Consulting for procurement & SCM in process industries
The switch to environmentally and climate-friendly technologies challenges the process industries from two sides: Firstly, the high energy demand must be covered from regenerative sources in the future; secondly, alternatives for petroleum based reactants must be found. At the same time, companies from the process industries can contribute with research and innovations to contribute to the creation of a CO2-neutral economy. With experience from numerous projects, our experts support you in preparing procurement and the supply chain for the challenges and developing them into strong partners for future value creation.
How do we proceed within the process industry?
Triad of cost optimisation, resilience and ESG
The time when procurement managers from companies in the process industries could focus solely on price is over, at the latest since the Corona virus pandemic. The massive disruptions in supply chains and the growing awareness of the consequences of climate change have turned harmony into a triad: Procurement departments are not only responsible for negotiating a good price, but also have to ensure a stable supply and consider sustainability criteria when selecting suppliers. The European Union and some other countries already have a supply chain law for that go beyond what national governments require of their companies.
Creating transparency in the value chain
In order to fulfil all three tasks in the best possible way, procurement managers first need transparency in the value chain.
- How prices are made up and what share raw material prices in particular have in total costs.
- What their supply chain is like and who their suppliers are.
- Where risks lurk in relation to ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) criteria.
This is where digital tools can provide valuable information. What influence the switch to renewable energies and the associated move away from fossil fuels has on their own value chain. Solutions should be found together with the partners in the supply chain and, if necessary, new procurement markets opened up and new cooperations initiated. We would be happy to work with you to develop adequate risk management and define action plans for price, supply and compliance risks. We support the development of a CO2-neutral business model and work with you to design the path to decarbonization.
Tapping alternative energy sources
With today’s capacities, the process industries’ great requirement for energy cannot be met from renewable energy sources, that is obvious. Nevertheless, the political course has been set and major investments can be expected in the coming years. In view of the lack of solar and wind energy, many companies are financing their own plants for environmentally friendly power generation. In these cases, procurement needs to be competent in CAPEX requirements. This is not only about the procurement of a group of goods, but also about project management and total cost of ownership analyses. We provide support both directly in the project and with individually tailored further training in procurement.
Intelligent product group management
In our experience, buyers in the process industry are excellently trained and experienced in meeting the high demands – such as legal requirements and safety regulations – of their core products. However, in many companies these demanding rules often also apply to less critical products. This complicates and increases the cost of procurement processes, and efficiency suffers. An intelligently designed product group management defines which precautions and rules apply depending on the importance of the materials. This noticeably relieves your procurement and increases efficiency for low-risk and small-scale commodity groups.
Our experts in the process industry
Our insights from the process industry
