Spring Term 2015 Education Update The newsletter for schools and academies Hands up who wants to make savings! Join us over the coming months as we host a series of procurement workshops in partnership with NASBM. ‘A Happy New Year’ to all our education customers. We’ve put together another packed edition of Education Update to kick off 2015. This year we’ve got more procurement tips from the top, NASBM workshop events, helpful advice for your furniture deliveries and the outstanding news that ESPO has come out best on price against all other national education supplies providers! Don’t forget, we love to hear your feedback so feel free to get in touch at [email protected]Trevor Phipps, ESPO Marketing and Sales Director To book your free place at one of these workshops, email [email protected]or call 0116 265 7927, but hurry as spaces are filling up fast! Alternatively, if you would like to arrange for us to run one of our procurement workshops at your school or academy please contact us. These sessions are ideal for School Business Managers wanting to increase their knowledge about best practice procurement or for anyone within schools or academies with procurement responsibilities. You’ll leave with a good understanding of procurement responsibilities, the legal requirements around procurement and the possible impacts of getting it wrong. But most importantly you’ll learn how procurement can be made so much easier! Join us at an event near you: • 27 February 2015 – Northampton, Holiday Inn Express, 1.00pm-4pm • 3 March 2015 – Leicester, ESPO offices, 1.00pm-4pm • 5 March 2015 – Coventry, NASBM offices, 9.30am-1pm ‘A very useful and thought provoking session. There was a lot of information given which I think needs to be shared with all School Business Managers’. Oakley Vale Primary, Northants.
Transcript
Spring Term 2015
Education Update The newsletter for schools and academies
Hands up who wants
to make savings!
Join us over the coming months as we host a series of procurement workshops in partnership with NASBM.
‘A Happy New Year’to all our education customers. We’ve put together another packed edition of Education Update to kick off 2015.
This year we’ve got more procurement tips from the top, NASBM workshop events, helpful advice for your furniture deliveries and the outstanding news that ESPO has come out best on price against all other national education supplies providers!
Don’t forget, we love to hear your feedback so feel free to get in touch at [email protected]
Trevor Phipps,ESPO Marketing and Sales Director
To book your free place at one of these workshops, email [email protected] or call 0116 265 7927, but hurry as spaces are filling up fast! Alternatively, if you would like to arrange for us to run one of our procurement workshops at your school or academy please contact us.
These sessions are ideal for School Business Managers wanting to increase their knowledge about best practice procurement or for anyone within schools or academies with procurement responsibilities.
You’ll leave with a good understanding of procurement responsibilities, the legal requirements around procurement and the possible impacts of getting it wrong. But most importantly you’ll learn how procurement can be made so much easier!
Join us at an event near you:• 27 February 2015 – Northampton, Holiday Inn Express, 1.00pm-4pm• 3 March 2015 – Leicester, ESPO offices, 1.00pm-4pm• 5 March 2015 – Coventry, NASBM offices, 9.30am-1pm
‘A very useful and thought provoking session. There was a lot of information given which I think
needs to be shared with all School Business Managers’. Oakley Vale Primary, Northants.
Congratulations to ESPO customers!
If you’re using ESPO, you’re using the UK’s best value purchasing organisation for the education sector – FACT!
As ESPO release their benchmark data on school spending from 2013/2014 we’re pleased to announce that we come out on top for sales of our most popular 100 products, beating competitors including YPO, Consortium, West Mercia Supplies and GLS.
In fact, the report found that if all 24,000 English schools and academies purchased 80% of their everyday essentials from ESPO, they could collectively save up to £6million per year.
Did you know that buying the top ten school
products from high street stores
can be up to 50% more expensive
than buying from ESPO?
John Doherty - ESPO Director. Read the full report at espo.org
‘We are, of course, delighted to come out best on price. As a not-for-profit professional purchasing organisation, ESPO provides the public sector with a low cost, convenient route to the products and services they need. We work hard to secure good deals with our suppliers so that we can pass these savings on to schools and help them stretch the public purse further’.
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New catalogue – coming April 2015
Pupils get a taste for bugs!One of the leading companies in pest control and washroom hygiene, Rentokil Initial, have recently completed a UK tour taking their interactive and educational workshops to schools across the country. Two of our customers got involved with the fun and workshops were held at Hethersett Academy and Earsham Junior School in Norfolk. The workshops included:• Pestaurant – a hands on experience providing pupils with the chance to sample a range of edible insects, including salt and vinegar crickets, Mexican spice mealworms and chocolate-covered bugs. Pupils learnt interesting facts about ‘entomophagy’ the official name for eating insects as well as discussing why insects can provide a viable and sustainable food source.
• Hygiene Angels – an engaging workshop promoting and educating the importance of proper hand washing; when to do it and how to do it properly. To highlight the importance of hand hygiene pupils carried out fun swabbing and germ-detection activities, showing kids how quickly bacteria can spread from hands to other surfaces. This tour is helping to raise awareness and money for the ‘Miles for Malaria’ fundraising campaign being run by Malaria No More UK, a charity supported by Rentokil Initial. For every mile the Rentokil Initial UK Tour clocks-up travelling from school to school they will donate £1, up to a maximum of £3,500.
