A new Head of Procurement has been appointed by Union Tank Eckstein GmbH & Co (UTA) for the business units Fuels and PLUS Services. Starting with the 1st of August 2018, Ralf Kaplan will be responsible for purchasing and procurement in UTA’s European Headquarters in Kleinostheim, reporting directly to CEO Volker Huber.
On his new position, the focus will be on the development of existing partnerships and the search for new suppliers and service providers, as well as contributing to the development of a corporate strategy. “To be able to continue to offer innovative services, we need a network that is both reliable and flexible,” said Volker Huber. “With his almost 20 years of experience in procurement management Ralf Kaplan is the right man for the job. He will generate significant added value when it comes to fleet & mobility throughout the Edenred Group.”
During his time as purchasing director Europe branded at the international packaging group Multi Packaging Solutions, Ralf organised the procurement activities for 15 sites in Germany, the UK and Poland over the past two years. Prior to that, he was responsible for purchasing in the Germany, Austria and Switzerland region at DS Smith Packaging in Mannheim. Between 2000 and 2013, he held several positions at Schott AG in Mainz, most recently as Director of Corporate Purchasing Raw Materials, a position that made him responsible for the global sourcing of raw materials at the glass manufacturer.
UTA is one of the leading providers of fuel and service cards in Europe. Commercial customers can use the UTA card system to refuel, independent of brand and without cash, at more than 55,000 acceptance points in 40 European countries and use other en-route services as well. These services include toll invoicing, repair shop services, breakdown and towing services as well as the refund of VAT and fuel tax.
Founded in 1963 by Heinrich Eckstein, the company is majority owned by Edenred SA (83%), the world leader in transactional solutions for companies, employees and merchants, with business volume of more than €26 billion generated in 2017, of which 78% through digital formats.
