Case study

Maxar Technologies is an integrated space infrastructure and earth intelligence company that makes information actionable and space accessible. It provides satellite technology to help governments and businesses use space to monitor global change and deliver broadband communications.

To support their bold mission of making the human experience better through satellite technology, Maxar needs to source a wide range of items from hundreds of suppliers—from highly sophisticated electronics components , all the way to the little things—like pens and lightbulbs—that makes a factory work. Until recently, Maxar’s director of strategic sourcing and procurement, Duncan Macfarlane, and his team, did this all by hand.

Macfarlane was still able to find savings for Maxar, but the process wasn’t very efficient, he says, and led to a lack of visibility into their spend. “Without purchase data centralized, it can take a long time and a lot of manual effort to analyze data,” says Macfarlane. “We needed a more efficient way.”

Using Fairmarkit has resulted in more competition for each sourcing event, which Macfarlane says “saves an incredible amount of time and delivers real savings.”

Overall visibility has improved dramatically. Fairmarkit has delivered the insights Macfarlane was looking for, showing exactly how long sourcing events are taking, as well as which suppliers are bidding, who is bidding frequently, and where their spend is going.

“At our fingertips we now have a wealth of knowledge—how long it takes when buyers send out RFQs, when companies are responding and how long it takes to complete a purchase; this knowledge vastly improves the procurement process and provides us will the ability not only to react tactically, but also to use that information strategically,” says Macfarlane.

The platform also provides manufacturer requirements planning tips—letting Macfarlane know that satellite parts are needed, how long they will take to arrive and even when he needs to source items in order to meet his schedules. Maxar was able to successfully implement Fairmarkit in a matter of days and transform their procurement process into an efficient and centralized platform.