Basic Metals Market Procurement Intelligence Report

Engineering Materials market around the world is undergoing rapid transitions that have a massive potential to influence the way companies strategize for Basic Metals procurement and the cost they have to incur. Volatility in the prices of key inputs is creating multiple issues that impact procurement within Basic Metals category such as benchmarking and budgeting of the procurement costs.

Suppliers are continuously taking efforts to improve efficiencies and productivity and deploying processes and technologies. Some of these investments are likely to increase their costs in the shorter term, but learnings from other sectors keep the suppliers optimistic about a lean cost structure in the longer run.

Customers are expecting service and experience levels which are at par with what ecommerce and consumer sectors of today offer. Moreover, competition keeps intensifying and demand and supply dynamics keep shifting.

Basic Metals procurement best practices are moving towards a level of sophistication which is typically seen in traditional procurement categories. Category managers now have an attractive opportunity to adapt the best practices seen within this category as well as those being leveraged in other non-related categories. This report summarizes the best practices picked from across multiple categories that could work well for category managers involved with Basic Metals procurement strategy.

For example, Buyers should engage with suppliers that have adopted a global delivery model as it reduces buyers' risk. In this model, any disaster/emergency at any operating facility of supplier will result in the work being transferred to a different facility, thereby ensuring continuity of the project and reduced risk for buyers. This model also provides buyers access to skilled labor from across the globe, thereby improving the quality of engineering products provided by the supplier.

Buyers must have a clear understanding of the subcontracting policies, if any, of Basic Metals suppliers. Factors such as cost incurred, service quality, adherence to timelines, and regulatory compliance of subcontractors employed by suppliers should be carefully assessed prior to engagement.

Buyers should assess the level of adoption of the latest technologies by suppliers to assess cost-saving opportunities and quality that can be provided by the latter. For instance, the adoption of technologies such as cloud computing will enable suppliers to reduce their internal computing hardware requirements for operations such as CAD and CAM. This can, in turn, enable them to reduce their operating costs, thereby suppliers can offer products at lower rates to buyers.

Basic Metals procurement managers also need to proactively identify and mitigate potential risks that can arise in the supply chain or contracts for Basic Metals procurement. Some examples include: