurement across the company.

In an effort to reduce both its direct and indirect purchasing costs and overall process costs, JAGGAER's software will be implemented step by step at production sites in Europe, the US and China.

JAGGAER is a global leader in enterprise procurement and supplier collaboration, and the catalyst for enhancing human decision-making to accelerate business outcomes.

Driving efficiency and planning dtability

JAGGAER One will debut with a focus on forecasting and purchase order management. To bolster planning stability and drive further cost savings, the group will implement regular capacity queries.

Looking ahead, the group plans to deepen supplier integration through Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI) and collaborative forecasting. Under this model, suppliers will leverage transparent data to independently monitor stock levels and manage replenishment.

Alexander Käss, Director of SCM at ebm-papst, says: “Our primary goal is to make supply chains even more robust in order to avoid production downtime at all costs. We also want to use JAGGAER to reduce material inventories and thus significantly lower our storage costs.”

Automating the sourcing lifecycle

The source-to-pay platform automates administrative tasks for direct material procurement. Buyers can generate RFQs using dynamic templates and data libraries synced directly with SAP material masters.

For more precise comparisons, flexible cost breakdown structures isolate material, manufacturing and logistics costs, while award scenarios can integrate risk and sustainability metrics. Once finalised, all terms are automatically updated in SAP.

To ensure a successful rollout, ebm-papst first enhanced its master data quality using BearingPoint’s Data Quality Navigator (DQN). BearingPoint is an independent management and technology consulting firm with European roots and global reach that transforms companies using modern technologies.

The use of this AI-driven tool will help to identify and resolve duplicates and inconsistencies, creating a clean data foundation.

Achieving global standardisation

Martin Wagener, Vice President Purchasing at ebm-papst, says: "BearingPoint and JAGGAER already demonstrated a deep understanding of the process during the selection process. With these strong partners and JAGGAER One, we can advance our goal of globally standardized procurement processes.”

The ebm-papst Group's products serve numerous industries, including air, refrigeration and air conditioning technology, heating technology, IT, mechanical engineering and medical technology. In the 2024/25 fiscal year, the ebm-papst Group generated sales of €2.1bn (US$.2.4bn)

The company employs around 13,500 people worldwide at 25 production sites, including in Germany, China and the USA, as well as in around 50 sales offices.

Bob O’Leary, SVP Europe at JAGGAER, adds: “The better the database, the better our assistants and AI agents can subsequently relieve the procurement teams of routine tasks. To do this, they create order proposals, communicate with suppliers for standard inquiries, or check for discrepancies between orders and data along the delivery chain.

“Cleaning up the data was all the more important because ebm-papst uses different SAP systems worldwide, whose information will flow into JAGGAER One.”