DEUTSCHE BAHN
20 simply providing procurement platforms . He found himself responsible for two regions ( North and West ) and heading up the procurement infrastructure .
“ We were procuring something like one billion euros ,” he recalls . “ That is when I really learned all about these operational processes and supply management in those regions . Shortly after this , I was asked to come back to the central functions and set up a supplier management and quality assurance team .
“ That was quite a challenge because we hadn ’ t had this before . The quality engineers usually didn ’ t have anything to do with procurement and they weren ’ t operating as a real team .”
The following challenge facing Grothe was huge . He was tasked with not only heading procurement strategy but also implementing IT systems – putting procurement at Deutsche Bahn through a literal digital transformation .
Seven years prior to Grothe joining , Deutsche Bahn was formed as a new legal entity in 1994 out of a merger of the eastern and western rail companies . The workforce stood at around 500,000 and in a drive to increase efficiency , that was halved by the time Grothe arrived . He says that had a significant impact on the
culture of the business and was one of the many initial hurdles he faced .
In 2019 Grothe took over the procurement infrastructure department with almost 500 colleagues , facing a huge challenge as the German government recognized the importance of rail transport in its fight against climate change . The resulting cash injections ( currently EU12 billion in 2021 and rising to EU15 billion each year to 2025 ) mean that a new strategy was developed and Grothe found himself responsible for a procurement budget larger than the GDP of Albania .
FEBRUARY 2021