Daimler turns to blockchain for procurement prudence

“The existing system was slow and inefficient and made it hard to identify all risks and obligations out of contracts,” said Ulrich Ochmann, from Daimler’s New Procurement System (NPS) division.

“We wanted sourcing and contracting to go hand in hand. In procurement you start with sourcing but immediately you also start your first contracts, and when this is joined in one powerful tool you have everything transparent.”

The tool that Daimler settled on was Icertis Contract Management (ICM), a cloud-based platform that gives visibility into renewal times, obligations and compliance, helping firms turn their supply chain data into strategic business assets. Building on this foundation, Daimler and Icertis discovered they could tackle more than just contract lifecycle management and sourcing.

An opportunity was identified to build on the ICM platform to address a key issue in supply chain management – improving visibility into how ethical and sustainable sourcing terms were being propagated down through the various tiers of Daimler’s supplier network. This led to the development of a joint blockchain initiative that could address the issue within Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz Cars division.