Transforming the supply chain of Survitec Group

Efficio helped Survitec Group, a market-leading manufacturer of marine, defence and aerospace survival technology, to implement a Procurement  Improvement Programme. This introduced a structural change to the way the Group managed its supply chain, resulting in significant bottom line cost reductions.

Today, Survitec Group has a high performing central Procurement team which works with other functions across the company to deliver results year-on-year.

Background

Survitec Group commands market-leading positions worldwide in marine, defence and aerospace survival technology. The company is a global player with six manufacturing sites and 12 service and distribution centres around the world. The Group has grown quickly in the last few years through a series of acquisitions around the globe, and now operates in 11 countries.

Despite operating in common fields, Survitec Group had not integrated its newly acquired companies into its own organisational structure. Because of this, the acquired units had maintained significant operational autonomy, which was particularly evident in Procurement, where there was little collaboration between the sites or across functions. The Group launched a Procurement Improvement Programme together with a Manufacturing Footprint Optimisation programme. Efficio was engaged to assist with integrating and building cooperation between the sites, strategically sourcing a wide range of categories, and supporting the relocation of manufacturing operations to the Far East.

The objective of the Procurement Improvement Programme was to introduce a structural change in the way the Group managed its supply chain while delivering significant bottom line savings to the business.
 

Approach

Survitec and Efficio agreed to strategically source a set of procurement categories utilising improved cross-site coordination and volume leverage, and employing an improved Strategic Sourcing process that addresses all value levers, including low cost country sourcing and the development and adoption of fit for purpose and harmonised specifications. Using our deep procurement expertise and knowledge, Efficio worked with the Survitec team to successfully:

• Drive a structured Strategic Sourcing programme across direct and indirect spend globally
• Refresh the supply base, overcoming obstacles implied by client’s strict qualification process for new products and/or suppliers
• Apply a broad set of sourcing strategies to the key direct material categories, including the use of competitive tenders, sourcing from low cost countries, rationalised and harmonised specifications, and long term indexed contracts
• Assist category teams in overcoming difficulties related to the operational independence and cultural diversity of the sites and functions
• Provide additional support to the Technical and Quality functions, whose cooperation with Global Procurement was critical

Results

Efficio’s engagement helped deliver a number of significant benefits for Survitec Group, including:

• Achieved 10% cost reduction on the addressed spend
• Established a central Procurement function with new personnel
• Transfered the required tools and skills to the new team, including formal Strategic Sourcing training and on-the-job upskilling
• Improved relationships between Global Procurement and the organisation