Case Study 1 - Procurement Transformation – European Mobile Telecoms operator
Efficio helped a European mobile telecommunications operator transform its procurement function into a world class team, while delivering significant and sustainable cost reductions to the business.

We worked hand-in-hand with the client’s buyers and budget holders to strategically source more than forty spend categories, including the most strategic commodities – mobile handsets, fixed line transmission charges, and network construction.  The programme included embedding new strategic sourcing processes and introducing e-procurement and e-sourcing to further bed down the change. 

The programme delivered cost reductions of €150 million on an addressed cost base of €1 billion.  The client was left with a fundamentally upgraded and self-sufficient procurement function that enjoyed Board-level respect.  The project was recognised with an award for procurement excellence by the UK’s Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

Case Study 2 - Supplier Relationship Management – Global manufacturing company
For this global manufacturing company, plant utilisation was a major cost driver. Utilisation was directly related to turnaround times between production runs - the longer the turnaround, the lower the utilisation and the higher the operating cost.

These turnaround times were mainly controlled by an industrial cleaning company which removed hazardous residues.  Efficio identified high variability in cleaning times as the cause of unpredictable turnaround and industrial cleaning became a prime target for a SRM project using Lean Six Sigma techniques. 

Dramatic improvements were realised, including a reduction in cleaning costs by more than 50%. Previously only 45% of jobs had been completed within 6 hours—this figure rose to 85% of all jobs. Crucially, turnaround time between production runs was reduced by more than 30%.

Case Study 3 - Extended Sourcing Team - Global Automotive OEM
Efficio was engaged to provide scaleable sourcing resources across its European operations.  The client already had a world class procurement function in place.  However, there were specific capacity and expertise gaps which meant that certain segments of spend were left unaddressed.  

Efficio was engaged to provide experts to independently “right-size” a range of categories across Europe, and across four highly autonomous car brands. 

Working largely independently from the client’s procurement department, Efficio worked in cross-functional teams comprising Engineering and Manufacturing stakeholders, to strategically source a spend of $300 million.  Following a rigorous strategic sourcing process, new pan-brand, pan-European suppliers were selected and highly transparent commercial arrangements were put in place. 

The engagement generated annual savings of $35 million; the scalable resources were deployed for a total of fifteen months, so that the team paid for itself many times over through the savings achieved.

Case Study 4 - Strategic Sourcing - Global Financial Services
Efficio was retained to help drive cost reductions and instil procurement discipline into an organisation that had no formal procurement function.  Efficio conducted an analysis of the spend, prioritised improvement opportunities, and developed an implementation plan.  Working closely with over forty stakeholders, we executed two waves of strategic sourcing, addressing all key spend areas.  The sourcing teams realised savings of €15 million on a spend of €100 million.  

In parallel, we helped the client to design and implement a European procurement organisation “from scratch”.  We also developed and embedded a process for measuring sourcing compliance on an ongoing basis, and supported this activity for a number of months.  The latter helped to legitimise the savings in the eyes of the business, and ensured that the results could be traced to the bottom line.