In previous blog posts we have already introduced you to our Procurement Academy and our approaches to e-learning. Now that we have been able to further develop these for many years and successfully establish them with customers from a wide range of industries, it is time for the next step. In partnership with the Maschinenbau-Institut, a company of the Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau (German Engineering Federation), we have further specified modules from our existing academy and now offer them in a certification course as „Strategic Procurement Managers“.

Contents of the VDMA certification course

Especially in mechanical and plant engineering, where the procurement department is generally responsible for more than 50 percent of the total costs and the external share of the total value added continues to rise, procurement plays a decisive role. Our certification course therefore focuses on the procurement manager as a strategist, negotiator and designer:

1. Basics of strategic procurement: You will get to know the most important methods for defining objectives and strategies in procurement and develop concrete commodity group maps for the implementation and further development of your commodity group strategy.
2. Cost transparency in procurement: You will receive concrete guidance on total cost considerations and cost structure analysis in procurement. The methods and tools learned will enable you to establish cost transparency in the procurement process and to communicate this in an understandable way – a competence that is expected from every good purchaser.
3. Prepare and conduct negotiations: Using modern methods and techniques, you will learn how to prepare negotiations in a target-oriented manner and conduct conversations confidently. Templates for the application to negotiations of all kinds support you in your daily practice. This enables you as a buyer to achieve excellent negotiation results and, with the help of appropriate follow-up work, to sustainably secure the success of negotiations.
4. Digitization in procurement: You gain an overview of the individual digitization potential in your company and receive step-by-step instructions for the successful implementation of digitization projects. The course teaches the necessary skills to correctly prioritize, evaluate and structure digitization projects – which are often not initiated by the procurement department itself.

General conditions and registration

 The target group of the certification course are employees from the procurement and materials management departments who are in the process of developing into strategic procurement managers and would like to systematize and expand their knowledge, as well as career changers and junior managers in procurement.

The program is aimed at both VDMA members and non-members who receive a certificate from the Maschinenbau-Institut at the end of the course if they participate successfully and fully. Information on participation fees, event dates and venues as well as registration can be found on the website of the Maschinenbau-Institut at https://www.maschinenbau-institut.de/einkauf/zertifikatslehrgang-strategischer-einkaufsmanager/

We look forward to the first joint implementation of the „Strategic Procurement Manager“ certification course in 2020, would like to thank the Maschinenbau-Institut for the partnership and hope for lively interest.

 

Gregor van Ackeren

Managing Director, ADCONIA GmbH

Vivien Koch

Consultant, ADCONIA GmbH