Magna Powertrain Procurement Advances with Electronic Signature

In Magna Powertrain’s global purchasing organisation, contracts, agreements, expense forms and other documents are a key part of daily business. Obtaining and tracking signatures from geographically dispersed suppliers and internal approvers was becoming increasingly challenging. Keeping legible documents on file was crucial for legal and standards compliance. The organisation was wasting valuable time scanning documents and oftentimes the end product was not legible. It was time to end the sign-print-scan-repeat cycle. “Gaining approvals could take up to two weeks, requiring valuable time from the organisation’s administrative team to track signatures and send reminders,” says Eric Stiebel, Strategic Commodity Manager for Magna Powertrain.

As Magna Powertrain began exploring electronic signature technology to automate signatures and ensure legible and compliant documents, they were impressed with DocuSign security features, certificates of authentication and document storage capabilities, and also stood out for the simple user interface and mobile capabilities. 

Once implemented, the agreement signing process accelerated completion from 1–2 weeks down to less than one day. It also eliminated challenges in legal and industry standards document compliance. An added bonus: significant reduction in paper use.

Today, Magna Powertrain’s purchasing teams are using DocuSign to complete e-signature transactions both inside and outside the organisation worldwide. Internally, DocuSign is used for expense reports, travel requests and sourcing approvals. Externally, it is used for purchase orders, scheduling agreements, NDAs, letters of intent and terms and conditions agreements. 

Magna Powertrain management appreciates the flexibility of being able to sign anytime, anywhere, on virtually any device, while Magna’s suppliers are thrilled with the convenience of using DocuSign. The organisation continues to find new ways to use DocuSign to streamline operations, most recently leveraging DocuSign eSignature in Accounts Payables with Program Management. 

“DocuSign is a step forward in technology and a significant time saver,” said Mr. Stiebel.