20/12/2022 - Volkswagen AG: Volkswagen reorganizes Procurement...

The Volkswagen Group will restructure the Board Procurement functions on the Group level and at the Volkswagen Passenger Cars and MAN Truck & Bus brands at the start of the year. Effective January 1, 2023, Dirk Große-Loheide will assume responsibility for Group Procurement and will become a member of the Extended Executive Committee in which the Group bundles the horizontal functions procurement and production, quality, sales, design and development. At the same time, he will also become the Board member responsible for Procurement at the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. Große-Loheide will succeed Murat Aksel, who will join the Board of Management of MAN Truck & Bus effective January 1, 2023. Murat Aksel will assume responsibility for Procurement on the Board of Management of MAN Truck & Bus from Stefan Gramse, who will move to a Group function at Volkswagen. At Audi, Große-Loheide will continue to oversee the Board Procurement functions and IT on a temporary basis until his successor is appointed. The restructuring at the Group will bolster its procurement operation in volatile times and will position it to tackle the challenges of the future.

CEO Oliver Blume, the CEO of Volkswagen, said: "For a global company like Volkswagen maintaining robust supply chains is a critical factor in our success. This restructuring will enable us to strengthen the procurement function both on the Group level and in two core areas: Two top managers with crisis experience, Dirk Große-Loheide and Murat Aksel, will assume responsibility for this central job at the volume brand Volkswagen Passenger Cars and MAN Truck & Bus. By taking this step, we will ensure that the strategic restructuring of Group procurement will rapidly move forward."

Murat Aksel had been a member of the Group Board of Management and the Chief Purchasing Officer (CPO) since January 2021. In these positions, he assumed overall responsibility in the Volkswagen Group for the management of material procurement and the provision of services. He was also responsible for Procurement on the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. In the Extended Executive Committee created in September 2022, Murat Aksel, together with his team, managed the procurement organizations of the brands and regions. Murat Aksel will take over the Board of Management position at MAN Truck & Bus from Stefan Gramse, who will assume a central function in the Volkswagen Group. For Murat Aksel, the move to MAN Truck & Bus also marks the return to the south of Germany, his professional home for many years, where he had worked, among other things, in executive positions for the BMW Group between 2009 and 2017.