How Northwood Scaled PO Volume 172% Without Growing Its Procurement Team

Northwood builds the ground systems that connect satellites to Earth, the infrastructure making space communications faster and more reliable. Behind that hardware sits a supply chain most people never see: specialized electronics, machined parts, production materials, sourced against aggressive timelines and unforgiving technical specs.

At a glance

• Industry: Space technology, satellite ground systems
• Team: Lean procurement org supporting fast-scaling engineering and production
• Before Silkline: Excel, then QuickBooks, then a patchwork of email and spreadsheets
• After Silkline: One system of record for RFQs, quotes, POs, and supplier communication
• Result: PO line volume up 172%, procurement headcount flat

If you're running procurement for a hardware company that's scaling fast, this probably sounds familiar.

A System That Couldn’t Keep Up

Northwood's procurement setup evolved like most fast-growing hardware companies': Excel-based POs, then QuickBooks, then a standardized ERP. Each system worked fine for its stage, but under any of them, the workflow ran on email threads, spreadsheet versions, manual follow-ups, and approvals nobody wrote down anywhere.

That system held up at low order volume, but it strained fast as orders scaled along with the business. End-to-end visibility across requests, quotes, approvals, POs, and supplier communication became harder to maintain, right when Northwood needed it most.

"We needed a procurement workflow that could provide structure, visibility, and accountability without slowing down a company that is sprinting."
— Nicole Callihan, Head of Supply Chain, Northwood

Whatever came next had to match the speed engineering and production already had, plus the traceability procurement was missing.

Live Before the Deadline Hit

As Northwood scaled quickly, the company needed a new ERP stood up fast, without disrupting production. Rather than build procurement functionality directly into that system and take on months of costly customization and back-and-forth, Northwood paired it with Silkline's out-of-the-box fit for advanced manufacturing. That kept the timeline short as Northwood raced toward a real deadline.

Silkline worked as an extension of Northwood’s team: responsive, hands-on, and focused on getting them live quickly. With no third-party integrators in the middle, there were no drawn-out implementations or unnecessary customizations.

Most of what Northwood needed was already built into Silkline. The platform is highly configurable, so their team can adapt it as the business evolves. When gaps surface, Silkline understands the underlying need and quickly builds a lasting solution for all customers, not a one-off workaround.

172% More PO Volume, Same Lean Team

The urgency didn't stop at go-live. ROI came just as fast, with results showing up almost immediately and no multi-month configuration project in between.

Silkline is now Northwood's procurement system of record, helping solidify the business processes it needs as it continues to scale rapidly:

• Anyone can check order status. Teams outside procurement see purchase status and pull historical orders themselves, instead of pinging procurement to track it down.
• Supplier conversations live in one place instead of scattered across inboxes, which improves continuity and reduces supply risk.
• PO acknowledgments and promise dates are monitored automatically, so data integrity goes up and problems surface earlier, before they become late shipments.
• Growth doesn't require more headcount. PO line volume is up 172% since going live, with the procurement team staying just as lean.

"Silkline's automation has helped us absorb significant growth without having to scale our procurement organization at the same rate."
— Nicole Callihan, Head of Supply Chain, Northwood

A Partner That Scales Alongside Us

At the pace Northwood is scaling, procurement has to keep up with engineering and production. That means a system rigorous enough for the controls and traceability Northwood needs, and flexible enough that engineers and operators never feel it as friction.

"We see Silkline as more than a procurement tool. We see them as a partner that can scale alongside us, and we are excited about what we can build together."
— Nicole Callihan, Head of Supply Chain, Northwood

As Silkline builds more automation and new capabilities, Northwood expects to keep managing more complexity without adding the overhead a lean team can't spare.