The 20% Solution: A Practical Guide to Dramatic Cost Reduction in Mrop Procurement

In the typical organization, the procurement of maintenance, repair, operating and production supplies (MROP) represents only about 20% of the total spending for materials, but consumes about 80% of the time, effort and expense involved in the purchasing process. For many reasons, detailed in this book, very few organizations have properly analyzed and identified improvement potentials in MROP procurement beyond getting price quotes. The Author's experience with hundreds of entities over 50 years has demonstrated that cost savings in excess of 35% of MROP spending are obtainable without significant investment or risk. Applied to the estimated annual spend of $450 billion to $500 billion in the U.S. for MROP products, this equates to an astounding potential cost savings of $150 billion or more across the American economy. The 20% Solution shows in easy-to-absorb detail how to analyze, identify and obtain these savings within your organization. This book is written for those individuals responsible for indirect materials procurement in for-profit and non-profit entities, their suppliers, students and faculty of business and industrial technology and others seeking dramatic cost reduction opportunities in an often overlooked function.

Joel L. Roth has spent over 50 years in a business career that is extremely diversified. He holds Bachelors Degrees in Engineering and Operations Research from Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western Reserve University), and an M.B.A. in Accounting and Industrial Management from New York University. He also pursued the Doctoral Program at N.Y.U. in Marketing and Economics.His career began with Procter & Gamble in Manufacturing Engineering, and later in Sales. He worked in general management consulting for a number of years, serving a diverse array of clients in numerous functional areas including purchasing, logistics and materials management. He subsequently became a Principal of Ernst & Ernst (now Ernst & Young) in their Management Advisory Services Division.Mr. Roth left E & E to join a client, Gulf & Western Industries, as a Senior V.P. with operating and planning responsibilities covering G & W's 160 subsidiaries, divisions and affiliates world-wide.Since 1972, he has owned and operated a number of privately held companies, including 10 industrial supply distributors in the Southeast United States.Mr. Roth has worked on procurement problems and issues in hundreds of organizations-ranging from motion pictures to pulp and paper, from military procurement to metalworking-over the course of his career. He is a former member of NAPM, a member of Affiliated Distributors and a member of the Industrial Supply Association.In his spare time, the author serves as a consultant, speaker, trainer and seminar- workshop leader. He can be reached at, jroth@the20percentsolution.com or 770-319-0735.