Almost 60% of original equipment manufacturer (OEM), design engineers, contractors and clients questioned in the Risk Census survey, conducted by Trelleborg’s engineered products operation, stated that they believe their supply chain is becoming more risk averse due to higher demands placed on them.
Individuals were surveyed from civil engineering, oil and gas and mining industries to establish what they believe to be the main areas of supply chain risk in their industry. Trelleborg examined the responses in its Risk Census, to understand how businesses perceive supply chain risk and explore ways in which they can manage and minimize it successfully through supplier and product selection.
“You could argue that supply chains as a whole are becoming more risk averse because they face many of the same problems across the board – subdued demand, reduced budgets, rising legislation, longer procurement cycles and so on,” says Ruud Bokhout, marketing director of Trelleborg’s engineered products operation. “Managing large scale projects in these times of change will bring risk, but by having greater transparency in negotiations from the outset, proposals and solutions can be de-risked.”
Further findings from the Risk Census show that 47% of respondents think increasingly more complex and challenging projects are the main cause of risk, with 45% admitting to fear of unexpected costs and charges as a result.
“A large majority of respondents’ concerns are causing them to play it safe to protect themselves from risk. But there is an equal concern, from the market as a whole that this could be at the expense of performance and innovation, says Bokhout. “To innovate is to make changes to the status quo, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, material technologies or products. While the idea of change may breed concern, we believe it should actually be embraced, especially in more challenging times. If industries are developing and adapting to increasingly demanding applications, how then can we expect old products and solutions to stay the same and still work as efficiently?”
Bokhout went on to say that constant development is the only way to find solutions that work faster and more efficiently and by getting it right first time with a solution that is meant for its new application, unexpected costs and delays can be avoided.
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