Schneider Electric Expands Range of Domestic Suppliers

Schneider Electric, the world leader in energy management and automation, will significantly increase the number of its suppliers in the region, including Hungary, creating EUR tens of millions in business opportunities.

Launched at the end of 2020, its supplier program is creating a dedicated team at the company's regional procurement center in Budapest to support the project, with the aim of increasing the role and number of its suppliers in the region.

Before the launch of the program, the company's European plants mainly received components and raw materials from suppliers in Western European countries and China, with the two regions accounting for 62% of total value at the end of 2019. The remainder were coming from emerging markets including South-East Asia, India and Eastern Europe. Since the launch of the program, emerging markets’ share has increased to 40%, with the aim of reaching 50% by the end of the year.

Increasing Eastern Europe’s role in Schneider’s supply chain is a major opportunity for Hungarian and surrounding countries’ businesses. In addition to Hungary, Schneider is targeting suppliers from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia, as well as Turkey and Ukraine. The company is primarily seeking new partners for small and medium series production processes (e.g. plastic parts, sheet bending and forming, CNC machining and copper forging).

“The fact that Schneider Electric wants to expand the number of its suppliers in the region, including in Hungary, demonstrates that we are committed to Eastern Europe,” according to Márton Oltvai, Director of Purchasing at Schneider Electric's Regional Purchasing Center, leader of the new team executing the supplier program. “So far, we have certified around 100 Hungarian suppliers about a fifth of them met our quality and other requirements. We currently work with eight domestic suppliers, employing around 1,500 people, but we would like to increase this number significantly. Our initiative will open up tens of millions of euros of business opportunities for Hungarian companies and others this year."

Schneider Electric has been present on the Hungarian market for more than 30 years, and the company, a pioneer in the digitization of energy management and industrial automation, currently has a team of 150 people working in its regional procurement center in Budapest, who are in contact with a total of 6,000 suppliers. It is bolstering the center in the next period, with nearly 300 people working there by 2023.

The company employs around 2,000 people in its four factories (two in Zalaegerszeg, one in Gyöngyös and one in Kunszentmiklós), and in its logistics center (CEElog Szigetszentmiklós), which serves more than 20 countries in the region, and its headquarters in Budapest, and invests EUR millions in Hungary every year.