FirstGroup is a leading private sector provider of public transport, and the largest rail operator in the UK. The organisation employs almost 30,000 people, had revenues of approximately £4.8bn in the UK in 2022/23 and carries some 1.8m passengers per day in the UK across a fleet of more than 8,000 buses and rail vehicles.
FirstGroup has implemented the Achilles system across both its Bus and Rail divisions including First Bus, Avanti West Coast, Great Western Railway, South Western Railway, Hull Trains and Lumo.
Achilles enables FirstGroup to carry out cross company reporting and to access supplier financial data and key compliance information covering aspects of safety, quality, cyber security, environment and wider CSR information.
Achilles also acts as a robust qualification system route to shortlisting suppliers for procurement opportunities.
Tom Jolly, Procurement Governance & Capability Manager, FirstGroup, commented:
“Our customers are at the heart of everything we do, and our suppliers and supply chains make it possible for us to help them travel with confidence. FirstGroup’s commitment to customers and dedication to safety and performance must be at the heart of every decision we make, and we strive for continuous improvement across all of our processes in support of this. With reliance on thousands of suppliers to enable the delivery of our services across both the Rail and Bus sectors we recognise our unavoidable exposure to supply chain risk.
In partnership with Achilles, we aim to enhance our existing capability across supplier management and the wider procurement process. With centralised collection, maintenance and analysis of supplier data built into a comprehensive qualification platform we will gain a more holistic view of our supply chain risk. This will enable us to proactively focus our resource and work in collaboration with our suppliers, as part of our procurement strategy, to develop a more sustainable supply chain as well as increasing the agility of procurement across the Group.”
