The starting position
The client had a fixed turnaround date, a valve package that had slipped, and an incumbent supplier whose recovery plan did not close the gap. The exposure was not the cost of the valves; it was the cost of deferring scope into a future shutdown.
Re-levelling the specification
Reviewing the specification showed that a proportion of the package had been specified to a higher pressure class than the service required, which had narrowed the supplier field unnecessarily. Correcting that opened two additional qualified manufacturers without compromising the duty.
Splitting by criticality
Rather than treating the package as one order, we separated the long-lead, shutdown-critical items and placed them immediately. The remainder was tendered competitively, which recovered a meaningful part of the cost of expediting the critical items.
Verification before shipment
Source inspection was carried out at both manufacturers, covering dimensional checks, material certification review and witness testing on the higher-criticality items. Two non-conformances were identified and corrected before shipment rather than at site.
