Streamlining Sourcing for a Major Beverages Company

The Challenge 

A major beverages company was relying on spreadsheets and email for managing market-specific sourcing strategies in logistics and packaging, which was both resource-heavy and time-consuming. The decentralized nature of the procurement processes across multiple regions further complicated the situation.

Additionally, frequent external challenges such as market volatility and supply constraints, coupled with internal changes like organizational restructuring, had a negative impact on the company’s sourcing capabilities. The team struggled to align their sourcing strategy across regions and markets, making it difficult to achieve consistent and efficient outcomes.

Recognizing the need for a more scalable and standardized solution, the company turned to Keelvar to centralize their procurement operations and improve decision-making.

The Solution 

To address these challenges, the company implemented Keelvar’s Sourcing Optimizer, which – through powerful features such as scenario analysis, data visualizations, and market intelligence – enabled the company to integrate these insights directly into their sourcing process, and helped the company standardize practices across regions.

“We now have standard elements that can be followed for road transportation events, making it much more efficient for the team, and for leadership,” said the Senior Category Manager for Logistics. By centralizing their procurement operations, the company was able to move away from the inefficiencies of manual processes and gain greater control over their supply chain.

The ability to access real-time data and streamline communications between suppliers and internal teams allowed the company to develop a common language for sourcing. This also helped the company reduce the time it took to get leadership approvals, which improved their ability to react faster to changes in the market.

The Results 

• €15M savings generated in 2024 alone 
• 62% reduction in time to launch a sourcing event (143 days of work saved in 2024 assuming 1 FTE working on each sourcing event) 
• 272x return on investment in 2024 alone (this company has been a Keelvar customer since 2021) 

The implementation of Keelvar’s platform has led to significant improvements in efficiency and savings:

Increased Efficiency and Productivity:

With Keelvar’s automated processes, the time to launch sourcing events decreased by 62%, saving the company a total of 143 days across 13 events in 2024. This efficiency boost freed up valuable team resources, allowing the team to focus on strategic, high-value tasks instead of manual data entry and management.

Significant Cost Savings:

The company achieved €15M in additional savings in 2024, thanks to the enhanced optimization capabilities of Keelvar. By integrating scenario analysis into the sourcing process, the company was able to make more informed decisions, unlocking cost savings that would have otherwise been missed.

Improved Supplier Engagement:

With the streamlined process provided by Keelvar, supplier participation rates increased, achieving a 73% engagement rate in 2024. By inviting fewer bidders but ensuring more of them placed bids, the company increased competition, which helped drive further price compression and better overall deals.

The Benefits

The improvements brought by Keelvar have had a far-reaching impact on the company’s sourcing strategy, particularly in terms of agility, strategic focus, and competitive advantage:

Agility

By reducing the time it takes to launch and complete sourcing events, the company can now react 62% faster to market changes. Whether responding to shifting fuel costs or sudden supply chain disruptions, the procurement team has the flexibility to adjust quickly, ensuring they stay competitive in a volatile market.

Scaling excellence

The automation of routine tasks has allowed the team to redirect their focus to more strategic activities. By implementing a standardized, repeatable sourcing methodology, the company can now approach each sourcing event with a clear framework, optimizing their entire procurement strategy. This strategic shift also helps leadership make faster, more consistent decisions.

Improved supplier relationships

With increased bidder engagement and higher levels of competition, the company gains better visibility into the market and improves its supplier relationships. By ensuring a higher number of competitive bids, the company is able to negotiate better pricing, terms, and conditions, thus achieving improved outcomes from every event.

Closing quote

“We now have standard elements that can be followed for road transportation events, making it much more efficient for the team, and for leadership.” - Senior Category Manager for Logistics