For more information visit rentokil.co.uk/pestaurant
Hygiene issues? We’ve got you covered!
ESPO Barnsdale Way Grove Park Enderby Leicester LE19 1ES www.espodealingdirect.org www.espo.org
‘Why your school furnitureTake the hassle out of your next big furniture order. If I pick my time carefully and throw
in a bit of good fortune with a run of green traffic lights, my journey to work can take me as little as 12 minutes. On other days this same journey can take me 20 minutes, maybe because I left five minutes later than I really should have. However, when I’m really running late I inevitably get stuck in a traffic jam and my journey can take over an hour causing me stress and frustration!
So what’s this got to do with your school furniture order? Well, the principle is very similar, and all based on the laws of supply and demand. The more traffic, the longer it takes, because the roads have a finite capacity to cope with the volume of demand. I know that the roads are busier at certain times of day and so I’ve learnt to adjust my own timing accordingly. This allows me to get into work quickly and with the least amount of road rage!
Your furniture deliveries also experience a rush hour. The major peak occurs from June – early October, as thousands of schools place orders in the hope of their new furniture arriving ready for the new school year. During this time the peak delivery requests are for late August and early September. In traffic jam terms this is total gridlock! This undoubtedly means there are going to be delays as the furniture market simply doesn’t have the capacity to meet these levels of seasonal demand.
What we’re doing to help…Just as I adapt my behaviour for my journey to work so too do ESPO for this furniture peak.
We work closely with our supply chain to try to manage the impact of the huge increase in demand that occurs in the summer.
• We study historic order patterns, spend patterns and forecast on likely demand so that where possible suppliers can build up stock.
• Manufacturers take on additional staff and run additional shifts so they can ensure your orders are processed as quickly as possible.
• We try to inform and forewarn schools, encouraging them to place orders as early as possible.
• Stocks of raw materials are built up and significant additional manufacturing and transport capacity is built into the system by our suppliers.
Unfortunately, even with all these extra measures in place there is still a finite amount of capacity for many manufacturers and once this point is reached lead times inevitably increase.
When this happens most suppliers will treat their customers as fairly as possible, and will deliver goods on a first come, first served basis.
At ESPO we’re always thinking ahead and so for
this edition we interviewed our Education Procurement Manager, Rowena Thomas,
as she discusses the importance of planning
your furniture order deliveries to help avoid
the summer rush.
plan ahead
queues likely
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delivery is like my journey to work…’
So what can you do?Help us to help you by starting to think about those furniture orders as early as possible. For a smoother ride follow these seven easy steps:
• Beat the rush Order your furniture between late October – May
• Double check your order details Check sizes, heights, colours etc. Manufacturers will charge for mistakes they need to rectify
• Accept summer holiday delivery dates This can significantly reduce your lead times. Get in touch to discuss this option
• Provide us with a site contact and mobile phone number
For more support with planning your seasonal buying needs,
get in touch with ESPO today!
When is the furniture rush?Peak times for furniture manufacture and delivery affects orders placed between June – early October.• During the quieter months (late October - May) delivery is usually 4-6 weeks.
• Order volumes begin to rapidly increase in June and peak in July and furniture manufacture and delivery can be extended by several weeks.
• Avoid ordering between June – early October If you do, expect much longer lead times and please be patient
• Never discard your old furniture before the new furniture has arrived• Once you receive your order check it straight away Most manufacturers only accept returns within 48hours of delivery
Remember this peak affects the entire market. Regardless of how many retailers there are, there’s still the same number of manufacturers, with the same finite capacity.
Some sellers will over promise delivery dates just to win your order so keep in mind that a delivery promise during this peak that seems too good to be true, probably is.
Avoid the hassle all together and place your furniture order with ESPO between late October – May!
Avoid the summer rush by ordering furniture before the June/July peak.January December
school orders (% of sales)
manufacturing capacity (% of sales)
lead time (weeks)
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1 Beat the rushAll schools buy seasonally; exercise books in September, salt in January and furniture in July. Sound familiar? The problem is that you want those things at exactly the same time as thousands of other schools across the country. This leads to large delays during the months of June to October as furniture manufacturers across the UK operate at maximum capacity to try to meet this huge peak in demand. If you order during this time then your order joins the back of a very long queue of schools, all seeking a delivery date the week before term starts.
Solution: One word – planning. I can’t stress enough the importance of planning ahead, especially when it comes to furniture. Placing your order just a few weeks early, and taking delivery in May, June or July, can make all the difference.
For help with planning many providers, including ESPO, have dedicated Account Managers who can discuss your needs and help you to plan ahead.
2 A real win win situation – embracing e-commerce Sometimes your needs don’t fit into a perfect 9.00 – 5.00 window. You’re busy throughout the day doing what you do best so what happens when you forget to place that order you need by the end of the week?
