Thousands of employees & suppliers.
One system to keep it clean.

Lely International makes robotic solutions for dairy farmers worldwide with revenue over €1 billion. Operations spanning multiple countries.

Thousands of people across the organization interact with suppliers daily. Someone books a hotel. Someone buys software. Someone procures parts. Every one of those interactions touches supplier data. And every piece of that data needs to be accurate, compliant, and up to date.

The challenge: keep the Supplier Master high-quality while still letting the organisation serve themselves. Handle requests quickly, without the risk of bad data entering the system.

The combination of requirements was too specific for anything off the shelf. The system needed to connect with multiple APIs for data validation. The workflows had to match Lely's internal structure and processes. The logging had to follow their standards. That combination asked for a custom-built system. This resulted in the Supplier Request Service or SRS system for Lely International.

An employee needs a new supplier in the system. They fill in the details once. The system double-checks the data on multiple levels automatically: bank account, VAT number, address, duplicates. Errors reduced to a minimum before internal team touches it.

If the supplier falls into a category that needs additional approval, the right person gets notified based on their role. They review, request additional information if needed, approve or reject. All of this, inside the same system. The custom workflow matches Lely's own internal structure.

The data flows into the ERP clean. No manual re-entry. No spreadsheet handoffs. No chasing corrections through email.

The process works for multiple stakeholders — faster, easier, and more efficient than what came before.

• Running since 2019. Zero maintenance issues.

• 1500+ users have so used the application to submit supplier requests.

• Automated validation across bank accounts, VAT (EU-VIES), addresses, and duplicate detection.

• Role-based approval workflows tailored to supplier categories.

• Data quality of the Supplier Master continues to improve and will keep doing so in the coming years.

• Our team flagged a security gap in another system while working on the project. The client hadn't spotted and helped close it before it became a problem.