Corporate solutions

Case studies

Contract Caterer

"growing the business, not the supplier base"

The challenge

A national contract catering company enjoyed enviable growth across a number of diverse business sectors, but along the way had experienced an even faster growth of suppliers… The issues with their growing supply chain were hampering the ability of the business to expand effectively and they were not able to take full advantage of the increased purchasing volumes that their growth had delivered.

The business required improved purchasing disciplines to help release some of the central resource required to manage the growing number of suppliers.

The solution

By identifying the scope of the suppliers and their services, a rationalisation of the supplier base was implemented which eased the central office burden and resulted in cost savings and an improvement in the consistency of products supplied across the whole estate.

Whilst this client already used epsys, our e-procurement tool, in part of it estate, the implementation was ramped up to move all remaining suppliers to an electronic trading environment.

The results

The existing supplier base was reduced by 90%. This not only unlocked valuable resource in the purchasing and finance departments but also ensured that business was channelled through the most competitive deals thus maximising income.

epsys and the controls that it offers, continues to secure future compliance and also facilitates the invoice reconciliation process, including the import of data directly into the contractor’s finance system. The additional benefit in improving the quality and availability of management information has resulted in an improvement in the effectiveness of day-to-day management of the supply chain.

“Our procurement systems and processes are now cutting edge. We have found that the professionalism of Acquire’s operational staff and the support from the epsys team has transformed our ability to maximise our buying position.”

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