RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Sept. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- JAGGAER, the world’s largest independent spend management company, has provided technology that enables King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, to efficiently control its procurement resource while delivering the service that its laboratories require. This also helps the institution garner citations, making it the 16th fastest growing research university and top university in citations per faculty ranking.
From its opening, KAUST recognized the importance of the supply chain in enabling its research functions. The necessity of assuring stability required the creation of an all in-house supply chain including purchasing, logistics, permitting, customs clearance and warehousing. KAUST has continually pushed to improve the speed and efficiency of the supply chain by improving the positioning of research materials along the nodes of the chain. The university adopted JAGGAER’s Enterprise Reagent Manager (ERM) and eProcurement technology solutions as the backbone of its system.
“There has been a concerted and continual effort to improve and develop. For example, in 2011, the lead time for us to get research materials from our key vendors’ warehouses to our professors was around one and a half months, which we’ve managed, over time, to bring down to less than three weeks. This compares with other organizations in the region, where the lead time for these materials is two to three months or more. Cutting that time enables our professors to carry on with their research initiatives,” stated Christopher Harvey, KAUST head of Procurement.
This program of continual improvement was overseen by Harvey; Sayed Magthum, head of Supply Chain Services; and Ismail Alfarooque, manager of Customs and Compliance.
In practice, KAUST sought and attained a faster, more powerful supply chain, and the university has been able to more closely manage research materials through ERM, JAGGAER’s industry-leading chemical management solution. JAGGAER’s online chemical tracking service allows the university and its professors to monitor lab stocks and share acquired resources. This has eliminated duplicate purchases, reducing KAUST spend on chemicals by 10 percent.
Magthum and Harvey realized that in a competitive environment, one of the biggest challenges is to save the university money and optimize an approach to managing a global supply chain.
“We know that with the world and local economies as they are, we have to be as efficient as possible. We have to invest time with our key suppliers and build them as partners so that the relationship is strong and the service is right. Regarding the future, this will almost certainly involve incorporating global best practices and up-to-date technologies,” noted Magthum.
“We are spending a lot of time looking at spending analytics, so we are developing a better understanding of where we are spending our money,” Magthum continued. “It means we can better predict our outgoings and identify where we can improve our savings.”
“JAGGAER has been providing the most highly rated industry-leading solutions for global education for nearly a quarter century. We recognize the ultimate importance of their missions and developed ERM specifically for the needs of life sciences research, whether it be in higher education, education or the commercial sector,” said Robert Bonavito, CEO, JAGGAER.
About JAGGAER: Global source to pay spend management solutions
JAGGAER is the world’s largest independent spend management company, with nearly 2,000 customers connected to a network of 3.7 million suppliers in 70 countries, served by offices located in North America, Latin America, throughout Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and the Middle East. JAGGAER offers complete SaaS-based Source to Pay eProcurement solutions with advanced Spend Analytics, Sourcing, Supplier Management, Contract Lifecycle Management, Savings Tracking and intelligent workflow capabilities. JAGGAER has pioneered spend solutions for over two decades and continues to lead the innovation curve by listening to customers and analyzing the market. Our solution suites are trusted by the world’s largest manufacturing, education, health care, retail, consumer package goods, logistics, construction, utilities companies and public service organizations. Additionally, JAGGAER holds 38 patents–more than any other spend management company. www.JAGGAER.com
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