Case Studies

Cocoa-to-Customer Cost Reset: How a Swiss Premium-Chocolate Retailer Cut €5 Million from COGS and Slashed Stock-Outs 40%

Duration:

18 Weeks

Challenge

Saudi Arabia’s newly formed Central Procurement Authority (CPA) needed to translate Vision 2030 efficiency goals into day-to-day practice, yet faced three obstacles.

Fragmented buying — every ministry sourced “horizontal” categories (travel, facilities, ICT, office supplies) separately, diluting scale advantages.

Manual, paper-heavy processes — long tender-to-award cycles constrained delivery against ambitious national plans.

Uneven local-content treatment — ministries applied different formulas, making it hard for suppliers to understand expectations.

The Ministry of Finance asked Massoni Advisory to create a best-practice operating model that (a) centralises common categories, (b) still empowers specialist teams for sector-specific projects (road infrastructure, health, defence), and (c) proves the model’s value through a handful of live sourcing pilots.

Our Approach

Gathered 24 months of order-level data and voice-of-customer feedback.
Deployed agentic Al bots to auto-map 48 end-to-end process variants, pinpointing bottlenecks and rework loons.
Benchmarked KPIs vs. peer manufacturers; flagged a 35% efficiency gap.

Designed a two-tier operating model:
- Tier A (Horizontal): CPA category teams aggregate common goods and services for all ministries.
- Tier B (Vertical): embedded expert cells partner with line ministries on sector-unique projects.
Established Category Councils, approval thresholds and a unified sourcing calendar.
Issued process manuals and evaluation templates that include clear local-content guidance.

Executed three strategic-sourcing pilots -rental-car travel, facilities management and office-supply catalogue – using the new workflows.
Introduced a Procurement Performance Dashboard that tracks cycle time, supplier competition and local-content application.
Rolled the new model out to a first wave of ministries; provided coaching and on-the-job support to buyer teams.

*Exact durations withheld for confidentiality….

Results & Benefits

Tender cycle times fell significantly as paperwork was replaced by standard digital templates and clear approval flows.

Ministries gained immediate price and service improvements in the pilot categories, validating the centralisation concept.

Supplier participation in tenders increased, reflecting higher market confidence in the new, transparent process.

Consistent local-content evaluation criteria gave suppliers a clear, predictable framework without hampering value-for-money decisions.

The Category-Council governance model created regular touchpoints among Finance, CPA and line ministries, sustaining momentum for future waves.

Conclusions & Lessons Learned

Separate common from specialist

A two-tier structure lets the centre harvest scale on everyday categories while preserving deep expertise for ministry-specific projects.

Governance before technology

Clear roles, approval rights and sourcing calendars are prerequisites for any future digital tools.

Pilot wins build credibility

Early successes in travel, FM and office supplies encouraged rapid adoption across ministries.

Practical local-content integration

Standard evaluation templates ensure every tender supports national goals without complicating supplier submissions.

Next Step

We’ll Assess, Build and Deliver a high-impact procurement model tailored to your mandate.

Cocoa-to-Customer Cost Reset: How a Swiss Premium-Chocolate Retailer Cut €5 Million from COGS and Slashed Stock-Outs 40%

Challenge

Saudi Arabia’s newly formed Central Procurement Authority (CPA) needed to translate Vision 2030 efficiency goals into day-to-day practice, yet faced three obstacles.

Our Approach

Results & Benefits

Conclusions & Lessons Learned

Next Step

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