Pipes, Fittings & Seals Market Procurement Intelligence Report

Business practices within Pipes, Fittings & Seals market are heavily influenced by changing trends across the category as well as within the broader Construction Supplies market. Periods of macroeconomic uncertainty and increasing stringency of immigration laws are key contributors to the workforce shortage in the market. Domestic workers in developed countries often choose to pursue higher education and less cyclical employment opportunities while foreign workers return to their home countries due to tough immigration laws and economic conditions. Consequently, suppliers have had to increase labor wages to attract skilled and unskilled labor, which has increased their costs and forced them to increase their pricing.

Fluctuation in prices of construction materials has made it difficult for project contractors to maintain a steady cost projection on construction projects. Also, the risks associated with project cost overruns are contributing to project delays and abandonment. Procurement functions are more careful while drawing up supplier contracts and insulating their projects from price uncertainties to the extent possible on negotiation tables.

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.

As a result, category managers need to closely monitor the Pipes, Fittings & Seals procurement trends and identify changes required in their procurement environment for the category.

It has become imperative for category managers to remain as agile as possible in terms of their procurement practices. However, it is not always easy to quickly spot and implement alternative practices in a category like Pipes, Fittings & Seals. To help quick decision making, this report advises on several procurement best practices that have worked well for category managers.

For example, Buyers should prefer working with suppliers who can bring in specialized solutions for their specific industries to ensure comprehensive delivery of construction related services to buyers.

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.

Service providers may outsource certain aspects of the project if they lack the required expertise or to expedite the project progress. If the subcontractor is not covered by a reliable liability insurance or does not abide by the same terms and conditions that were laid down for the main contractors, then it can hinder the main contractor's ability to perform its services. It may also entangle the buyers in legal complications and negative publicity.

Pipes, Fittings & Seals procurement managers also need to proactively identify and mitigate potential risks that can arise in the supply chain or contracts for Pipes, Fittings & Seals procurement. Some examples include: