Why Stakeholder Engagement Delivers Better Cost Reduction When many businesses think about procurement, they picture a tender exercise – sending out a specification, collecting supplier bids and selecting the lowest price. In reality, that’s only one part of the process. A successful procurement project isn’t defined by how well the tender is written. It’s defined […]
For years, procurement in food manufacturing was often judged by one simple metric: who negotiated the lowest price? While cost remains important, today’s procurement teams face a far more complex challenge. Rising energy prices, labour shortages, supply chain disruption, inflation and increasing customer expectations mean that reducing costs is no longer about squeezing suppliers. Instead, […]
A familiar pattern in UK food manufacturing right now: Costs rise → budgets get cut → spend slows → pressure eases (briefly) → costs return. This isn’t control, it’s a cycle. And many leadership teams are stuck in it, because cost cutting doesn’t change how spend behaves. Cost cutting doesn’t fix: Decentralised purchasing Poor demand […]
Tendering processes are often positioned as a straightforward way to improve cost, service, and supplier performance. In reality, the outcome is only as strong as the clarity you have before the process begins. We recently ran a tender exercise that we ultimately had to pause and withdraw. Not because the market wasn’t competitive, but because […]
One of the biggest misconceptions in procurement is that resilience costs more. In reality, resilience comes from visibility and the businesses best positioned to weather disruption typically know: Who their critical suppliers are Where they have supply risk Which contracts are due for renewal What they’re actually paying Whether current pricing remains competitive Many manufacturers […]
Food manufacturers are once again facing challenges they cannot directly control. Recent industry data suggests food manufacturing SMEs have seen average sales revenue fall by 37% in Q1, reflecting growing economic uncertainty and supply chain disruption. The Strait of Hormuz concerns are the latest reminder of how quickly global events can impact UK manufacturers. In […]
Unlocking 15% on raw materials often triggers retailer renegotiation. But what happens when you unlock 15% on indirects? EBITDA quietly improves! Indirect categories are: Off radar Operationally fragmented Data-poor Supplier-led Not often managed by procurement experts Which means pricing discipline is often weak. The opportunity isn’t usually dramatic, but its incremental….. and incremental across 10-20 […]
One of the most overlooked aspects of indirect spend control is demand. Most cost initiatives focus on: Negotiating better prices Consolidating suppliers Both are important but they tend to miss the fundamental question of “Do we need to be buying this at all?” In indirect spend, demand is often: Unchecked Habit-driven Lightly governed (if at […]
We worked with a food manufacturer who hadn’t reviewed their indirect spend categories in over a decade. Why? “Things work fine” “Switching feels like hassle” “No time to look into it” But when we ran the full audit: Numerous suppliers supplying same or similar products Prices were above market rates Data made meaningful analysis impossible […]
Before the recent geopolitical shocks in the Middle East, UK headline inflation was beginning to look like it was stabilising around 3%—a welcome sign after years of volatility. But the war-driven energy spikes have made that stability fragile. Beneath the headline numbers, cost pressures remain very real. According to ONS 2026: Food inflation still elevated […]