Global Railway Organization Engages aPriori to Streamline the Request for Quotation (RFQ) Process & Improve Supply Chain Management and Product Costing

The company, which makes and services railways, has approximately 15,000 individual contributors worldwide. aPriori will work with its Central European division – with a long-range plan to implement aPriori globally.

The company has been significantly challenged in its RFQ process time, especially for primary parts and smaller assemblies. In addition, reactionary supply chain management challenges lead to missed cost targets. Consequently, they were facing increased product costs due to suboptimal designs which had a negative impact on margins.

In keeping with many of our wins, the company approached aPriori because one of their direct competitors has had great Zero RFQ success with our solutions. The company has a three-year deployment plan, with the expectation of rolling out its own Zero RFQ strategy in Year Two. Additionally, they want to further extend their aPriori deployment scope to key users including cost engineering and design optimization in the early stages of development.

aPriori helps companies achieve Zero RFQ by:

• Automating the procurement process and fostering strong supplier relationships
• Leveraging its digital manufacturing simulation and cost modeling solutions to identify the right supplier with the right capabilities in the right location
• Enabling users to send purchase orders directly to suppliers, bypassing the need to send RFQs to suppliers for quotes
• Eliminating the need for multiple RFQ iterations, accelerating time to market, and ensuring cost-effective, accurate sourcing

The company’s Executive VP of the Central Europe division has a vision for aPriori to provide cost insight across the organization and drive more strategic collaboration between engineering, sourcing, and the supply base. The Executive VP has made aPriori a strategic objective for 2025, prioritizing it for quick ROI in reducing cost and significantly mitigating procurement risks.  The company has since made the decision to increase its initial aPriori investment, adding Bulk Analysis to its Year One deployment to help quickly identify savings opportunities.