Large Church Consolidates from 15+ Vendors Down to One

Executive Summary

FlexPAC originally met with a large church on the west side of Indianapolis during the church’s search for a new cleaning solution. During this process, FlexPAC realized the church was having many vendor issues that could be addressed by FlexPAC services, allowing the church to consolidate the number of vendors they were currently using. It has been proven that vendor consolidation can help to reduce costs, improve compliance, and decrease the time spent on ordering supplies. By having to source from multiple vendors, this only increases complexity, business risk, and costs.

Challenges

The church has 8 full-time cleaning staff, with over 40 bathrooms to service. They worked with 10-12 different vendors, meaning that their ordering process was not streamlined and took time to complete. Using so many different vendors created issues in supplies which meant that the staff sometimes had to go to big box stores to keep supplies in stock in between orders, costing the church both time and financial resources. The church was also in the middle of an expansion to add a YMCA satellite program, meaning they would need to add 5-7 more vendors in the near future. FlexPAC helped the church realize that streamlining their vendor process would save them time, money, and make sure that they were compliant in their cleaning procedures.

FlexPAC’s Process

To start this process, FlexPAC went to the church to do a walk through and evaluate their facility. This allowed FlexPAC to accurately assess the needs of the church and to be aware of the current issues that they were facing. The first step was assuring the church that FlexPAC would be able to provide them with all of the resources they were currently getting from their vendors. With over 1,000 suppliers, FlexPAC is able to meet all of the needs a business may have. There were a few key issues that needed to be addressed, such as ensuring compliance with cleaning standards and stocking the correct amount of supplies. FlexPAC also needed to address the needs of the soon to be added YMCA satellite academy, which needed to be compliant with both the state and the health department. FlexPAC was able to find the proper cleaning supplies, cleaning equipment, and facility resources to meet all of the church’s needs.

Results

By performing vendor consolidating with FlexPAC, the church was able to go from having potentially 15-17 vendors to only having 1. Before consolidation, the church had problems with compliance in their daycare area because products were not being used correctly. They also had issues with equipment that was difficult to use and too loud for use during services or in the daycare center. Through the vendor consolidation process, FlexPAC was able to provide them with more efficient and effective solutions that fit their needs, while saving them time and resources. Through the assessment process, FlexPAC can now provide the church with the correct amount of supplies so that cleaning staff no longer has to replenish from big box stores in between orders.

The biggest improvement for the church is ease of ordering and the huge cost reduction that came with consolidating through FlexPAC.  According to a 10-year study by The Hackett Group, it costs $700-$1,400 per year to source, maintain relationships, and process invoices for each supplier that a business has. With the church’s potential 15+ suppliers, we can assume that they will have a yearly, unrealized “soft cost” savings of roughly $10,500-$21,000. These funds can now go towards building the additions to the church, improving church activities, and other beneficial operations.

The Hackett Group Consolidation Study: Mitchell, P. & Sawchuk, C. (2012). The Benefits of Supplier Consolidation Extend Far Beyond Sourcing Savings. Published by: The Hackett Group.