How One Buyer Eliminated Expediting Fees with Supplier Capacity Planning

In this episode of The Buyer's Side, Lucas and Luna explore how a mid-size manufacturer tackled a hidden cost that was bleeding thousands from its budget: expediting fees. By partnering with a key supplier to implement shared capacity planning, procurement manager Sarah Chen slashed premium freight charges and overtime premiums by 65% in just two quarters. Lucas walks us through the step-by-step process—starting with a six-week joint forecasting pilot that revealed a critical mismatch between the buyer's erratic order patterns and the supplier's rigid production scheduling. The fix, surprisingly, was a monthly capacity reservation system that replaced purchase orders with rolling six-week commitments. Luna challenges the approach on flexibility—what happens when demand drops? Sarah's answer: a 10% volume cushion built into every reservation, costing less than the expediting fees it replaced. Along the way, the hosts discuss the broader lesson: many procurement professionals treat expediting as a necessary evil, but it's actually a symptom of broken planning alignment. This episode offers concrete tactics for buyers ready to treat capacity like a shared resource, not a transactional lever. #Procurement #Sourcing #B2BPurchasing #CapacityPlanning #SupplierManagement #ExpeditingFees #CostReduction #SupplyChain #Forecasting #JointPlanning #Manufacturing #Logistics #PremiumFreight #OvertimeCosts #Business #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #TheBuyersSide Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo