February 2021
Company Spotlight
GoExpedi
For this Company Spotlight, we interviewed GoExpedi’s CEO, Tim Neal, and SVP of Strategy, Anthony Thomas, about how the company is streamlining the procurement and distribution process for maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products in the energy and industrial industries. GoExpedi provides over 200,000 critical parts and supplies with complete transparency on price, supplier choice and availability through its online e-commerce platform. The company's innovative supply chain model has created a business that delivers the right part, at the right time, overcoming a fundamental challenge for the industry.For more information on GoExpedi, please visit www.goexpedi.com.
Background: While working in the energy industry, Tim noted many similarities between the supply chain of MRO products, which wear out, run out or break, and that of consumer products as both were dominated by very large brick and mortar storefronts at one point in time. In 2017, Tim co-founded GoExpedi, to focus on reimagining the MRO product distribution business, much like e-commerce did for consumer products.
Value Proposition: GoExpedi’s end-to-end supply chain optimization platform provides numerous benefits for both end users and manufacturers of MRO products to the energy and industrial industries, including the following benefits over the conventional distribution model:
Adaptable and Automated: In order to create a customized product catalog for each customer, facility, or asset, GoExpedi analyzes all the products currently utilized and generates a user-friendly e-commerce interface. This not only captures commodity “rope, soap and dope” consumables but also technical equipment (e.g. valves) by offering a step-by-step configurator based on simple questions about the use case of the equipment, minimizing the human error associated with ordering incorrect equipment specifications. This is especially important in the energy industry, as there has been significant workforce turnover over the years that has diminished technical expertise across supply chains.
Complete Transparency: A comprehensive picture of price, availability and delivery timeline is presented instantly on an “apples-to-apples” basis to the end user, enabling better procurement decisions without the hassle of back-and-forth communications through phone and/or email. For manufacturers, they now have access to information and data, such as who the customers and end markets are, more detailed product type preferences that can be segmented various ways, and insight into product replacement/replenishment life cycles that large distributors almost never provide.
Consistent and Reliable: Orders through the GoExpedi platform include detailed delivery status tracking across the supply chain, including when orders are received by the supplier, picked up by the delivery company, out for delivery and real-time location of the truck en route to the customers’ location. GoExpedi’s standardized approach to supply chain management allows it to provide an average two-day delivery timeframe for its customers.
Enhanced Visibility and Predictive Analytics: Leveraging its e-commerce data, GoExpedi also offers a management control center dashboard that provides information on how different suppliers and products are performing both across the entire organization as well as in specific regions and facilities, enabling procurement teams to benchmark suppliers and keep them accountable. Further, GoExpedi provides both end users and manufacturers advanced predictive analytics, such as how often to order a certain product or the quantity of each size or type to order at each facility or region.
Closing Thoughts: In order for the energy industry to continue to increase profitability in this era of lower commodity prices, companies will have to adopt technologies and behaviors that have proven successful in other industries, such as the e-commerce model for consumer goods. We look forward to following GoExpedi in their efforts to continue to transform the way MRO distribution is executed, as they continue to expand across the major U.S. oil and gas basins and into adjacent industries.