Fragmented Freight and Logistics

At the commencement of our engagement, our client had very strong logistics capabilities in certain areas, but there were no centralised processes or systems. The business unit negotiated rates and requirements on a case-by-case basis and they had contracted hundreds of suppliers. Very few were used in two or more areas of the business and there were large rate variances among suppliers for the same services. SAP FICO & Ariba were in use uniformly, but supplier management processes were complex and time-consuming. Some areas used SAP MM for inventory management.

Centralising Freight and Logistics

Set-Up & Benchmarking: We loaded all of the freight and logistics data needed for a detailed analysis into FreightExchange, including vendor invoices and rates.

Benchmarking: We were then able to benchmark freight and logistics costs in multiple geographies and identify strategies to reduce costs by over $2m by implementing a centralised freight management system, consolidating suppliers across the organisation, and optimising inbound and outbound logistics.

Implementing FreightExchange: We set up a version of the FreightExchange solution with ten users in a very low-risk area of the business to ensure everything went smoothly.

Cost Savings and Simpler Processes

We monitored the costs incurred for the project versus the modelled ‘pre implementation’ costs monthly. For the six months of the trial period itself, the savings were in excess of 30%.