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 China has identified over 860 suppliers for us and supported their development and participation in tenders in accordance with the applicable processes. In addition, the IPO identifies innovations in the Asian market for DB Group, for example in the areas of sustainability and renewable energies. In 2023, we have, for example, supported the majority of our active suppliers on their path to a sustainability assessment by EcoVadis.
In the spare vehicle parts project business in particular, we regularly work in partnership with established suppliers in China. We are also in contact regarding the expansion of maintenance and infrastructure measures, to ensure that the targets set are achieved. DB quality assurance employees monitor production on-site on an ongoing basis. The reliable supply of products from our international suppliers despite the difficult geopolitical conditions played an important role in maintaining the stable operation of our fleet.
