Swisslog drives efficient, transparent sourcing with Archlet

Highlights

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For Swisslog, procurement plays a decisive role with two key business levers: helping the sales team win projects competitively and ensuring profitability in delivery. As the company scales, sourcing needs to move faster, capture more value, and create transparency early in the process. Yet much of the work was happening in Excel and email, making it hard to compare offers, involve engineering efficiently, and retain sourcing knowledge for future projects.

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Swisslog wanted one platform that brings structure, improves offer quality, and makes the sourcing process clear and easy for everyone involved - from buyers to engineers to suppliers. “If the tool is not easy to use, people will find workarounds, and in the end chaos comes back to you,” says Carmen, Global CPO at Swisslog. “User experience was not a side topic for us. It was essential.”

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The Challenge

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Sourcing was at the core of project profitability but lacked a digital foundation. Offers could not be benchmarked consistently, hidden costs were hard to detect, and past project learnings were lost across files and inboxes. Engineering and procurement were not always aligned on scope and expectations, which made supplier responses harder to compare. Suppliers themselves expressed the need for a clearer process and a better overview of where they stand during negotiations.

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Swisslog needed a solution that improves efficiency, but just as importantly, one that increases process quality and transparency from the first briefing all the way to supplier award.

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The Solution

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Swisslog chose Archlet because it brought two things together: simplicity for users and a partner mindset. The Swisslog team wanted a solution that feels intuitive even for those outside procurement and a team that listens and adapts over time and grows with them. “I wanted to feel that our work matters, that when we share feedback it actually shapes the product. That was a key reason for selecting Archlet,” says Carmen.

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Archlet supported Swisslog in structuring sourcing projects around their project-based setup. Early rollout focused on tactical RFPs, but as confidence grew, Swisslog began to set up more standardized templates, collect better data and build a foundation for benchmarking and category management.

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The rollout was one of the smoothest Swisslog has experienced in past implementations – with high adoption and little noise or resistance. Structured bid sheets now lead to clearer expectation setting and requirements for suppliers and better alignment with internal engineering teams. Offers no longer get lost in separate files, and suppliers can participate more effectively thanks to increased transparency.

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The Results

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Swisslog has set a clear adoption target: 80 percent of sourcing projects should run through Archlet. Beyond efficiency gains, the main impact has been improved process quality and transparency. Offers are scoped more clearly, decisions are more comparable, and knowledge is finally captured in one place instead of getting lost after each project. “This implementation has been refreshingly focused and efficient,” Carmen notes. “People start to see that it is not just a sourcing tool but a base for how we want to work in the future.”

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The Outlook

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With the foundations in place, Swisslog is now moving towards price development tracking, should-cost models, and using awarded data and past price benchmarks to build stronger category strategies. The goal is to connect sourcing outcomes more closely to contract and project execution and turn procurement into a proactive driver of profitability. “Archlet is becoming our digital backbone for sourcing. It gives us structure, transparency and a base for true category management,” Carmen concludes.

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