In 2010, its anniversary year, sourcing consultant Inverto forecasts record sales of EUR 25 million

Investing in growth has paid off – a positive start with numerous new customers

At owner-managed sourcing consultant Inverto, all the signs point toward growth. In what is now its tenth year, the company is expecting a turnover of around EUR 25 million. Inverto ended business year 2009 with sales of around EUR 20.4 million. This represented a moderate decline compared to the previous year, a trend that was evident primarily in the first half of 2009. However, since autumn of 2009, Inverto has once again been experiencing its usual growth. Taken as an annual average, Inverto employed around 98 staff in 2009, with 25 of those located at the company’s seven sites outside Germany. Inverto currently employs a workforce of 103. “We are now benefiting from the fact that, during the brief consolidation phase, we invested in expanding our management team worldwide, attracting new talent and developing our sourcing technology for growth,” sums up Inverto Managing Partner Markus Bergauer. “In the first quarter of 2010 alone, we attracted nearly ten new customers, including market leaders from industry and the trade sector,” adds Inverto Managing Partner Frank Wierlemann. “What's more, many family-run companies in particular are currently reviewing their sourcing activities.”

During the economic crisis, companies became more aware of purchasing as a potential source of quick cash. Now, interest has shifted to ways of optimising sourcing on a sustainable basis. From Inverto's perspective, these include the active management of raw material costs in order to reduce the dependency on fluctuations in market prices, and efforts to increase security of supply for raw materials. With that in mind, Inverto has expanded its sourcing software by integrating additional raw material indices into the module of the raw material cost calculator to cover plastics and steel, for example. The optimisation of operational sourcing processes is a further key way to secure the desired purchasing effects. “In this instance, companies should undertake regular checks of their capabilities – preferably before it gets to the point where there is a shortage of materials during production, too much stock or a delivery bottleneck,” reports Markus Bergauer. Industries such as the health care sector are also starting to focus on optimising their sourcing activities. Hospitals and pharmaceutical manufacturers, for example, have a lot of ground to make up due to severe cost pressures and the impact of invita-tions to tender for discount contracts. At a time when budgets are tight, Inverto is continuing to see high demand for means of optimising market-ing sourcing in order to boost marketing efficiency.

Family-run companies: Sustaining success in sourcing
When it comes to reaping lasting benefits from purchasing successes, family-run companies can serve as a useful model. “These companies are particularly focused on exploring how sourcing can increase value on a sustainable basis,” observes Wierlemann. “They are used to taking a more long-term and far-sighted approach to things.” Inverto uses seminars and research projects to promote more professional sourcing activities in fam-ily-run businesses.

Sourcing expertise sets the course for growth
In its anniversary year, Inverto is looking to the future with optimism. “We are setting our sights on achieving ongoing growth and quality,” comments Bergauer. In order to attract up-and-coming young talent and encourage academic qualifications in the field of sourcing, Inverto cranked up its activities in 2009 by becoming a sponsor of the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. “The combination of strategic consultancy, operational support in day-to-day business activities and sourcing tech-nology represents precisely the sort of added value that sourcing consult-ants can offer companies,” adds Wierlemann. “That's why, in the future, we will continue to concentrate exclusively on our core business of sourc-ing and supply chain management. We are – and always will be – sourcing consultants through and through.”