Supply & Procurement: More Than Just Finding the Right Product

Good procurement isn't simply about finding a product and getting the lowest possible price.

Availability, lead times, compatibility, logistics, manufacturer relationships and knowing what alternatives are available can all have just as much impact on a project as the initial purchase price.

That's particularly true across IP infrastructure, where a relatively small component can become a very big problem when it isn't available at the right time.

At Xpress, supply and procurement has always been a major part of what we do. With more than 25 years spent working across the infrastructure market, we've seen first-hand how much value a good supply chain can add to a project.

Sometimes the requirement is straightforward: a customer knows exactly what they need and wants us to source it.

Other times, there's a little more involved.

A product may have been discontinued. Lead times might have changed. The original specification may no longer represent the best option. Or a bill of materials might contain several products from different manufacturers that all need to arrive at the right place at the right time.

That's where understanding the wider requirement becomes important.

Rather than being tied to one manufacturer or product range, we can look across our established manufacturer and distribution relationships to help identify suitable options based on specification, availability, budget and timescale.

It might mean finding an equivalent product, helping build or review a BoM, consolidating equipment from multiple suppliers, coordinating deliveries or simply taking some of the procurement workload away from the customer.

And sometimes it really is just about supplying a box.

That's the point.

Good supply and procurement should adapt to what the customer actually needs. It shouldn't add another layer of complexity to the process.

For us, it's about making the supply chain one less thing for our customers to worry about.