November 26, 2014. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) won the Competitive Bidding Leader Prize 2014 in the category called Economic Efficiency of Purchasing Transactions, the company reports.

Respectable experts on the contest judges’ panel listed MMK among the companies which proved last year’s purchasing leaders and set high standards that all the other competitive bidding market players look up to.

The ongoing improvements in the company’s supply chain mean MMK can reduce the prime cost of its metal products and therefore offer the market more appealing prices. The company implemented a number of large-scale projects last year which resulted in boosted efficiency and increased transparency of the purchasing process as well as in reduced human factor in the decision-making one.

MMK keeps introducing electronic approval of e-trading records in order to cut down on the time it takes to coordinate all the papers and to make the entire process as transparent as possible. The company also started working on unification of its stock item catalogue. What is more, a representation in China was set up, which expanded the suppliers’ market, and a call center for contractor feedback was introduced as well. Finally, MMK developed and is using a program for switching to direct customer-supplier relations.

The Competitive Bidding Leader Prize was founded by the international e-trading platform B2B Center in 2012; the idea was to promote companies and professionals who proved highly successful in the trading and purchasing field. The prize is awarded on an annual basis and unites all the market players, suppliers, authorities, the media, and NGOs. The prize aims to draw attention to clever technical and managerial solutions in the purchasing sector, to popularize fair-play competition, and to develop the competitive bidding market.