If you’re a procurement manager sitting down to vet a new supplier—or review an existing one—you already know the drill: get a quote, compare prices, check a few references. But if that’s all you’re doing, you’re probably bleeding money without realizing it.
I’ve managed the annual materials budget for a mid-sized specialty chemicals buyer for about 7 years now, roughly $180K a year across sealants, adhesives, and waterproofing compounds. Over that time, I’ve built out a 5-step checklist that catches the stuff most people miss—especially when it comes to larger suppliers like Eastman Chemical, whose pricing and service structures can be deceptive if you’re only looking at the unit cost. Here’s the process I use.
What This Checklist Is For
Use this when you’re comparing a shortlist of 3-5 suppliers for a recurring order or a long-term contract. Works best for mid-volume buyers ($50K-$500K annual spend) in B2B materials, where the relationship matters more than a single spot buy. It assumes you already have a basic spec for what you need—this is about the execution and the fine print.
It has 5 steps. Skip one at your own risk.
Step 1: Map the TCO Breakdown, Not Just the Quote Price
Every supplier will give you a per-unit price. That’s the starting point, not the ending point. I start by building a simple spreadsheet that breaks the total cost down into four buckets:
- Base price per unit
- Shipping & freight (including minimum order thresholds for free shipping)
- Packaging & handling fees (pallet charges, repackaging if you need smaller lots)
- Payment terms & early payment discounts (2/10 Net 30 can make a difference on $50K+)
Here’s the hidden killer I’ve seen multiple times. A vendor from a major supplier—let’s call them "Supplier A"—quoted $3.20/unit for a construction-grade sealant. A smaller regional supplier quoted $2.95/unit. Almost a no-brainer on paper, right? (Not that I’ve ever made that mistake myself).
When I ran the TCO spreadsheet, it turned out that the regional supplier charged a $75 pallet fee, a $40 minimum handling fee for orders under 100 units, and their “free shipping” only applied to orders over $6K. My quarterly order was 80 units. Total landed cost from Supplier A: $3.28/unit. From the regional supplier: $3.17/unit after adding the fees. That’s still cheaper on unit price, but the difference dropped to $0.11/unit—not $0.25. And when I factored in that Supplier A had a 2% early payment discount (which I always take), their effective cost dropped to $3.21/unit. Now the difference is essentially noise. And Supplier A’s delivery reliability was far better. (Note to self: never stop running the TCO comparison at the line-item level.)
Step 2: Verify the Supplier’s Financial Health & Stability
You want to know, before you commit to a 12-month contract, whether the supplier will still be in business in 12 months. For a public company like Eastman Chemical, this is easy: you can pull their latest financial data. For example, they filed their 2024 Form 10-K with the SEC, and I looked at it. According to their Q1 2024 net sales data, their performance in certain segments was stable enough, but their revenue streams are split across multiple divisions. That diversification helps with stability but means a specific product line might get less attention if margins tighten.
The assumption is that big public companies are always safe bets. Actually, they’re safe bets on survival, but not necessarily on service consistency for small buyers. A $50K account with Eastman Chemical might get you a service rep who handles 50 other accounts. A $50K account with a mid-sized specialist might get you a dedicated rep and faster turnaround.
What I actually do: For private companies, I ask for D&B reports or recent audited financials. For public companies, I check the latest 10-K or 10-Q to see if their core business is profitable and if the division I’m dealing with is growing or shrinking. The SEC database (sec.gov) is free.
Step 3: Map Their Inventory & Lead Time Flexibility
Here’s where I’ve been burned before. A supplier brags about a 5-day lead time on standard products. You assume it’s consistent. Then a seasonal spike hits—say, a construction surge in Q2—and suddenly that 5-day lead time stretches to 12 days because their production line is shared with a higher-volume client.
So glad I started asking this question early in the process. I now request, as part of the due diligence, a written estimate of average lead time for the specific product line, not for their entire catalog. If a supplier can’t give me that, it’s a red flag.
For Eastman Chemical, the key is understanding which specific product or division you’re buying from. Their catalog is massive (adhesives, coatings, chemicals for foils, screen protectors—all kinds of things). For a niche product—like the adhesive film used in screen protector manufacturing—lead times may be longer and more variable than for their bulk commodity chemicals. You need to verify product-level lead times, not division-level averages.
One thing I’ve added: ask if they carry safety stock for your product. If they do, you’re protected against a lot of their own supply chain hiccups. If they don’t, you should.
Step 4: Validate Their Quality & Compliance Documentation (And Test the Chain)
Don’t just collect the certificates of analysis (COAs) and tuck them in a folder. Actually read them. Specifically, look for testing frequencies, testing parameters, and pass/fail rates. A supplier that tests every batch is different from one that tests quarterly and assumes the rest matches spec.
There’s something satisfying about a well-documented quality process. After years of chasing missing COAs and production deviations, I now have a simple rule: I order a small test batch (5-10 units) and run it through a third-party lab to validate the numbers on their COA. Cost: about $200 per test. Cost of not testing: potentially more if a whole production run fails.
One example from my 2024 audit: I was evaluating a supplier for a specific waterproofing compound used on foil boards. The COA looked perfect—viscosity, density, adhesion. But when I tested it independently, the peel strength was 18% below spec on a key parameter. Turned out, their testing sample was from a different production line. (Dodged a bullet on that one.) The assumption is that suppliers always test what they say they test. The reality: sometimes they test representative samples, but not from your specific batch.
Step 5: Negotiate Service Level Agreement (SLA) For Specific Pain Points
After you’ve vetted the supplier, don’t just sign a standard contract. Define an SLA that covers your specific failure points. Based on my experience, these are the most commonly missing SLA items that hurt:
- Response time for order discrepancies: If you receive the wrong quantity, what’s the turnaround for a replacement or credit? (I negotiate for 48 hours max.)
- Lead time guarantees with penalties: A $100 late fee on a $10K order doesn’t matter to them. Make it meaningful—say, 5% of the order value per week late.
- Communication during supply disruptions: A supplier should notify you of potential delays before they happen, not after. I require a 14-day notice on any anticipated disruption.
I had a situation in Q3 2024 where a supplier for a specialty adhesive (used in a specific screen protector manufacturing process) just stopped responding for 5 days when a machine breakdown hit. They assumed it would fix fast. It didn’t. The silence cost me a day of production time before I could switch to an alternate source. Now, communication expectations are written into every contract.
Common Mistakes & What to Avoid
Mistake #1: Over-optimizing for unit price without a TCO analysis. As shown above, the difference between $2.95 and $3.20 per unit can evaporate when you account for fees, shipping, and payment terms.
Mistake #2: Assuming brand-name suppliers don’t have variability between divisions. Eastman Chemical is a $10B+ company—they have dozens of product lines. Treat each division or product line as a potential sub-supplier. Their high-volume commodity chemicals division (which supplies the film for foil board, for instance) may operate very differently from their specialty coatings division.
Mistake #3: Not testing a sample from a specific production batch before committing to a volume order. A test from a lab sample is fine. A test from the exact batch you’ll receive is better.
Final Thought
This checklist isn’t exhaustive—every product and supplier has its own quirks. But if you follow these 5 steps, you’ll avoid at least 80% of the common procurement mistakes I’ve seen over the past 6 years. And honestly, the last 20% is just experience, trust, and a little bit of luck. But even luck loves a prepared buyer.
Want to see the specific TCO spreadsheet I use? I’ve got a template saved—but that’s a story for another post.
