Explore MSC’s journey with SAP
MSC Industrial Supply Company is a leading distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations supplies in North America. It wished to enhance its e-procurement capabilities to meet customer needs. By using SAP Business Network for Procurement with customers already on the platform, MSC is now able to efficiently onboard them with no downtime.
| Industry | Regions | Company Size |
| Industrial manufacturing | Melville, New York, and Davidson, North Carolina | 7,000 employees |
Director B2B Integration and E-Business Solutions, MSC Industrial Supply Company
Bringing customers on board more efficiently
MSC Industrial Supply Company is a leading North American distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) products and services. With more than 80 years of expertise, the company helps its customers drive greater productivity and profitability with roughly 2.2 million products as well as innovative inventory management and supply chain solutions. Its metalworking specialists survey machine operations and tools in manufacturing sites (in terms of speeds, feeds, and run rates) and recommend improvements to help increase production. Its solutions help customers become stronger and more efficient and get their products to market faster.
MSC wanted to speed up the process of setting up and onboarding customers so that they could buy products and solutions from the company more efficiently. Plus, it would allow the sales team to engage with the customer to develop the customer relationship.
Director B2B Integration and E-Business Solutions, MSC Industrial Supply Company
Enhancing e-procurement through better business networking
MSC first came across SAP Business Network, known then as Ariba Network, more than 25 years ago, when it was trying to retrieve static product data from its IT system for customers. This was before e-procurement was widely known about. Over time, as customers sought solutions that were more e-commerce friendly, the “PunchOut feature” in Ariba Network enabled MSC to create a single online catalog for customer purchases on its website. MSC welcomed SAP Business Network for Procurement to further enhance the e-procurement experience.
SAP Business Network is a cloud-based offering that helps unify supply chains into collaborative and intelligent networks that centralize data. MSC can connect with trading partners in its supply chain, including suppliers, asset operators, and maintenance contractors. The company and its buyers can do business in a single networked directory with tools such as the invoice status portal, trading partner search, component planning collaboration, and invoice conversion. They can share data and workflows and apply networkwide intelligence to guide decisions to adapt and improve business.
MSC has a business team dedicated to understanding customer needs and a technical engineering team responsible for coding and mapping. This helps ensure that processes are automated from buyer to supplier as much as possible. Also, 75% to 80% of manufacturing and machine shops (the main focus of the industry MSC supports) use SAP software. Therefore, integrating with SAP Business Network means it’s straightforward for MSC to partner with customers that come through the network.
Director B2B Integration and E-Business Solutions, MSC Industrial Supply Company
Onboarding customers and buyers more efficiently
As one of the largest and longest-running business networks in the manufacturing space, SAP Business Network enables and enhances the buyer-supplier relationship. It allows MSC to create partnerships with buyers and customers while helping ensure that onboarding customers is a constant funnel—with no downtime. Adopting SAP Business Network has contributed to MSC’s success. The company has also benefited from adopting standards supported by SAP in its processes.
MSC is in a position to offer customers its expertise around compliance and usage. It understands the biggest obstacles in getting the network to the point where it’s standard to have good data quality, accepted invoices, and efficient buyer onboarding. Automated system-to-system procure-to-pay functionality drives significant efficiencies for both buyers and suppliers and helps deliver the return on investment expected when adopting a strategy to move to an e-procurement process and platform.
The company is a strong supporter of SAP Business Network and believes it will continue to grow. The relationship with SAP has given MSC a voice in improving the network for both the buy and sell sides. The company is working with the development and product teams at SAP to identify “game-changing” opportunities. For example, MSC participated as a design partner in a guided integration where the supplier and buyer filled out their data standards to establish the best possible match, which came out at 80%. Simeon Chiger, director of B2B Integration and eBusiness Solutions at MSC, explains, “We don’t have to go through that 80%; it matches, it’s the standard. So, we just focus on the other things that we have to work on.”
Director B2B Integration and E-Business Solutions, MSC Industrial Supply Company