Global Non-Production Procurement at Motorola: Experiences from the TIGERS Project

In this case study, we discuss some of the experiences at Motorola to utilize e-commerce technologies to support non-production procurement globally, in an integrated fashion. Non-Production Procurement (NPP) includes the goods and services that are necessary to support the daily operations of a business. These items range from office supplies to consulting services and can easily represent one-third of a company’s total spend. Until recently NPP lacked the efficiency typically achieved for the procurement of production-related items. Motorola is utilizing Internet technologies to reduce "renegade purchases" and to improve the leverage of its buying power. By creating an easy-to-use, controllable method to obtain nonproduction related goods and services, the company expects to achieve cycle time reductions, improved process quality, and cost reductions. We report on the successes and point out some of the challenges and considerations that the company faces moving forward. As one way to overcome the limits of the current NPP solution, Motorola considers the use of mobile technologies.