In March 2021, our client begun a tender to consolidate their stretch film supply across their 13 factories. Stretch film had previously been bought autonomously by each site, and the Central Procurement Team anticipated significant hurdles to consolidate the spend from sites. Films used previously included 15, 17, 19, 20 and 23mu films from a range of national and local suppliers and extruders.

The Category Manager experienced resistance from the beginning of the tender process, due to some sites having longstanding relationships with regional suppliers, and other sites not tracking palletwrap usage.

Bridge Johnson Solution

Bridge Johnson came to the client’s attention after their tender participant list was finalised but opted to include us because of the rigorous trial methodology which had previously delivered a trouble-free implementation with multi-site food & beverage producers.

As one of 12 participants, but with no prior relationship, Bridge Johnson was awarded the tender based on using SURGE Machine Film 10mu and 12mu variants with an anticipated plastic reduction of 47% (155,000kg LLDPE annually/465,000kg CO2e annually) and a savings expectation of £196,000, far in excess of the original 5% goal.

Whilst several competitors offered films at a cheaper price-point, the Category Manager selected Bridge Johnson because of the focus on lifetime savings through advanced stretch technology, and a continuous improvement plan.

Bridge Johnson hosted a call with all sites to secure buy-in to the project timescales and trialling methodology. By visiting all sites twice within an 8-week period as well as trialling the films, conducting debrief calls with full reporting and continuous improvement recommendations, and implementing across over 20 different pallet wrappers, we met all the needs of the tender.

Client Outcome

Sixty days after implementing the client was on-track to receive cost savings over £210,000 and the expected CO2e reductions. They also took on an 18-month continuous improvement plan which has seen sites invest in time-saving pallet wrap machinery, paid-off by the original optimisation to SURGE machine films.