Profiles in Supply Chain Enablement: A major retail company tackles energy procurement using an online sourcing tool.
Company: Fortune 100 Retailer (U.S.)
Company Size: Large
Company Sector: Retail
Area(s) of Enablement: Sourcing, Procurement
Enabler: EnergyWindow, Inc. (Boulder, CO)
Case Study:A national retailer had ongoing energy procurement requirements for a large number of facilities in many deregulated states. The company sought a way to simplify a high volume of requests for quotation and subsequent bidding scenarios in a variety of differently structured energy markets.
The current challenges involved in energy sourcing can be summarized as follows:
The retailer adopted a three-pronged approach to handling its energy procurement requirements:
The result was a reported cumulative savings of more than $9 million on energy supply costs. The retailer has continued implementation of its energy sourcing program using the EnergyWindow energy sourcing technology tools.
For more stories of successful supply chain implementations, read the "2005 Supply & Demand Chain Executive 100" article in the June/July 2005 issue of the magazine. Also watch the Today's Headlines section of SDCExec.com every Tuesday and Thursday for more in depth best practices drawn from this year's Supply & Demand Chain Executive 100.
Company: Fortune 100 Retailer (U.S.)
Company Size: Large
Company Sector: Retail
Area(s) of Enablement: Sourcing, Procurement
Enabler: EnergyWindow, Inc. (Boulder, CO)
Case Study:A national retailer had ongoing energy procurement requirements for a large number of facilities in many deregulated states. The company sought a way to simplify a high volume of requests for quotation and subsequent bidding scenarios in a variety of differently structured energy markets.The current challenges involved in energy sourcing can be summarized as follows:
- Energy offerings differ from state to state, as well as territory to territory within states.
- Opportunities to buy energy at competitive rates can be fast breaking and time-critical; miss the moment and you lose the opportunity to buy.
- Requesting an energy bid is a complex task, requiring the gathering of thousands of data elements.
- Manual pursuit of a competitive energy bid can take up to three or four week, or 120-180 hours of time.
The retailer adopted a three-pronged approach to handling its energy procurement requirements:
- Develop energy sourcing strategy and priorities.
- Identify energy market savings opportunities.
- Procure energy contracts using online procurement.
The result was a reported cumulative savings of more than $9 million on energy supply costs. The retailer has continued implementation of its energy sourcing program using the EnergyWindow energy sourcing technology tools.
For more stories of successful supply chain implementations, read the "2005 Supply & Demand Chain Executive 100" article in the June/July 2005 issue of the magazine. Also watch the Today's Headlines section of SDCExec.com every Tuesday and Thursday for more in depth best practices drawn from this year's Supply & Demand Chain Executive 100.
