Greif Packaging big

value and savings

through procurement

Greif, a world leader in industrial packaging
products and services, recognized that in order to
continue to grow and maintain their competitive
position, they needed to better manage expendi-
tures. While some long-term contracts were in
place for categories such as air travel and health-
care benefits, the majority of Greif’s indirect
spend was decentralized across 68 locations
throughout the United States. Without the
resources and tools needed to focus on these
indirect categories, Greif had not been able to
leverage their spending and negotiate optimal
contracts with preferred suppliers. Greif knew that
they needed to put more focus on their indirect and
other direct material purchasing categories in order
to reap the significant savings potential. The
question was how? Would they build an indirect
procurement capability — hiring, training, and
developing an organization and establishing tools
and processes — or partner with an external
service provider who could quickly bring
resources, processes, and technology to bear?
After careful consideration and conducting a
thorough evaluation process, Greif decided to
partner with a procurement outsourcing specialist
who could provide immediate access to the
capabilities needed to drive cost and performance
improvements in a variety of categories, allowing
the company to start achieving greater results
sooner. Greif selected ICG Commerce, based
upon a proven track record and set three specific
objectives for the newly formed partnership:
Four Solutions for Containing Costs
Greif has engaged ICG Commerce to address and
manage nearly 20 buying categories, including
Chemicals, Fuel Oil, Transportation, MRO, Travel, IT,
and Energy. Beginning with a detailed spend
assessment, Greif and ICG Commerce developed a
strategy to drive savings, automate the purchase-
to-pay process, and improve their ability to capture
and utilize detailed spend information to drive
ongoing cost and supplier performance improve-
ments. Greif and ICG Commerce established a four-
part strategy aimed at leveraging ICG Commerce’s
procurement infrastructure to drive significant and
continuous cost reductions:
Strategic Sourcing — With access to deep process
and category experts and an arsenal of sourcing
tools, including category-specific work plans and
RFP templates, Greif was equipped to identify cost-
saving opportunities, rationalize suppliers, and
improve contracted supplier service levels.
Supplier Implementation — A detailed implemen-
tation program involving the Greif/ICG Commerce
procurement team, preferred suppliers, and each of
the key manufacturing facilities would ensure that
each local supplier branch understood contract
terms and expectations as well as how to effectively
serve each of the Greif plants.

• Significantly drive down the cost of indirect and

some direct material expenditures
• Automate the purchase-to-pay process, moving
from manual to automated invoice processing
• Significantly increase historical purchase data to ICGCOMMERCE
T o t a l P r o c u r e m e n t . M a x i m i z e d S a v i n g s.
allow for better management of expenditures
Purchase-to-Pay Process Automation — A hosted
purchase-to-pay solution would allow requisitioners With ICG Commerce, We’ve Put a Lid on Spend
to quickly find and order items from preferred
suppliers while capturing line-item- level detail “Having made strong progress in our first year
for future review and use. By deploying the system against the aggressive goals set forth at the onset
in over 60 plants and training over 250 end-users, of the relationship, the team continues to identify
Greif would gain access to detailed compliance opportunities to address additional spend, in new
information, by business unit and plant, and the categories and new geographies, find innovative
ability to track savings by category, location, or and incremental cost-reduction opportunities, and
business unit. optimize Greif’s procurement effectiveness and
results.”
Ongoing Category Management — With the right
Myron Gramelspacher
tools in place, process and category experts not
Vice President
only measure savings and compliance but also
Global Logistics & Indirects
supplier performance. By evaluating this information,
along with market index data and benchmarks,
ICG Commerce’s category experts are able to
drive continuous cost and service improvements
for Greif.

Higher Service, Lower Costs

In the first year, the Greif/ICG Commerce team

completed the strategic sourcing and implemen-
tation of twelve buying categories, launched
sourcing projects for an additional eight categories,
and implemented a solution for automating
Greif’s purchase-to-pay processes for a set of
targeted categories. The team is now actively
managing a significant portion of the company’s
indirect expenditures, driving solid savings and
value-driven opportunities and is driving to
achieve their 90% compliance target.

Not only is the company seeing measurable

savings on indirect goods and services but
employees are realizing time savings during the
requisition and purchase processes. Plant buyers
no longer have to manually determine the
appropriate supplier and order each item manually,
thereby allowing them to focus on more critical
business activities. In addition, the Accounts
Payable team has seen the number of “touches
per invoice” drop from three to almost zero, with
an extremely low exception rate.
ICGCOMMERCE
T o t a l P r o c u r e m e n t . M a x i m i z e d S a v i n g s.

2520 Renaissance Blvd., Suite 100, King of Prussia, PA 19406 877.935.ICGC (4242) www.icgcommerce.com