A Diversified Manufacturing Holding group wanted to find synergies across its business units in road freight transportation in Europe but had no starting point. After a detailed data collection, €120m of spend were identified. A strategic sourcing program was designed, executed and implemented achieving 16% cost reduction, supplier consolidation and enhanced service.

A Pharmaceutical company wanted to apply new negotiation techniques to its spend portfolio. After validation of the feasibility of their air freight situation, a sourcing project was managed in just 2 months and delivered over 15% savings.

A Consumer goods company wanted to coordinate all its ocean freight traffic which had gradually inflated with its global expansions of client markets, manufacturing locations and low cost country sourcing programs. After a route optimization exercise, we put the requirements up for competitive negotiations, expanded the portfolio of suitable carriers and generated 6 to 12% savings.

A fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company which had grown through acquisitions decided to revisit its distribution. After a quantitative analysis, the total supply chain cost turned out to be three times the anticipated value, the distribution system to be over-dimensioned while the clients to be unevenly served. Improvement actions saving 10% of cost were identified.

An Automotive company wanted to address the difficult area of unscheduled air freight shipments coming from various facilities to a multitude of client locations for its emergency part replacements. After carefully data collection on cost and service, the traffic was segmented and presented to the freight forwarders so as to minimize their risk exposure; the resulting savings exceeded 30%.

A 3PL needed to review its sub-contracting process and achieve better services for lower cost to keep a competitive edge. They centralized their sourcing and negotiation process versus truck carriers and set-up semi annual negotiations. Given the data intensity, they needed a rigourous process and sophisticated data processing tools together with efficient computerized negotiation support; they achieved over 25% savings!

A high-tech firm with an extensive outsourcing strategy decided to regain control over its inbound transportation and convinced its first tier contractors to put all of its air freight requirements for review in a strategic sourcing effort which led to more than 20% savings.

A petrochemical company consolidated its small parcels and express shipments across its various administrative, operating and project sites and submitted the requirements to the open competitive marketplace. After a recalibration of the service definitions, the providers were graded by service level so that the competition was managed on a multivariate basis; the results were amazing: high level of participation and double digit savings in spite of a relatively small spend.

A high-tech manufacturer used a lot of air freight for time sensitive costly finished products for its customers. The operations however had been set up on an ad-hoc basis. The new CPO convinced the head of logistics to revisit the situation. The project team sorted the traffic lanes by weight, volume, service requirements and routes and proposed a new segmentation to express carriers and freight forwarders alike. Combinatory bidding and real-time optimization led to a large choice among award scenarios and savings from 15% to 22%.

A global diversified manufacturer with increasing ocean freight spend decided to reopen its lanes to competition. In a rising market, shipping lines fought for this business because the lanes were structured with options to choose from and the allocation accounted for the service level (lead time and capacity) of each provider on each specific route. The result was cost savings and reliability increase for the company operations. Performance was monitored to provide factual data for the next round of negotiations.

A global diversified manufacturer was buying air freight in a decentralized manner at the business unit or even site level. In an effort to create synergies between business units and to apply strategic sourcing practices to transportation, the company targeted air freight as a show case category. We collected the data on a global basis, under a consistent format,optimized the routes, prepared an open RFP and submitted it to an expanded base of carriers and freight forwarders. Over 20% savings were generated.

A high tech company wanted to launch a new product. The design and marketing came as a first priority and typically encountered a few challenges which delayed the launch. The logistics got pushed towards the end of the launch process and required to be sorted out within 2 months. Our team quickly gathered the specifications, used benchmarks to design the supply chain structure and called a carefully screened group of 3PLs to bid for the business. We then managed the implementation and allowed the product to be on the market on time.

A diversified manufacturer started to relocate some manufacturing operations to Central Europe. Additionally, a low cost country sourcing program had shifted suppliers to Central Europe too. The whole supply chain needed to change and the historic 3PL was playing closed books. The new CPO decided to address the situation. After a thorough data collection of internal and external logistics requirements, alternative logistics schemes were designed. A thorough research unveiled a dozen capable logistics companies and the final designs were worked out in close cooperation with them. More transportation traffic was added for the final negotiations which led to more than 30% savings.

