Time Manufacturing cuts sourcing costs by $5M+ with LightSource AI-powered procurement platform

Time Manufacturing Company (TMC), a global industrial manufacturer producing highly customizable equipment lines including aerial work platforms, ran its strategic sourcing function almost entirely on spreadsheets and email. With no centralized platform to manage sourcing projects, track bill-of-materials (BOM) costs, or systematically collect and compare supplier quotes, procurement teams operated with fragmented visibility across their supply base. The highly configurable nature of TMC's product catalog made off-the-shelf BOM costing tools ill-suited to their needs. The result was slower sourcing cycles, missed savings opportunities, and an inability to make data-driven decisions at the scale a global manufacturer requires.

TMC's Global Director of Strategic Sourcing, Nico Orduz, championed the adoption of LightSource, a purpose-built AI-powered strategic sourcing platform. LightSource replaced the patchwork of spreadsheets and email chains with a unified hub for RFQ creation, supplier communication, and bid analysis. The platform's machine learning and predictive analytics capabilities surface cost-saving opportunities across the supplier base and benchmark quotes to enable more informed award decisions. Critically, LightSource's flexible BOM costing framework accommodated TMC's highly customizable product configurations — a key differentiator from traditional procurement tools that could not adapt. Deployment focused on immediate workflow replacement, driving rapid user adoption as teams saw direct value over prior manual processes. TMC also initiated planning for deeper ERP integrations to further streamline data flow between sourcing and production systems.

TMC achieved over $5 million in awarded savings — drawn from $10 million+ in total identified savings opportunities — across more than 215 sourcing projects managed through LightSource. Key outcomes:

• $20M+ in total awarded spend managed on the platform
• 2,500+ direct materials parts sourced through LightSource
• Rapid, organization-wide user adoption with teams quickly abandoning manual spreadsheet workflows
• Savings reinvested into growth initiatives and product development, extending ROI beyond direct procurement cost reduction

The identification-to-realization ratio — $5M awarded against $10M identified — reflects both the platform's analytical depth and the team's disciplined award process.

• Centralizing RFQ and BOM data on a single platform eliminates fragmentation that silently erodes sourcing efficiency in complex, multi-product manufacturing environments.
• Purpose-built procurement AI surfaces savings opportunities at a scale manual analysis cannot match — TMC identified $10M+ in potential savings and realized more than half.
• Highly customizable product lines require procurement platforms with flexible BOM costing logic, not just standard templates; evaluate this capability early in vendor selection.
• Rapid adoption follows when the platform delivers immediate, visible advantage over incumbent processes — reducing organizational resistance to change.
• Plan for ERP integration from the outset to maximize data continuity between sourcing decisions and production execution.