Hard Wood Market Procurement Intelligence Report

Several macro changes in the dynamics of overall Construction Supplies as well as Hard Wood procurement trends are poised to change the business practices and procurement thumb rules. Construction activities and manufacturing of construction supplies are known to be a large source of emissions across the world. Regulatory and social pressures to keep emissions in check have transformed the way construction industry operates. Sustainable practices have penetrated the traditional business processes. There is an increasing demand for green buildings, low carbon concretes and other low emission construction aggregates and renewable energy solutions. All these factors are contributing to a significant change in the procurement standards and practices within the category.

Suppliers across the value chain are increasing their investments in technologies and incorporating systems integrated with IoT, AI, Big data, and data analytics to generate efficiencies and better serve the evolving demand patterns of buyers. This is expected to impact the cost structure of suppliers in the short-term but will help bring down the costs in longer run as suppliers recover the costs of current investment cycles.

To attract investment and drive long-term value, suppliers are building unique business models and implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and stakeholder engagement programs. Such strategic initiatives are pivotal to acquire a social license to operate, generate consumer awareness, and have easy access to input commodities.

Category managers need to take note of the potential of these developments and reassess the changes required in their procurement practices.

The report discusses in detail the best practices that have served well the category managers responsible for Hard Wood procurement.

For example, Buyers should engage with service providers that offer a wide portfolio and can act as a one-stop solution provider for multifaceted requirements of projects. This enables buyers to save significant costs and increases their spend visibility.

Establishing strategic partnerships with suppliers allow category managers to enhance management and planning vision. By adopting a strategic engagement approach, buyers can optimize their category spend by streamlining the category management process. For instance, a risk/reward-sharing approach for construction management providers helps buyers to transfer ownership of projects to service providers.

Buyers must have a clear understanding of the sub-contracting policies of suppliers. Suppliers must be evaluated on factors such as price, quality, and regulatory compliance of their subcontractors before they are selected.

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