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Operations & Assets UTILITY WEEK | 16TH - 22ND OCTOBER 2015 | 15 tor for offshore works is James Fisher Marine Services. Tim Cornelius, chief execu- tive of the Atlantis group, major- ity owner of the project, said: "It is very rewarding to see the offshore infrastructure tak- ing shape for this trailblazing project." If you have an asset or project you would like to see featured in this slot, please send your pictures and details of the project to: paul.newton@fav-house.com. C ompanies are increas- ingly utilising Big Data to help shape their market- ing strategies and customer relationship management (CRM) and to gain competitive advantage through personalisa- tion to enhance loyalty and for their own operations. A very effective way to utilise Big Data is in improving busi- ness efficiencies, in being able to gather and aggregate data to extract insights that can aid efficiency. Not all organisations have the capability to do this. At RS Components, we recognised a growing issue of inefficiency caused by the complexity of a process that affects all of our customers: maintenance, repair and operation (MRO) procure- ment. MRO products are a neces- sity for the smooth running of equipment and machinery – or simply business premises essentials such as lighting and heating. Procurement of products for MRO make up just 20 per cent of a firm's overall procurement costs so it is oen not a prime area of focus for cost savings. However, the ratio of product cost versus procure- ment cost is 2:1, something that cannot be ignored. RS Components has made a significant investment in research, verified by a project team at the Manchester Busi- ness School (MBS), to reveal what these costs are and where they lie. Procurement professional are aware of inefficiencies in the procurement process and the financial impact this has. However, the true extent of it isn't understood more widely. This is why little or no effort is given to reducing procurement costs – instead the effort is put into driving down product cost, which is where it is thought sav- ings aught to be made. Organisations must change their mindset and have stakeholders work together to achieve savings. This means streamlining processes, choosing fewer, better quality or energy-saving products to minimise maintenance, and reducing energy costs and frequency of replacement. Also, dealing with multiple suppli- ers to save on product costs is counter productive, because the downtime in dealing with the different processes of these sup- pliers when it comes to ordering and invoicing negates any sav- ing made on product. Joined-up thinking must be applied if savings are to be achieved. Our study has shown that data can remove the complexity by making information trans- parent, and analysis of it can generate insights that eliminate the guesswork that oen guides decision-making, and from which inefficiencies are created. We strongly believe that unveiling insights will increas- ingly be the differentiator for suppliers in a variety of sectors. Jarn Gill is head of corporate sales at RS Components. Visit: uk.rs-online.com/ working-together EXPERT VIEW JARN GILL, RS COMPONENTS Significant savings can be made on MRO procurement Companies can spend a disproportionate effort on reducing product costs when there are much easier pickings to be had by getting their procurement processes working efficiently.