Solution: Online ordering has come a long way from what it was. Nowadays buying products online is fast and effective and it’s available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are numerous benefits to ordering online other than just convenience. Many providers like ESPO include a stock availability feature to tell you at the point of purchase if an item is out of stock and will suggest suitable alternatives.
There’s also a time and money saving element too. When you submit your order it’s fed straight into the system, reducing processing time and the chance of human error. Most providers will be happy to get you set up for online ordering as it frees up their staff time too, so it really is a win, win situation!
The next biggest expense after staffing costs in schools has to be the significant sum allocated to buying goods and services for use within the school, in other words, procurement. Here’s another of my five easy steps to better buying decisions.
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Educ ation Procurement Manager, Rowena Thomas, is back with her helpful Procur ement master class
3 Consult an expert without paying a pennyWithin the procurement industry there is a growing market in consultants and procurement analysts offering to review your procurement for you. Services can include benchmarking exercises or undertaking compliant procurement tenders on your behalf. Fees can differ widely and could be based on hourly or daily rates, or they’ll agree to take a percentage of any savings they identify. I’d encourage you to think here before agreeing to this type of arrangement, these are your savings and you should get to keep 100% of them.
Solution: Check the cost of these services. It might surprise you to learn that some providers, ESPO included, already provide these services free of charge, saving you the need to outsource additional consultants in the first place. However, please note that I said some providers, not all do and so you still need to do your homework. At ESPO we provide customers with a clear procurement toolkit which includes all the services we can provide for free; no rates, no one off fees and you keep 100% of the savings identified.
4 Losing out on loss leaders Loss leaders are not just a tactic used by the big supermarkets anymore. Many companies now sell high profile products or services at a loss in order to entice customers. The supplier is relying on the fact that once you’re using them you will buy other products too, which may carry much higher margins. Loss leaders are often used in the sale of things like mobile phones, printers and paper but it could be on anything.
Products themselves can be sold below suppliers’ cost prices, but they make their money from the service cost, accessories or consumables which often carry high margins.
Solution: Learn how to spot this. Don’t assume that just because a supplier offers a good price on one product, that they must therefore be offering a good price on everything else they supply. And once you start to buy the well-priced product, watch out for prices creeping up without warning, or indeed remaining static when the market is actually falling and prices should be coming down. Use a supplier that offers good prices across the board and can show how they benchmark against others. Again, a legitimate provider will understand and respect your caution and be able to provide you with answers.
5 Empty promisesUnfortunately it’s that old saying again; if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. All too often in our increasingly cut-throat world potential providers will promise you just about anything to win your order, and unfortunately after 30 years in this business I’ve heard many horror stories. I’m not trying to scare you here, just asking you to wise up to these ‘too good to be true’ situations because you’ve guessed it, they usually are.
Solution: Choose a provider who is honest about their stock availability, lead times and payment terms. Sometimes you won’t get the answer you want, but it’s better to be in the know before you’ve placed an order or signed an agreement. If something isn’t going to arrive when you want it, it’s better to know and plan for this up front, rather than finding out on the day it doesn’t arrive.
If it’s a big project, do your research and ask probing questions. Ask to be put in contact with other schools they have worked with in the past on similar projects. A confident provider will be happy to arrange this.
Look out for your final five procurement tips from Rowena in your next edition of Education Update.
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Educ ation Procurement Manager, Rowena Thomas, is back with her helpful Procur ement master class
If you prefer to receive an electronic copy of this newsletter in the future, email: [email protected]
Keeping you informed…You will shortly begin to receive the following communications from ESPO upon placing an order with us:• Order confirmation email• Delivery despatch email
Help us to help you:• Check your order confirmation thoroughly and notify us as soon as possible if you notice any discrepancies.
• Ensure that confirmation is being sent to the correct contact and get in touch if you would like to amend the contact.
For more information or to make changes to your contact information please call 0116 265 7927 or email [email protected]
The Education Show 2015Join us at the NEC in Birmingham from Thursday 19 to Saturday 21 of March for the Education Show 2015.
Have a chat with our team and get your first peek at our new 2015/16 catalogue. We’re at stand G29-F30, come along to discover how easy procurement can be!
New Food Standards – Do your meals match up? New Food Standard Regulations came into effect on 1 January 2015 and apply to all maintained schools, new academies and free schools.
We’re here to helpOur dedicated Food team can provide expert advice on how ESPO frameworks can help you meet these requirements and your wider food and catering needs – from the ordering of everyday items to the full outsourcing of a catering service, we have it covered.
All suppliers listed on an ESPO food or drink related framework adhere to Government buying standards and will provide a compliant solution to schools and academies.
Find out more at espo.org
• Catering services (704)• Commercial catering equipment (98)• Fresh fruit, vegetables, potatoes and salads (72)• Milk and dairy products (120)• Multi temperature food and non-food distribution (83)• Soft drinks, fruit juices and waters (898)
Framework 120 Issue 5
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ESPO, Barnsdale Way Grove Park, Enderby, Leicester, LE19 1ES