A diversified holding company wanted to address its express spend across countries and business units in a coordinated manner. The data was collected across sites and the RFQ reflected the diversity of service level requirements. The supplier base was thoroughly researched on the basis of lead time guarantee irrespective of the modes. The competition was managed on total customer value accounting for cost and service. The project resulted in over 15% savings. The main incumbent lost more than 80% of its business.

A Diversified Manufacturing Holding group wanted to find synergies across its business units in road freight transportation in Europe but had no starting point. After a detailed data collection, €120m of spend were identified. A strategic sourcing program was designed, executed and implemented achieving 16% cost reduction, supplier consolidation and enhanced service.

One business unit of a diversified manufacturer wanted to reassess its logistics strategy. Over a few weeks only the project team collected the relevant data, applied strategy development tools which accounted for the supply market economics, included trends and cost factor evolutions to identify areas of improvement. Four main workstreams were identified from portfolio rationalization to strategic sourcing, from short-term to long-term contribution. It was demonstrated that the business unit could move forward without the other business units of the group without impairing any bargaining power; it resulted in over 12 savings.

A global oil giant decided to modernize the procurement practices of its transportation group. It targeted ocean freight to lead the way and the global team quickly gathered the facts on which to base the strategy. It adopted a structured service accounting approach where shipping lines could express their service level differentiation supported by actual operational feedback. This allowed to incite all the major shipping lines to compete for the large piece of business in a more effective way than ever before. The shipping lines spent more time on their internal coordination to bring the best of their company to this major client. They looked into optimizing their own network and provide rates in line with their profit expectations while still bringing over 18% savings to the buyer.

A Chemical company decided to consolidate its Road freight spend across Europe. It aligned its business units, collected the traffic information all over Europe from the UK to Russia. It quickly selected the relevant carriers (including for hazardeous goods) out of a ready-made database and went to market. Suppliers were free to pick and choose and received feedback accordingly. After a few rounds of adjustment, the final negotiations unveiled a total of 8% savings in spite of a rising market and soaring fuel prices.

A benchmarking analysis revealed that the European road freight spend of a packaged goods firm could be significantly improved. A first project was quickly put in place in the UK. The supply chain structure was redesigned first opening the way to a sourcing project. Combining face to face and electronic coaching and negotiation with expressive bidding and optimization analysis led carriers to express their best offers and buyers to compare and combine them for best results. Strong competition was generated as 18 carriers created a portfolio of solutions regionally, nationally and by capability segment (Pallet, Multi-Drop, Full Truck) and over 14% savings were generated.

A major retailer wanted to reduce its cost and upgrade the purchasing practices in its transportation procurement. It undertook a major data collection to view a comprehensive view of the transportation spend. The analysis unveiled a number of improvement opportunities which were then structured into projects for validation by the business units. Each project mobilize internal resources from each unit and external assistance to bring methodology, tools and market knowledge. Nearly 10% savings were obtained across the portfolio.

A tier one automotive company wanted to coordinate its road freight FTL purchases across Europe, historically managed at a site level. It took a comprehensive approach of presenting both its domestic and international traffic to best leverage the network effect on carriers of all countries. It resulted in a sizeable project worth over €25million and involved over 70 carriers. The results ranged from 8% to 12% savings.

A major Pharmaceutical company decided to revisit its outbound distribution network from plants to warehouses. It consolidated all its traffic across Europe, bundling lanes per country of origin or destination and increased the carrier portfolio for the negotiation. It lead to over 10% savings in spite of a rising fuel price.

A leading third party logistics company was pushed by a major tier one automotive company to optimize its associated road freight traffic. A major project was then set up involving the 3PL, the automotive tier one and all the main trucking carriers. Over 20% savings resulted.