At a Glance
- The client, a top-tier aerospace and defence organisation, sought to elevate its global strategic sourcing and vendor management capabilities.
- The client needed to optimise their $11 billion annual global material spend across 400,000+ purchase orders.
- This case study highlights how the client, with Renoir’s support, developed a comprehensive vendor management system and successfully aligned over 40 strategic initiatives across departments and suppliers.
Key results
Developed a two-year global implementation roadmap for strategic sourcing.
Designed and deployed a vendor scorecard and audit system across all divisions.
Achieved improved supplier performance, reduced delivery delays, and enhanced cost savings.
Background
The client is a leading aerospace and defence organisation headquartered in the United States. Given the nature of the client’s industry, the client’s supply chain must be resilient to disruptions, such as geopolitical tensions, trade restrictions, or natural disasters, that could delay production or compromise national security. Robust SCM practices, including supplier diversification and risk assessment, help the company mitigate these risks and maintain uninterrupted delivery of critical defence systems.
Recognising the potential for significant efficiencies and improvements, the client aimed to channel over 90% of this expenditure through strategic sourcing agreements and their established strategic sourcing processes. While possessing in-house expertise in supply chain and program management, they sought external support for the complex implementation phase.
Analysis
While they possessed internal knowledge, they lacked seasoned implementation experts to effectively build and execute a plan for their large, global organisation within a short timeframe. The client sought an objective third party to review their strategy, validate staffing needs, and facilitate implementation across their program-divided structure, encompassing diverse organisational cultures.
A key challenge was navigating these cultures and consistently adopting the new strategic sourcing model. Furthermore, the client needed to identify and overcome potential risks and barriers to implementation.
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Project Approach
Renoir Consulting was engaged to leverage its expertise in sustainable, implemented change. Our approach centred on working collaboratively with a cross-functional program team within the client organisation to develop a robust implementation plan and roadmap.
This involved utilising change management tools to foster the adoption of the new strategic sourcing culture. A critical component of our methodology involved gaining a deep understanding of the challenges and potential roadblocks through surveys and interviews with both suppliers and internal departments.
Project also focused on creating an integrated key event schedule, consolidating over 40 projects and suppliers into a single master plan. To ensure ongoing performance management, Renoir assisted in building a Vendor Scorecard and Audit System aligned with strategic goals and incorporating a follow-up action process.
Furthermore, as an objective third party, Renoir helped to rationalise the organisational needs of this new vendor management process, ensuring that the client focused on what was truly necessary for successful implementation and to demonstrate a return on investment.
Implementation
Working in close partnership with the client, Renoir led several crucial initiatives during the implementation phase:
- Developed a comprehensive Vendor Management roadmap aligned with the client’s global strategic sourcing strategy
- Created and implemented standardized vendor scorecards and performance criteria across all divisions, replacing previously inconsistent evaluation methods.
- Established a formal audit and inspection program with clearly defined staffing requirements to ensure accountability.
- Designed targeted communication plans and business case studies to drive stakeholder buy-in and program adoption
- Leveraged insights from stakeholder surveys and interviews to identify and proactively address resistance to change.
- Created a prioritised implementation timeline that enabled the client to achieve their global strategic sourcing model within two years.
This structured approach ensured that the transformation maintained momentum across the organisation while accommodating the varying change readiness of different divisions.
Results
The collaboration led to the successful rollout of a unified strategic sourcing and vendor management framework. By standardising scorecards and audit practices, the client gained greater visibility and control over supplier performance across all divisions.
Strategic plans co-created with suppliers helped reduce incidents, boost quality, and eliminate delivery delays in critical programs. Furthermore, staffing plans and performance tracking tools introduced during the project remain in use today, indicating high sustainability and client ownership.
Ultimately, the client strengthened its vendor ecosystem, improved sourcing efficiency, and solidified its position as a aerospace and defence vendor collaboration leader.
*To maintain strict confidentiality, customer-specific details have been consciously omitted.
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