Prime Advantage Executive Participates in Panel Discussion on Group Buying at CSCMP Event

Dec. 6, 2011 - PRLog -- Prime Advantage, the leading manufacturing buying consortium, announced that its vice president of new business relationships, Mike McDonald, was recently featured as a speaker at the November 2 gathering of Chicago area supply chain professionals, sponsored by the world’s largest supply chain association, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

McDonald’s presentation analyzed the reasons why small and midsized companies choose to participate in a buying group. They include:
•   Limited human capital
•   Limited access to national/global suppliers
•   Inability to effectively conduct supplier evaluations and audits
•   Desire to improve buying leverage
•   Need to improve quality and depth of supply base across the supply chain

The presentation also offered details on a relationship that was forged between two companies through their involvement in Prime Advantage: Ultrafryer, a San Antonio-based food equipment manufacturer, and OEM Products, LLC, a Wisconsin-based supplier of pipe, valves and fittings.

McDonald discussed how Ultrafryer was able to achieve two significant business benefits through its membership in Prime Advantage, including one sustainable benefit, the fast access to qualified suppliers in the Prime Advantage network which yields the manufacturer at least $25,000 annually in time savings through the streamlined effort of identifying, evaluating, and selecting suppliers.

Secondly, Ultrafryer reported that an introduction to OEM Products, an Endorsed Supplier in the group,  at a Prime Advantage conference led to improved efficiency in its product’s performance. Ultrafryer had been evaluating the issue of welded joints separating in its fryers, and after meeting with OEM Products at the conference, they suggested creating a protective shield that complemented the original design of the fryer.  Through the redesign, this solution provided a 30 percent savings to direct costs that year, and dramatically improved the product’s performance while reducing warranty costs.

The presentation also compared the group buying model for business-to-business (b2b) with the business-to-consumer (b2c) model, analyzing similarities and differences. DuPage Children’s Museum Marketing Director Alison Segebarth, who was another panelist, discussed her experience utilizing the daily deal provider Groupon as a vendor.  Segebarth and McDonald discussed the importance of buyer and supplier satisfaction in a group buying model, whether b2b or b2c, and how cost savings usually sparks the relationship, but delivering quality products and services with good customer service determine if it’s a sustainable relationship.

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Founded in 1997, Prime Advantage is a buying consortium for industrial manufacturers with more than 700 members and more than 130 endorsed suppliers. For more information on Prime Advantage, visit the website at www.primeadvantage.com.