Scaling Global Operations to Meet Growing Demand
Stanley Black & Decker (SBD) is a global leader in tools and storage, industrial solutions and engineered fastenings. The company ships over 40,000 FEUs annually across diverse global trade lanes, including major routes such as Far East-Europe and Far East-North America.
With global demand for their products on the rise, and a 15% increase in volumes from 2023 to 2024, SBD faced the challenge of scaling operations effectively. To address this, they are investing in supply chain excellence, aiming to streamline processes, secure competitive rates and contract terms, and ultimately deliver superior service to customers while supporting global expansion.
Navigating Ocean Freight Procurement Challenges Amid Market Volatility
With continuous market volatility and a rebalancing in the power between shippers and carriers, every aspect of the deal was open for negotiation, from rates to contract terms, and there was significant opportunity to secure better pricing - there was money on the table.
SBD knew that to secure lower rates and better service levels, they needed visibility into what was achievable. Without this insight, their ocean freight negotiations were essentially blind — poorly timed and lacking clear success metrics, which risked securing unfavorable rates or missing out on key opportunities for cost savings. On top of this, with budgets under close watch, reporting to leadership and finance about their spend and performance was virtually impossible.
David Lenaers, Global Director of Logistics Sourcing, was a previous Xeneta user who identified the need to bring the platform to his global team:
“We used Xeneta previously in the EMEA procurement team to support exclusively with tender negotiations. We didn’t have the resources internally to apply the rest of the capabilities, so when tenders concluded, we didn’t think Xeneta was necessary anymore.
“However, after the pandemic, we were focused on building processes for success within a global team structure. We needed to have visibility of our supply chain year-round, hit our financial and deliverability goals, and not be at the mercy of the market.”
With support from their Center of Excellence, SBD sought to reengage with Xeneta at a global level.
Leveraging Xeneta’s Insights for Strategic Ocean Freight Procurement
Bringing Xeneta back to the business at a global level, SBD subscribed to Xeneta’s Ocean Explore suite of products. This gave them access to the full scope of procurement features - Surcharges, Carrier Spread, the Tender Benchmark Tool, and Spend Analysis.
SBD use Xeneta data to:
- Prepare and execute tenders: Using Xeneta’s market intelligence to guide the entire tender process, ensuring negotiations are based on accurate, up-to-date benchmarks
- Renegotiate year-round: Regularly analyze key trades and track rates against the market, assessing opportunities to run mini-bids
- Manage risk and volatility: Monitor market trends and financially assess the impact of unexpected market disruptions, such as Red Sea Surcharges
- Align internal teams: Coordinate with internal stakeholders and educate financial leaders on the impact of shipping costs
SBD also take advantage of Xeneta’s partnership with Keelvar, which is their primary platform for running RFQs and managing bid submissions from carriers.
Through the seamless integration of Xeneta’s data into Keelvar, SBD’s tender decisions are informed by up-to-date market intelligence rather than relying solely on carrier-provided information.
Driving Procurement Efficiency, Cost Savings, and Global Alignment
Nearly two years after rejoining Xeneta, SBD have experienced heightened cost savings, mitigated risk during black swan events, and aligned their procurement globally.
- Cost Savings and Improved Negotiations
SBD have successfully used Xeneta’s benchmarking and spend analysis capabilities to identify areas for renegotiation and manage their costs to secure rates that were more in line with the market average.
David Lenaers said: “Without the platform, we’d be blind going into the market. Xeneta helps us negotiate better and track savings in the range of 3-5% which accounts for a multi-million-dollar spend when you consider our scale.”
- One Source of Truth
SBD's Centre of Excellence rolled out access to Xeneta data to all procurement teams globally which delivered a unified international sourcing strategy and removed inefficiencies from using different data sourcing.
“Xeneta’s data coverage matches with more than 95% of our port pairs across the globe. This is not only useful on our main corridors, but provides big support on more regional, exotic trades, too. It means everyone can use it and we have one source of truth,” explains Lenaers.
- Cross-Functional Reporting and Alignment
Xeneta’s clear dashboards and graphics enable SBD to share a clear, independent view of their market position, successfully present freight spend and performance data to key internal stakeholders monthly, keeping them informed, aligned, and risk aware.
"Since the pandemic, even CFOs and CEOs are interested in ocean freight,” says Lenaers. “They don’t need to be experts in our day-to-day operations, but Xeneta helps us report on the market effectively and concisely to our decision makers."
- Enhanced Tender Efficiency and Resource Allocation
The integration of Xeneta with Keelvar transformed SBD’s RFQ process, enabling faster bid analysis and improved feedback to carriers. Historical rates and market trends from Xeneta are now used as baselines for tender evaluations and highlighted key areas for focus.
“We have a lot of data but haven’t known how to take advantage of it without using up too many resources,” shares Lenaers. “The cool thing now is that we can automatically download historical rates, compare them with Xeneta’s market trends, and use that to negotiate more effectively during tenders. It’s an easy and efficient process that’s led to us signing contracts 20% faster than before."
In addition, SBD are enthusiastic about Xeneta’s recent Transit Times and Demurrage and Detention releases. David Lenaers emphasized the importance of this service level data, saying, “Negotiating a good ocean rate is only part of the story. If other fees are overpaid, then at the end of the day, you’re still paying too much money. We need visibility on all of it.”
Expanding Insights and Driving Future Procurement Excellence
SBD plans to further enhance its use of Xeneta to drive procurement efficiency and strategic decision-making.
One key focus will be on expanding the use of Xeneta’s forecasting across various departments, especially within finance. The company intends to provide additional training for finance teams to maximize the platform’s value, ensuring they can leverage the data for more precise budgeting and planning.
Through a strong partnership with Xeneta, SBD remains confident that they can continue to gain valuable insights, improve procurement efficiency, and secure cost savings in a dynamic and unpredictable market.
