Electrical commodity contracts result in powerful savings

Last summer, IPF Materials and Logistics, working in close collaboration with University Services – Purchasing, established the first commodity purchasing contracts in IPF history, which have saved the university over $26,000 to date.  

The Materials and Logistics team, under the leadership of manager Jeff Groll, had been exploring the possibility of securing contracts with some of our most trusted vendor partners for the past four years. With the expertise of Purchasing specialist Mandy Lillywhite, they had the opportunity to make this a reality. 

“We decided to start with electrical components, the commodity area with the highest usage,” Groll added. “Out of the approximately 5,800 individual parts carried by the Stockroom, close to 1,000 are electrical-related; with 800 of those being high-volume items.” 

The next step was to gather purchasing and usage numbers from the past four years to provide baseline data to bidding vendors.  

After a five-week period, the bids were closely reviewed, ensuring that manufacturer part numbers were adhered to and that no substitutions had been made. After further deliberation it was decided to establish a dual award to Kendall Electric and Wesco. “Those chosen had long-standing positive histories with the university, proven track records of quick turnaround and great invoicing accuracy,” Groll said. 

As part of the agreement, the vendors also have worked to enter IPF part numbers within their ordering systems, making purchasing from them more efficient. Materials and Logistics staff members no longer need to look up part numbers or cross reference manufacturer’s numbers with supplier numbers, it is now done automatically. 

“The next step is to establish similar purchasing contracts for plumbing items, the next highest-volume area,” Groll said. “It is our hope to eventually have similar contracts for all our items, with the potential to capture even greater savings for the university.”