Optimizing Strategic Procurement Activities through Data-Driven Insights and SAP Tools at Berger Paints Bangladesh Ltd

Abstract

Executive Summary The twelve-week professional experience at Berger Paints Bangladesh Limited, Supply Chain – Capex & Indirect Procurement Division is documented in this report. The internship served as a necessary requirement for students in the Bachelor of Business Administration in Technology Management program at Islamic University of Technology (IUT). The internship provided students with essential experience to connect academic concepts of procurement and supply chain management and business analysis to real-world corporate practices at Bangladesh's leading multinational company. The document describes Berger Paints' organizational structure and operational functions with particular emphasis on procurement management. The internship work required me to perform purchase order evaluation and RFQ management and vendor relations and statement comparison and rate card model creation and CPC meeting documentation tasks. The responsibilities allowed me to work directly with supply chain operations while learning how to use SAP ERP for procurement activities to analyze and report on purchase orders. In addition, I contributed to procurement for Berger’s new Mirsarai factory project, managed large-scale Admin and HR section purchases, supported the development of a Fiori-based PR-dump model for SAP reporting, and worked on vendor mapping to identify recurring suppliers, spending patterns, and category-based optimization opportunities. Daily activities covered a wide range of procurement functions, including initiating RFQs, conducting vendor follow-ups, preparing comparative evaluation sheets, and analyzing commercial documentation for imports. Strategic projects undertaken involved designing a Rate Card Procurement Model for home appliances, and optimizing PO approval thresholds to streamline managerial decision making. These tasks not only enhanced technical skills in SAP and Excel-based procurement analytics but also strengthened professional abilities in vendor negotiation, documentation, and cross departmental collaboration. In addition to task-specific responsibilities, the report integrates analytical assessments of procurement challenges, highlighting issues such as incomplete vendor documentation, shipping delays, demurrage risks, and currency fluctuations in import procurement. These insights are linked with broader supply chain theories of strategic sourcing, risk management, and cost optimization, demonstrating the intersection of academic concepts with corporate realities.