V-Line Group’s digitization drive boosts localization

V-Line becomes strategic partner in SABIC’s NUSANED Program in 2019. (V-Line Europe GmbH)

RIYADH: The e-commerce platform of V-Line Group, a global leader in supply chain solutions, has come a long way in boosting localization while working closely with Saudi Arabia within the framework of Saudi Vision 2030. “This achievement required an incredible amount of effort, time and sustained innovation for us to reach a point where we are today,” said Detlef Daues, founder and chairman of V-Line Group, speaking on the occasion of the German National Day.
“Saudi Arabia made us who we are today and granted us opportunities to grow. We are proud that we can give back something to the country, the companies, and the people, with our knowledge and global network, thus strongly supporting Vision 2030,” he added.
Daues recalled the company’s genesis, saying that V-Line, a provider of maintenance, repair and operations solutions and services, started its business in 1979, supplying spare parts to desalination plants in the Kingdom.
“Today, for more than 40 years, V-Line is still strongly connected to Saudi Arabia, not only having its main clients like SABIC, SWCC, SEC, Maaden, PetroRabigh, and Tasnee here, but also an entity headquartered in Jubail, with a full trading license to be available on-site and transfer more supply chain knowledge to Saudi Arabia,” said the chairman. “V-Line Middle East fully commits and aligns itself with the goals of Vision 2030,” he added.
Daues further said: “We support clients to localize their business by identifying the local value proposition and benefit from job creation and expertise transfer to quality improvement. We employ Saudi nationals, among them many Saudi women, and train them.”
“Every employee is given a chance to participate in the employee exchange program between the global V-Line entities to provide opportunities for Saudis to acquire knowledge and skills,” said Hasnain Jamil, chief executive officer of V-Line Middle East. “These are some of the examples of how we can implement Vision 2030 in our daily business life,” he added.
Another milestone that V-Line achieved in local content creation was the commitment as an international strategic partner in SABIC’s NUSANED program. In this context, V-Line acts as an ambassador or facilitator to attract foreign manufacturers to invest in the Saudi market, promotes local manufacturing, identifies local demand and the possibility for scaling manufacturing in the Kingdom besides supporting small and medium-sized Saudi companies to increase their export.
Now, V-Line is intensifying its efforts for localization by intertwining them with the opportunities of digitization. “V-Marketplace,” an e-commerce platform that V-Line launched with its technology partner Codasol Technologies, offers an extensive variety of spare parts for different industry sectors.
“What makes the platform special is that it not only digitizes spare parts procurement and sourcing, it also opens up new channels for local exports,” said Jamil.
“With the platform, we can connect Saudi companies and their product catalogs with global partners,” he said, adding that V-Line is currently looking to extend their network with partners in the Kingdom with an aim to offer more and more localized content, both to their established clients as well as through the platform. He further said: “We are always happy to exchange with potential partners to create synergies, with one goal, to help our customers fulfill their mission.”
V-Line Europe GmbH, a global provider of industrial supply chain services, provides innovative and ingenious solutions with the mission to help customers fulfill their goals using data science and value chains. V-Line is harnessing the potential of digital technology to efficiently manage sourcing and supply. Today, V-Line Europe, headquartered near Hannover in Germany, offers end-to-end supply chain solutions in 20 different countries, primarily in the Middle East, through its Saudi Arabia subsidiary, and also via its customer service centers in other GCC countries, the US, Mexico and Brazil.
V-Line sourcing and procurement centers in Germany, the US, China, Japan and Korea offer industrial plants in all its markets an integrated set of services tailored to lowering their total cost of ownership for their foreign maintenance, repair, and operations spare parts while meeting the highest global standards of supply performance. Its tailor-made portfolio of procurement services facilitates the spare parts flow from order until delivery.