Procurement at its best: defending value and improving efficiency

We all know that procurement efficiency helps make budgets and goals work. Beyond that, though, it’s an area of improvement that can protect your operation from uncertainty and upheaval – two things we’ve all had plenty of in the last few years.

When effective procurement is combined with a continual improvement policy. However, things get even better. What is often an overhead quickly morphs into a competitive advantage, helping to differentiate your organisation and afford it the business it needs to reliably overcome common challenges like cash flow and transport availability.

With this in mind, we’ll be describing the value of efficient procurement in greater detail, and touch on the importance of investing in solutions that drive efficiency. We’ll also explore how sales and procurement leaders can improve efficiency and delivery across their department to reduce costs and optimise cash flow, thereby boosting revenue for the wider business and supporting it to meet its objectives.

Optimise delivery to streamline procurement

Optimised delivery gives procurement teams more control over the entire end-to-end process. There are many ways to optimise delivery, from integrating existing processes with APIs to setting and making clear to suppliers your compliance standards.

Performing an audit of your delivery assets and processes can also neatly flag opportunities for optimisation. You may, for example, uncover a section of inbound or outbound shipping where palettes and containers are being wastefully used. Better yet, an audit of this kind is liable to spark optimisation ideas while addressing that empty tick-box for refreshing your business continuity plan.

It’s practical for sales and procurement leaders to focus first on areas of procurement that are likely inefficient. This could mean speaking with staff at an operational level to help identify the cause of common delays and how much these delays are costing the business. Look to see how you can improve inefficiencies and establish metrics for measuring the impact of the improvements you make.

Improve efficiency with targeted solutions

We can also address inefficiency by investing in our people directly. Empowering managers to train and boost team performance builds trust and yields great results. Similarly, it’s worth considering the recruitment of professionals who are capable of onboarding technologies that streamline procurement processes, whether it be supplier selection or inventory control.

But procurement leaders shouldn’t overlook the value of switching to using products or solutions that are specifically designed to improve efficiency in new ways. For example, procurement teams can optimise efficiency and cash flow by storing more items in each container and shipping more items in each shipment.

In an area like this, simple solutions can have a profound impact. The purchase of Insert Tubs that are able to stack and flexibly adjust to palettes and loads of varying dimensions, for instance, can drastically improve efficiency and minimise the shipping of dead air. Maximising storage space in this way has a knock-on effect on supply chain efficiency and your organisation’s use of transport and shipping – and the environmental impact incurred by those activities.

What’s your procurement superpower?

Great supplier relationships, efficient shipping and storage, real-time tracking: we’ve all got something fancy up our sleeve when it comes to handling procurement.

Let us know in the comments what’s working great for you. We’re keen to hear!

#supplychain #logistics #warehousing #efficiency #procurement