Private Equity Firm Realizes Massive Cost Savings
Unlocking Cross-Portfolio Freight Savings with a Unified Bid Strategy
12% cost savings through transportation sourcing consolidation across consumer goods companies
A leading private equity firm with a diverse portfolio of consumer goods companies faced a common problem: freight was being sourced at the company level, without coordination. Each entity ran its own small-scale bids, missing out on volume leverage and shared network opportunities. SPARQ360 was brought in to identify synergies and execute a consolidated transportation sourcing strategy across the portfolio.
The Challenge
Each portfolio company had modest freight spend on its own. As a result, transportation bids lacked negotiating power, carrier relationships were scattered, and pricing was inconsistent. Without a PE-level sourcing strategy, the portfolio was missing a major opportunity to consolidate volume and reduce costs across the board.
SPARQ360’s experienced team deploys a boots-on-the-ground approach and mediate operations and customer’s leadership teams allowing us to make unbiased, objective decisions based purely on what is best for our customers. Our team provided hands on guidance to warehouse staff, documented process changes and enabled inter-departmental communication to maximize their 3PL engagement. This was the missing link for this client.
The Strategy
SPARQ360 took a “ground-up” approach—first documenting the current state and transportation requirements at each business. Then, we aggregated those findings into a unified bid strategy, allowing the PE firm to go to market as one coordinated organization with greater spend power and operational clarity.
The Implementation
OUsing SPARQ360’s sourcing tools and proprietary bid process, we:
- Collected and standardized freight data across portfolio companies
- Identified common carriers, lanes, and service needs
- Created a consolidated RFP at the PE level
- Managed the entire bid event, vendor scoring, and award structure
- Delivered transparent, defensible savings by company and category
Related service: Freight & Transportation Sourcing
The Results
- 12% average savings on freight spend across all participating business units
- Improved carrier utilization and consolidated logistics operations
- Cross-company synergy with no disruption to service
- Scalable bid process for future procurement cycles
By bringing portfolio companies together under one sourcing strategy, the PE firm captured significant cost savings and operating efficiency—something impossible under the previous siloed approach.
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