Manufacturing and Logistics

The BPG ‘Optimise’ Method is evidenced from over 500 complex supplier relationships. It shows there are 8 characteristics present in every successful complex relationship. We can help you successfully implement these quickly to improve service innovation, supplier relationships and drive down BAU costs.

Click here to see how the ‘Optimise’ process can help you drive maximum value in your Strategic Supplier Relationships.

We’ve dealt with optimising over 500 complex supplier relationships. More than 50% of complex supplier relationships experience misunderstandings between client and supplier over your requirements and expectations.

If the right foundations are not in place to drive maximum value, you may experience:

• Additional charges and costs for ‘misunderstood expectations’
• A lack of understanding of contractual roles and responsibilities
• Governance and performance escalation not clearly delineated
• Senior client executives not being clear on their expectations and dynamics of the relationship
• Not enough investment by senior executives in the resourcing or skills of the client supplier management team
• Loss of key in-house expertise to the supplier (inadvertent staff poaching)
• Employee resistance to new working methods from the supplier
• Clashes of culture between client and supplier staff and so forth.

The manufacturing sector accounts for almost 1 in 4 of the world’s employees, according to research by The World Bank.

Having optimised over 500 complex and strategic supplier partnerships, we have direct experience of how manufacturing and logistics companies need ‘Intelligent Suppliers’ to help them innovate to increase product sales, improve production effectiveness and reduce BAU costs. Some of the biggest challenges facing the manufacturing sector in our experience are:

• Regulation and Compliance. The sector is always facing increasing regulation and compliance measures. From health and safety to waste management, it’s a significant burden, as is the tracking of raw materials used during the manufacturing process and a lack of transparency through the supply chain.
• Staff Shortages. Recent studies have indicated that up to 50% of jobs in the sector will remain unfulfilled due to a lack of younger individuals coming into the industry. Significant investment in automation may reduce this deficit, but indications are that the level of investment is not sustainable for many organisations. 
• Global Competition. The internet enables competitors to offer their products in a country without the need for any set-up costs or logistics aside from a delivery mechanism. Research indicates that the global competitiveness of manufacturing companies in much of Europe is expected to fall next year.
• Automation. The potential automation of workforce tasks is highlighted as a positive opportunity, believing it empowers workers and allows them to focus on ‘higher-value’ activities. In turn, this leads to an increase in the sales margin of products and helps to drive down BAU costs.

The investment in much more holistic IT systems and production process technologies is seen to help enable organisations, by providing significant increases in both production effectiveness and much greater traction with partner customers and ‘Intelligent Suppliers’.