National and international activities
We continue to focus our procurement activities in Europe. For competition reasons and to ensure reliability of supply, we also work together with suppliers outside the EU. The focus here is on Asia.
Since it opened, our International Procurement Office Asia (IPO) in Shanghai has identified over 760 suppliers for us and supported their development and participation in tenders in accordance with the applicable processes. In addition, the IPO in the Asian market identifies innovations for DB Group, for example in the areas of digitalization and electromobility. In 2022, for example, we qualified the first Asian manufacturer for fuel cell buses.
In the spare vehicle parts project business in particular, we regularly work in partnership with established suppliers in China. DB quality assurance employees monitor production on-site on an ongoing basis. The reliable supply of products from our international suppliers despite the difficult logistical conditions played an important role in maintaining the stable operation of our fleet.
