The Poppy Factory savings to remember

When Bill Kay, General Manager for The Poppy Factory, first met with Expense Reduction Analysts Consultant Andrew Lees, he realised the benefits that the Expense Reduction Analysts profit improvement programme could bring to his organisation.

As Bill explains, “The Royal British Legion Poppy Factory is a registered charity and obviously has a duty to ensure that all profit improvements are monitored rigorously to ensure the safeguarding of employment for our team of 60 staff, many of whom are disabled. We examined the Expense Reduction Analysts offer and were satisfied that its purchasing experience enhanced our financial efficiency and were attracted by the contingency fee proposal – we had everything to gain.

We asked them to look at our energy, packaging, catering and paper profit improvements.” Having decided upon the categories of expenditure to be investigated, Andrew called upon the expertise of various members of the network to assist him with the analysis. Fellow consultant and energy expert Tobias Morris was able to achieve an 11% saving when he investigated The Poppy Factory’s expenditure on gas and electricity. Richard Anson joined the project team to conduct an analysis into The Poppy Factory’s spend on packaging. Using his extensive knowledge of this market he negotiated a saving of 11%. Expense Reduction Analysts consultant Diane Richardson was asked to examine catering improvements and her analysis led her to conclude that The Poppy Factory already had a good deal with their existing supplier.

This meant no potential savings could be made but enabled Diane to give Bill Kay and his team the peace of mind that they were buying at best value. Andrew is currently reviewing expenditure upon paper at The Poppy Factory and initial investigations suggest promising savings. When asked about his experiences with Expense Reduction Analysts, Bill Kay commented, “Expense Reduction Analysts have approached and completed the projects in a professional and timely manner, delivering worthwhile savings as well as giving us the comfort of independent verification of receiving best value in the relevant expenditure areas. Further savings were identified by amending our packaging configurations with no loss of quality. I would recommend Expense Reduction Analysts to any organisation that wishes to improve its profits.”