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A Global Leader Since 1898, Modernized for the AI Era
GATX is the leading global provider of railcar leasing and service in North America, Europe, and India, with roots that stretch back to 1898. The company's procurement function operates with a consolidated team managing direct, indirect, and capital categories across a global footprint. When GATX switched to Levelpath, the team did not have to wait months to see a return on investment. Measurable outcomes for procurement efficiency began appearing in the first week, driven by the AI-native capabilities the team had specifically selected for the future they were building.
The decision to move to Levelpath was deliberate. GATX liked the experience of its existing sourcing tool but wanted a native AI solution. As former Scout RFP users, the team looked to Levelpath to be their trusted partner for bringing AI into procurement operations across direct, indirect, and capital spend categories.
Outcomes after partnering with Levelpath:
- 10x capacity for RFPs, with bid analysis completed in 15 to 20 seconds
- $3.5M in contract savings surfaced through AI-driven contract analysis
- 29% day-one adoption rate from shop stakeholders
- 50 category strategies migrated into a unified procurement system
The Challenge: A Small Team Managing Many Categories
The GATX procurement team faced increasing pressure to manage sourcing events, capital projects, and vendor processes with a small group of employees wearing many hats. Historically, the team relied on SharePoint, Excel, and manual communication methods to track procurement activities, project approvals, and contract data. Functional, but increasingly inadequate for the speed and complexity of the work.
One of the most time-consuming processes was handling supplier bid comparisons. Proposals arrived in inconsistent formats: PDFs, Word documents, or direct RFP responses. The procurement team had to manually extract and consolidate data before any analysis could begin. The approach slowed decision-making and added significant manual workload to a small team that needed to spend time on negotiation and supplier development, not data wrangling.
Managing large capital projects presented additional difficulties. Procurement needed to track many questions about risk, progress, payments, and milestones for each project. Without an automated system, large capital projects required time-consuming meetings and ad-hoc manual tracking. Project visibility of that complexity becomes fragmented over time, increasing the risk of delays and miscommunication.
On top of those operational challenges, resource constraints were a constant factor. As the Director of Sourcing and Procurement explained, "We have a small team and handle a lot of different categories, so we all wear a lot of different hats." The procurement function needed a platform that could deliver efficiency, streamline workflows, and let the team stay ahead of demands by bringing platform-native AI to GATX.
Why GATX Chose Levelpath
The strategic question for GATX was less about replacing a working tool and more about positioning the function for the AI-driven future of procurement. The Director of Sourcing and Procurement framed the decision in those terms.
"Our goal with the change was to drive greater efficiencies using Levelpath's native AI capabilities that really stood out to GATX. No one really knows where AI will land in the next five or ten years, and because of this we chose a trusted partner to grow and ride that AI wave with Levelpath."
Director of Sourcing and Procurement, GATX
The platform's AI-native architecture, paired with native mobile capabilities and an intuitive user experience, gave the team confidence that the change would deliver immediate value and continue paying off as the platform evolved.
AI-Powered Bid Analysis at Speed
GATX saw tangible results within weeks of onboarding. One of the first major improvements came from Levelpath's AI Assistant pre-built sourcing prompts. With one click, the procurement team can now summarize supplier pricing, draft service descriptions, and note risk factors across proposals in seconds. Bid comparisons that used to take significant manual time are now completed and shared with business stakeholders almost instantly.
"AI Bid analysis now with one click of a button literally takes 15 to 20 seconds. It is especially powerful when we are managing complex bids with 10 to 12 proposals; what used to be manual and take a long time is completed in seconds."
Director of Sourcing and Procurement, GATX
Within just one week of kicking off implementation, GATX launched sourcing projects through Levelpath. Early user adoption followed quickly. On day one, GATX achieved a 29% adoption rate from its shop stakeholders. Levelpath partnered with GATX to provide training for all stakeholders, encouraging adoption and compliance so everyone could start capturing value immediately.
