Case Study: Global Packaging Equipment and Consumables Company achieves 21% air freight savings and regains control with Coupa Software’s Sourcing Optimization

A market leading, global packaging equipment and consumables company identified a 42% savings opportunity, implemented a 21% savings scenario, and regained control of its air freight transportation spend

A market-leading global packaging equipment and consumables company faced complex, high-volume air freight and shipping challenges across global markets. It relied on a 4PL and Excel-based analyses, had no reliable historic baseline, struggled to compare disparate carrier pricing and service models, and wanted to reduce 4PL dependence and take full ownership of the transportation category.

The company deployed Coupa Sourcing Optimization to aggregate, normalize and enrich historical pricing and service data, accept and standardize varied carrier bids, and implement decision-tree logic for urgent selections while enforcing strategic carrier constraints. Initial bidding exposed a 32% savings opportunity (42% after carrier feedback) and the selected scenario delivered a realized 21% savings; the program also improved service levels, reduced risk, and enabled broader multi-modal, super-regional sourcing.