Overview
This case study shows the inspiring success story of a Master Vendor program that fueled a company’s transformation goals.
Air Liquide’s ambition was to streamline strategic sourcing and procurement activities while optimizing internal management of low-value activities.
Challenge
Air Liquide faced a significant challenge with a large number of vendors and purchase orders contributing to a small portion of their overall spend.
The company was looking for a solution that would:
- increase the transactional efficiencies of the tail end activities;
- capture additional cost savings.
The Master Vendor solution was equipped with two essential modules:
- Procure-to-Pay (P2P) module - improving customer service as well as the transactional efficiencies;
- Source-to-Pay (S2P) module - uncovering untapped areas for significant cost savings.
Solutions Success
1
Supplier Consolidation: As most of the tail-end vendors were consolidated under one Master Vendor – SDI, there is no more need to onboard spot-buy suppliers in Air Liquide systems. As a result, the number of tail-end suppliers created was reduced by 70%.
2
Seamless Integration: SDI staff embedment in the Air Liquide purchasing systems (Coupa) offered stakeholders a fluid user experience and procurement support regardless of purchase amount. There was also a high level of autonomy and support in the local language for a truly streamlined experience.
3
Transaction Support: The Procure-to-Pay (P2P) module enhanced the Operational process by freeing the Air Liquide procurement team’s time from managing small transactions and optimizing overall transactional efficiency.
4
Cost Savings: The SDI Buy desk team actively negotiates the best rate through BaFO and direct sourcing, delivering, on average, 7.5% cost savings back to Air Liquide on the addressed purchase requests.
5
Improved on-time payments: Implementing the Master Vendor program significantly improved on-time payment to tail supply base.
1560
Suppliers Onboarded
7,5%
Average Cost Savings on Addressed Purchase Requests.
What do I like the most about SDI?
Their responsiveness to our queries all along the deployment process, flexibility to adapt to our needs, and being a fair player within our continuous improvement program.
Christian Gerard
Project Manager, Air Liquide
Project Manager, Air Liquide
