Motorola leverages its way to lower cost: by placing purchasing under one umbrella, Motorola has reduced it supplier base by 20% and cut material and service costs by more than $500 million in one year.(purchasing strategy)

Purchasing, September, 2004 by Carbone, James

Until last year, Motorola was reluctant to wield its purchasing clout with suppliers despite the fact that it buys about $18 billion of materials and services per year. For most of its 75-year history Motorola left purchasing up to its individual business groups and facilities although there were many components, materials and services that were common across the company's business units.

Motorola was clearly losing out on opportunities to leverage its purchases and cut both direct and indirect materials costs. But all that has changed. Last year, Motorola began its journey toward a more centralized purchasing structure under the leadership of Theresa Metty, who was named chief procurement officer for the company. Metty had previously headed up...

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