Case Study: Detroit Newspapers achieves streamlined purchasing and time savings with Bellwether Purchasing Software

Detroit Newspapers - Customer Case Study

Detroit Newspapers, the business agent for The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press with a combined circulation near one million, manages complex procurement through a 15-person Purchasing department that handles shipping, inventory and services across roughly 1,000 vendors (200 active), producing about 5,000 purchase orders annually and spending up to $5M/month. Their legacy system (PO Writer Plus) left requisitions as a manual, paper/email process that required re-keying into purchase orders, creating inefficiency and bottlenecks.

They selected Bellwether Purchasing Software for its fit, functionality and price and implemented Purchasing, Requisitions, Receiving and Inventory modules, going live in eight weeks with about 200 users. The automated requisitions eliminated re-keying, inventory data converted with no downtime, and responsive technical support smoothed startup; the result was streamlined processes, measurable time savings and plans to upgrade and integrate with their Lawson accounting system.

Detroit Newspapers

Richard Karstensen

Detroit Newspapers