The AI Impact Award, presented by the German business newspaper manager magazin and Porsche Consulting, honors companies that successfully and effectively apply artificial intelligence in real-world practice. The award highlights solutions that create genuine economic and societal added value.
Rehau has been nominated for the 2026 AI Impact Award in the Organization and Administration category, which recognizes solutions that use artificial intelligence to make administrative processes – from finance and HR to IT, procurement, and sales – more efficient. In a short interview, Lasse Fehl, Head of Procurement, explains how the AI-driven approach was developed and what results are visible today.
Mr. Fehl, what challenges do you face when trying to overhaul the entire procurement process of a company?
Lasse Fehl: The biggest challenge was to truly rethink procurement holistically: moving away from fragmented, legacy solutions toward a global end-to-end process. This wasn’t just an IT issue, it was primarily about data quality, acceptance, and change management. Our goal was to transform procurement from a reactive “caretaker” into a strategic partner.
Any transformation has two sides: Didn’t you run into problems at the interfaces with business partners during implementation?
No, there were no real problems. What mattered most was not passing complexity on to our suppliers. They continue to communicate through familiar channels such as email, while AI agents handle the processes in the background. This has significantly simplified collaboration and increased acceptance.