Negotiating from Knowledge: Putting Manufacturing Intelligence in the Hands of the Direct Materials Buyer

Procurement teams rank negotiation as their top opportunity for savings, with 95% of organizations rating it “high” or “critical.” But most lack the manufacturing cost expertise and visibility to negotiate direct materials well, leaving buyers to rely on the information suppliers choose to share.

This Solution Spotlight from The Hackett Group looks at aPriori’s aiSource, which extends its product intelligence beyond cost and manufacturing engineers, putting it directly in the hands of procurement. It shows how negotiation moves from positional bargaining to a shared, fact-based conversation between engineering, procurement, and suppliers.

What you’ll learn:

• Why contract negotiation takes more sourcing time than any other step, roughly 20 business days on complex deals
• How procurement workloads are growing while staffing and budgets shrink
• How what-if testing lets buyers quickly check supplier prices against their own cost estimates
• How aiSource lets teams evaluate more direct materials without adding headcount