How AI Reveals Hidden Spend in MRO

The Invisible Drain on MRO Budgets

How AI Reveals Hidden Spend in MRO

Tail spend in MRO often hides in plain sight-unnoticed until budgets balloon. Unstructured purchases, inconsistent records, and duplicate suppliers create a fragmented view that standard ERPs and spend analysis tools simply can’t resolve.

These “invisible” costs dilute sourcing power, fragment supplier relationships, and inflate inventory. But AI can see what your dashboards can’t.

Why Traditional Tools Miss the Mark

Standard ERP reports and quarterly reviews can’t connect the dots between duplicate SKUs, overlapping vendors, or maverick purchases. That’s because:

  • Small buys are coded to vague categories
  • Parts are labeled inconsistently across sites
  • Spot buys and one-off POs never surface in strategic reviews
  • Data is siloed, outdated, and hard to compare

The result? Uncontrolled spending with no centralized accountability.

How AI Finds the Hidden Waste

How AI Finds the Hidden Waste

Verusen’s platform applies machine learning to unify MRO records without replatforming or data cleansing. It:

  • Normalizes part descriptions using context and past behavior
  • Flags duplicate vendors and materials, even with inconsistent labels
  • Scores tail transactions for risk and savings potential
  • Surfaces the patterns behind fragmented spend and price variance

Procurement gets real-time, risk-scored visibility-without disrupting existing workflows.

Real-World Results

$500K-$700K Recovered from Tail Spend Waste

Company: Global Electrical Manufacturer

Challenge

  • 500+ fragmented suppliers across MRO categories
  • 282 suppliers with fewer than 5 POs annually
  • No visibility into off-contract vendor selection or pricing gaps

Solution

  • Applied AI to unify PO and vendor data
  • Identified unmanaged suppliers and duplicate materials
  • Flagged price variances for consolidation

Results

  • Mapped and scored 500+ vendors for tail risk
  • Uncovered $1.4M in annual contract non-compliance with $500K–$700K recoverable
  • Built foundation for supplier rationalization and bundling

Why This Matters to Ops, Procurement, and Finance

For Operations
 Prevent stockouts by consolidating supply channels.

For Procurement
 Negotiate smarter with clear vendor and pricing insights.

For Finance
 Track real costs of inventory and avoid uncontrolled spend.

FAQs

Why don’t traditional tools catch tail spend?
 They miss fragmented data, duplicates, and spot buys across plants.

What does AI do differently?
 AI connects messy data, flags overlap, and reveals spend patterns.

How quickly can we act on it?
 You’ll see actionable insights within weeks-no replatforming needed.

See Your Tail Spend in a New Light

We’ll analyze your existing ERP or PO exports and surface where spend is leaking-fast.

→ [Book a Tail Spend Diagnostic (Free)]

See Your Tail Spend in a New Light