Case Study
How a Mid-Market EPC Contractor Reclaimed 160 Hours per Week in Procurement
A growing EPC firm specializing in industrial infrastructure and energy projects transformed its procurement operations with Purchaser, cutting cycle times by 76% and unlocking $1.2M in working capital.
The Challenge
Growth Had Outpaced Their Procurement Systems
The company's procurement team of seven buyers managed nearly 300 RFQs every week across complex, multi-discipline scopes, from structural steel and electrical assemblies to instrumentation packages and mechanical subcontracts. Each RFQ required collecting specifications from engineering, pulling vendor contacts from ERP exports, building email templates, tracking responses across shared inboxes, and manually entering pricing into comparison spreadsheets.
On average, each RFQ took 35–45 minutes to prepare and manage. Across the full team, that added up to 130–150 hours per week spent on manual coordination, time that wasn't going toward supplier development, cost optimization, or scope review.
The pain extended beyond procurement. Engineering wanted control over technical data flowing to vendors. Project managers needed predictable material flow to keep construction schedules on track. Finance required consistent spend visibility and audit-ready documentation. IT demanded security, SSO integration, and minimal disruption to the existing ERP.
"Everyone had their own way of doing things, and nobody could see the full picture. We had project managers calling buyers for status updates that should have been available in a dashboard." — VP of Supply Chain
The Solution
Structured Procurement Intelligence
Purchaser replaced the email-and-spreadsheet workflow with a structured, collaborative platform purpose-built for complex EPC procurement. The team deployed Purchaser across all active projects within six weeks, integrating with their existing ERP for vendor data and PO workflows.
Key capabilities that drove adoption:
- Automated RFQ creation: specifications and vendor lists pulled directly from project packages, eliminating manual data entry.
- Vendor submission normalization: vendor submissions automatically parsed and structured for side-by-side comparison across scope, price, and commercial terms.
- Cross-functional visibility: engineering, procurement, project management, and finance all working from the same source of truth.
- Deviation surfacing: scope gaps, assumption mismatches, and exclusions flagged before award decisions are made.
Results
Operational & Financial Impact
5×
Sourcing throughput
Reclaimed 160+ hours per week by reducing RFQ prep time from 40 to 8 minutes, without adding headcount.
76%
Cycle time reduction
Cut quote-to-PO readiness from 3–4 days to under 1 day with reusable RFQs and shared access.
70%
Fewer clarifications
Standardized RFQs improved data clarity, reducing back-and-forth with suppliers and subcontractors.
$1.2M
Working capital unlocked
Faster sourcing enabled earlier PO placement and a forecasted 8–10% drop in safety stock levels.
Before & After Purchaser
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Average RFQ cycle time | 20–25 days | 4–5 days |
| Time spent per RFQ | 40 minutes | 8 minutes |
| Weekly labor hours on RFQs | 200+ hours | 40 hours |
| Departmental alignment | Siloed and inconsistent | Unified with shared visibility |
| Supplier response rate | 50–60% | 90%+ |
| Subcontractor quote comparison | 25–30 min per package | Under 10 min |
"We didn't just speed up RFQs. We finally got everyone on the same page. Purchaser increased total procurement throughput by 5×."
VP of Supply Chain
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