Before implementing an AI solution, the procurement team at a leading industrial manufacturer was constrained by a series of manual, disconnected processes that created significant bottlenecks:

• Manual Requisition Handling: Material requisitions were raised independently from 20+ global plants via email and spreadsheets. Sourcing managers spent hours every week manually consolidating these requests.
• Time-Consuming Negotiations: Price negotiations involved endless back-and-forth emails and phone calls with each vendor, often leading to project delays and inconsistent pricing across the board.
• Limited Vendor Discovery: The team relied on its existing, often static, list of suppliers. Identifying new, more competitive vendors was a reactive, ad-hoc activity, leaving potential savings on the table.
• Subjective Decision-Making: Vendor selection was often based on long standing relationships rather than a comprehensive analysis of current market rates and performance.
• Invoice Processing & Auditing: The accounts payable team had to manually check each incoming invoice against its purchase order. Mismatches were common, leading to payment delays and a high risk of overpayment.