Case Study

Coupa Sourcing Optimization

Client: A leading high-technology manufacturer (anonymised at client’s request)
Industry: Technology / Manufacturing
Region: Global transportation network spanning multiple business units and ports of delivery
Rollout Timeline: During 2024 (timeline anonymised at client’s request)
Freight Footprint: USD 150 million baseline annual ocean freight spend, over 1,200 transportation lanes, 20 carriers, and approximately 1,800 forty-foot equivalent units (FEU) moved annually

Capacity Scarcity in a Tight Market: Securing sufficient container space had become a major obstacle in a tight and unpredictable ocean freight market, putting delivery reliability at risk
Escalating Freight Costs: Rising shipping costs against a USD 150 million baseline spend created significant margin pressure, with market volatility, fuel prices and geopolitical disruption making rates hard to predict or budget for
Competing Business Unit Requirements: Multiple business units each carried distinct requirements for shipping schedules, ports of delivery and volume capacity, making a single optimal award difficult to construct
Network Complexity at Scale: Over 1,200 lanes across 20 carriers created a combinatorial sourcing problem beyond the reach of conventional spreadsheet-based RFP evaluation
Cost Versus Service Trade-off: The firm needed to drive savings without compromising service levels or missing volume commitments

Coupa Sourcing Optimization Deployed: Ran the ocean freight programme through CSO, taking a single sourcing event to market covering all 1,200+ lanes, 20 carriers and 1,800 FEUs in one optimised model
Multi-Round Competitive Bidding: Structured the event across multiple bidding rounds, awarding volume progressively so that both capacity and competitive pricing were confirmed at each step rather than committed up front
Scenario Modelling: Used advanced “what-if” scenario analysis to test the impact of rate changes, capacity constraints and geopolitical events before award
Constraint-Based Award Design: Modelled each business unit’s schedule, port and volume requirements as constraints within the optimisation, allowing a single award to satisfy divergent internal needs
Alternative Option Discovery: Surfaced new shipping options not visible under the incumbent structure, better matched to individual business unit needs

Advanced Sourcing Expertise: Applied optimisation-led sourcing rather than conventional line-item negotiation, enabling a high-volume, high-complexity event to be run as a single coordinated exercise
Capacity as a Sourcing Objective: Treated capacity assurance as a first-class outcome alongside price, securing full allocations despite constrained global availability
Methodologies Used: Baseline spend and lane analysis, constraint modelling, scenario planning, multi-round bid strategy design, and award optimisation across business units
Thought Leadership: SCP co-authored the underlying Coupa whitepaper, positioning the firm as a specialist in advanced sourcing optimisation for freight categories

Full Capacity Secured: Complete capacity allocations locked in across the network despite limited global availability
Award Process Streamlined: The award process was simplified and accelerated, with all volume commitments met
Service Levels Protected: Additional savings were realised without compromising service, and products arrived at facilities on time
Customer Commitments Maintained: Customer orders were fulfilled as expected while cost efficiency was maximised

Transformed Freight Strategy: The firm’s ocean freight strategy was fundamentally restructured, with logistics costs significantly reduced
Capacity Allocation: full allocations secured in a constrained market
Improved Visibility and Control: Consolidated sourcing data gave the procurement team a single view for comparing bids and tracking carrier performance, replacing fragmented multi-source reporting