A Fortune 500 manufacturing client coordinates the operations of a supply chain consisting of dozens of contract manufacturers and tens of thousands of part suppliers spread throughout the world; all orchestrated to produce a complex set of products to be delivered to customers in virtually every country of the world. Due to the geographical location of some of the client's facilities with respect to parts suppliers, and the varying level of purchasing power of the client and some of the client's manufacturing partners, key decisions had to be made as to which organization on the supply chain could most cost effectively procure base components for the manufacturing process.

The client required a mechanism enabling the client, key suppliers, and its contract manufacturing partners to securely collaborate on procurement decisions for base materials used in the client's manufacturing process.

Alliance Data leveraged its development expertise to design, develop, and deploy an application to manage the process. The solution allowed vendors around the world to log into a single system to submit pricing quotes. The client could then analyze the proposals, approve or reject the entire assembly or individual components, and provide visibility of the decision to the vendor.

The application was easily integrated into the client's associated financial and procurement systems in less than 90 days. The client now has greater visibility of what its suppliers are paying not only for final products, but each component as well. By leveraging each vendor's volume buying power, the client is getting the best possible price for each component.