Building Procurement from the Ground Up: How WillScot Leveraged Group Purchasing to Drive Efficiency

When Brett Beitzel, VP Operations – Supply Chain, Inventory and Fleet, stepped into his leadership role at WillScot, the organization was in the midst of growth and operational evolution. While the business had scale and momentum, its procurement and supply chain capabilities were still developing and had not yet fully caught up to the complexity of the operation. 

Brett brought a broad background across manufacturing, operations, fleet management, and supply chain leadership. Throughout his career, he had led large-scale negotiations and helped organizations build more structured, strategic procurement capabilities to improve visibility, leverage, and efficiency. 

He was also familiar with group purchasing. Like many procurement leaders, he initially approached the model with skepticism. But through firsthand experience evaluating contracts and seeing results, he came to view group purchasing not as a shortcut, but as a practical way to accelerate procurement maturity and efficiency when time and resources were constrained. 

That perspective shaped how he evaluated WillScot’s procurement environment — and the gaps that needed to be addressed 

Despite significant purchasing activity, WillScot lacked the foundation for true strategic procurement. There was no defined category strategy, no centralized contract management approach, and limited visibility into where spend was concentrated across the organization. 

Purchase order data and credit card data existed, but they had never been consolidated or cross-referenced. Vendors operated under multiple names. Spend categories were unclear and procurement efficiency was constrained by fragmented information and decentralized purchasing practices. 

At the same time, the organization was modernizing its operations. Building a fully mature procurement function would take time. WillScot needed a way to move quickly while laying out the groundwork for long-term strategic procurement. 

Rather than waiting to build every contract and negotiation from scratch, Brett turned to group purchasing as a strategic accelerator. 

“It was a speed, timing and value proposition that led us to OMNIA Partners and GPOs in general.” 

By leveraging OMNIA Partners’ established group purchasing contracts, WillScot gained immediate access to competitively negotiated agreements with major suppliers. This allowed the organization to engage vendors with stronger leverage, explore new supplier options, and capture pricing concessions without lengthy standalone RFP processes. 

Group purchasing didn’t replace strategic procurement — it enabled it. It provided immediate structure and negotiation power while the internal team continued building its category strategy and long-term sourcing framework. 

True procurement efficiency begins with visibility. 

WillScot had substantial data, but it was disaggregated and difficult to analyze holistically. Through OMNIA Partners’ Spend Path assessment, their purchase order and credit card data were consolidated and correlated across vendors and categories. 

The assessment uncovered concentrated spend in areas the team didn’t initially expect — including everyday items like chairs and core MRO supplies. It also revealed fragmented vendor usage and opportunities to consolidate. 

The process was efficient and straightforward. 

“From a simplicity perspective, it only took a few meetings… from an efficiency perspective, we got back what we needed.” 

With a clearer view of spend, WillScot could prioritize high-impact categories and move forward with a focused strategic procurement roadmap. 

Beyond pricing, OMNIA Partners helped elevate supplier engagement. 

In several instances, vendor relationships lacked direct access to decision-makers who truly understood and prioritized WillScot’s business. OMNIA Partners leveraged its network and credibility to bring the right stakeholders to the table. 

“OMNIA Partners was able to bring the right people together… so that we could actually communicate with folks who cared about our business.” 

Just as important, OMNIA Partners demonstrated strategic balance. In one case, the assessment revealed that WillScot had already negotiated a highly competitive direct agreement. Rather than pushing participation in an OMNIA Partners contract, the team stepped back. 

That restraint reinforced trust and positioned OMNIA Partners not simply as a contract source, but as a true strategic procurement partner. 

For WillScot, OMNIA Partners served as a strategic bridge during a critical period of transformation. Through group purchasing and spend visibility support, the organization was able to: 

• Establish procurement structure where none previously existed 
• Consolidate fragmented spend data into actionable insights 
• Improve supplier leverage and engagement 
• Accelerate procurement efficiency 
• Lay the groundwork for long-term strategic procurement maturity 

As Brett summarized: 

“Everyone at WillScot has been incredibly happy with the results.”