What is o9 Doing for RHI Magnesita's Digital Transformation?

As organisations seek to build resilient and integrated supply chains, procurement reliability has become a critical priority.

RHI Magnesita (RHIM), a cement company and supplier of refractory products, systems and services, manages a complex, vertically-integrated procurement network within heavy industry. Given that its products are essential to customers, the company must ensure resilience across every stage of its sourcing operations.

At the Go&See event in Vienna, co-hosted by o9, EFESO and RHIM, leaders gathered to explore how o9 Solutions is supporting RHIM with its digital procurement and supply chain planning transformation.

Procurement under pressure

The volatile supply chain environment over recent years has highlighted how quickly a single sourcing failure can produce process-stopping consequences for global procurement operations. Organisations that are not taking steps to undergo transformation or build procurement resilience strategies could risk falling behind or losing the agility to maintain operations during periods of turbulence.

The event served as an opportunity for business leaders to gain first-hand insight into how digital transformation can help develop streamlined procurement processes.

Alberto Fabregat, SVP, Strategy and Sales at o9 says: "For attendees, it was a unique opportunity to hear leaders at a large global enterprise speak candidly about the learnings behind the transformation, the redesign of its operating model, the progress achieved to date and the value across inventory, service performance and planning productivity."

Strategic sourcing requirements

RHIM works with some of the world's most demanding industrial processes, with its products forming the backbone of modern infrastructure and mining operations.

As Alberto says, for RHIM, "The stakes could hardly be higher. Much like a single faulty component can halt an entire automotive assembly line, the failure of one refractory element can bring a complex, capital-intensive operation to a standstill. For RHI Magnesita's customers, reliability is a prerequisite."

To meet this standard, the company must maintain robust global sourcing capabilities that can operate across complex procurement networks. The requirement to deliver high precision at scale has shaped RHIM's transformation strategy, developed with support from experts at o9.

The strategy is built around four procurement-focused priorities:

• RHIM procures for more than 250,000 SKUs across 10,000 customer locations and a network of 67 production sites and more than 250 warehouses, aiming to release working capital while maintaining the strategic balance needed to deliver consistently high service to customers
• With such a global procurement network, RHIM faces the risks of fragmented systems and manual buffers and is working to redesign planning processes to connect silos and enable higher-value procurement decisions
• The company is working to become contractually committed to supply continuity and resilience, which could provide a strategic advantage when operating in a volatile procurement market
• RHIM is embedding circular economy principles into its procurement planning to reduce CO₂ emissions and build greater self-sufficiency

Alberto says: "Each of these levers demanded a planning platform capable of operating at genuine enterprise scale, integrating across a fragmented global network and adapting as the business model evolved."

Procurement transformation in action

RHIM has gained significant value since implementing the o9 platform across its procurement operations. Prior to adopting o9, demand planning was conducted at aggregated levels, but the company now has statistical and machine learning-based forecasting capabilities.

The system also guides planners and procurement teams on where intervention can be utilised to improve accuracy. Moreover, RHIM can undertake automated supply plan generation to enable forward-looking scenario planning for procurement.

Alberto says: "Replenishment and feasibility views have replaced hundreds of localised spreadsheets, creating a single, standardised approach across regions. As a result, the role of the planner has fundamentally shifted."

This means that procurement teams can now focus on specific issues, identify bottlenecks and proactively evaluate sourcing scenarios. The company is now achieving controlled agility which operates across a comprehensive and cohesive procurement planning backbone.

The event demonstrated how accurate forecasting, intelligent inventory positioning, reliable order promising and the ability to absorb disruption without impacting customers have become the differentiator in procurement. To succeed, businesses need to make strategic partner decisions, evaluating who can design, build and continuously improve the product.