Sourcing Categories the Team Had Never Managed
Levelpath's AI capabilities have allowed GATX to extend procurement into categories the team had not previously sourced. In one instance, procurement needed to source lobbying support, a category entirely new to the team. Using the AI Assistant, the team generated a high-quality RFP in seconds, sent it to 12 firms, and then used AI to summarize responses, shortlist candidates, and even generate interview questions for final vendor selection.
"Sometimes we don't really have the availability to do an RFP, but with Levelpath we are able to do 10 in the same time it used to take to do 1."
VP Strategic Sourcing, Procurement, and Materials Management, GATX
The result is a procurement function whose capacity has effectively multiplied by 10. RFP work that previously required difficult prioritization and category-by-category sequencing can now happen in parallel, opening up sourcing opportunities the team would have had to defer.
Centralizing Data and Migrating Category Strategies
In parallel with sourcing wins, GATX has begun migrating critical procurement data into Levelpath, including contracts and 50 different category strategies. Levelpath's Optical Character Recognition capabilities allow the team to gather information from documents that previously required manual data entry. The migration is building a centralized, structured foundation for managing procurement operations more effectively.
"Having all our data and vendor information configured within the Levelpath platform changes the game for us and makes our AI initiatives that much easier."
Director of Sourcing and Procurement, GATX
The team uses Levelpath's built-in workflows, automated alerts, and metadata to improve review and renewal processes. Capital projects are next, with workflows under development to automate capital expenditure approvals and track change orders more accurately.
$3.5 Million in Savings From a Single Contract Review
One example of immediate, hard-dollar value came during a review of a bulk materials contract. Using Levelpath's contract tools, the GATX team surfaced a volume-related pricing gap that led to renegotiation and $3.5 million in savings over seven years. The previous process would have required weeks of manual analysis and heavy legal support to identify the same opportunity. With Levelpath, the AI Assistant surfaced the gap in a fraction of the time.
The story illustrates the broader value of an AI-native approach to contract management. The savings opportunity was not buried because the team lacked expertise. It was buried because the team lacked the time to analyze every contract at that level of depth. AI absorbs the analytical work and surfaces the opportunities for human judgment.
Mobile Access and Adoption
Having anytime access through the native Levelpath mobile app is accelerating decisions. Team members can review savings documents and approve them mid-flight, and quickly retrieve supplier data to support executive meetings. With an intuitive process and on-the-go access, adoption and compliance within GATX has improved significantly compared with the previous tool.
"It is bringing much better compliance because it is easier and folks are able to do it themselves. We are able to work quickly and do more without our resources being taxed."
VP Strategic Sourcing, Procurement, and Materials Management, GATX
That ease of use is the unlock. For a small team managing many categories, every minute saved on coordination is a minute available for negotiation, supplier development, or strategic analysis. Levelpath turns that math in GATX's favor.
Looking Ahead: Capital Projects, Vendor Management, and Beyond
Early returns with Levelpath have been strong, and the team views its current results as only the beginning of a much larger procurement transformation. Capital project management is the immediate focus. The team is developing workflows to automate capital expenditure approvals and track change orders more accurately. As the Director of Procurement and Sourcing described, "Change orders are a very important part of our process. Currently, we track them manually in Excel, which is not ideal. We will be leveraging Levelpath's workflows to improve cycle times, prevent errors, and increase visibility. Ultimately, all change orders will be managed through a centralized executive dashboard."
Vendor management is another area of investment. GATX will be moving its vendor add process into Levelpath, allowing departments across the company to submit, review, and approve new vendor requests through a centralized, consistent workflow. The procurement team is also working toward eliminating SharePoint usage for procurement operations entirely. With contract management, sourcing requests, and TCO dashboards now moving into Levelpath, the goal is a unified platform housing all procurement data.
GATX's early results show how quickly an AI-native platform can deliver measurable impact, from dramatically shortening RFP evaluation times to launching sourcing initiatives in days. As procurement expands workflows, scales automation, and taps deeper into AI-driven insights, GATX is not just optimizing procurement. It is transforming it, setting a new benchmark for efficiency in a rapidly evolving market.
"Levelpath's native AI capabilities are a big draw. We want to make sure we are keeping pace or ahead of the market and this unified platform helps GATX do exactly that."
Director of Sourcing and Procurement, GATX
