Silicones | Suppliers | Pricing Trends , Best Practices

Strategic Sourcing Guide to Silicones Procurement

Overview

The market for Engineering Materials and its sub-segments such as Silicones are at an interesting intersection. Several structural changes including M&As and vertical integration efforts of suppliers are characterizing the broader market. Such strategic developments can erode the strength of previously established supplier relationships due to changed realities in the supplier's ecosystem. At the same time, buyers may also find opportunities to onboard new suppliers with a wider range of offerings or better contract terms for .

Technology is improving productivity and creating fresh demand. Convergence of data science, automation tools, 3D printing, robotics, AI and big data has opened up multiple possibilities to better serve customers at a lower operational cost.

Suppliers of Silicones are moving up the value chain - both organically as well as through M&As. Their portfolios are increasingly being diversified with the objective of offering integrated solutions that go beyond just Silicones. Even buyers are engaging vendors who can act as a one-stop solution provider across their geographic footprint. Such strategic engagements can help buyers with savings associated with economies of scale and management of a much smaller supplier base.

Trends like these and many others discussed in this report are necessitating a relook at the way Silicones is procured and the procurement cost saving opportunities that exist.

Silicones Procurement Best Practices

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

For example, Buyers should invest in benchmarking studies that help category managers to improve their knowledge on market pricing or billing rates of service providers. This helps them to not only save costs but also increase their negotiation power.

Competitive bidding as a cost optimization tool is extremely potent but should be carefully deployed only when there is no significant differentiation among Silicones suppliers.

Buyers need to evaluate the in-depth expertise of suppliers in the Silicones industry. This can be assessed by considering factors such as the years of experience, number of resources that have multi-year experience of working in the same industry and at least 3 to 5 credentials for the supplier.

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Risks in Silicones procurement

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

Suppliers may face a situation where they are unable to honor a contract in its entirety due to shortage of resources, finances or capabilities. While contractual terms safeguard buyers from the non-performance, their operations could still face massive disruptions due to suppliers' non-performance
Procurement without consulting the actual users of Silicones may result in a mismatch in expectations of the buyer's internal stakeholders versus the actual contract executed
Political and regulatory changes pose significant risks to the category. For instance, imposition of tariffs on raw materials required to manufacture the finished goods increases costs. Similarly, restrictions on import of goods or raw materials from a particular country also contributes to significant risks. Additionally, insufficient IPR protection and product liability lawsuits lead turnout to be huge risk factors for the category

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Who should read this report

The report is intended to serve as a one-stop reference guide for Silicones procurement strategy and offers a perfect blend of category basics with deep-dive category data and insights. Therefore, it is ideal for category beginners looking for “Silicones: Procurement Report 101” as well as for category experts actively tracking the global Silicones procurement market.

You may have just initiated your research to design a winning Silicones procurement strategy, or you may be a category expert looking for strategic insights and updated data.Either ways, the report has your requirements covered.

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Key questions on Silicones procurement answered by this report

Procurement decisions can prove to be costly in the absence of careful deliberation and evaluation of every available option. In fact, more than 90% of the decision makers we work with acknowledge that timely availability of up-to-date category intelligence can help them make better purchasing decisions. More than 80% of them believe that in-house category intelligence needs to be updated periodically to achieve full benefits. If you have read so far, we are quite sure you agree!!

The Silicones procurement report helps take more informed decisions by placing all the critical information and advice at the fingertips of a decision maker. It also specifically answers some of the key questions that we have been routinely asked during our industry outreach initiatives:

What is the spend potential in the Silicones market?
What is the correct price to pay for Silicones? What are the key trends and factors that influence current and future pricing?
Which selection criteria are the most important for Silicones Suppliers Market?
Who are the top Silicones suppliers? What are their cost structures?
Which negotiation levers can reduce Silicones procurement cost ?
What are supplier margins in Silicones market?
What are the best practices for Silicones procurement and what are the potential risks?

SpendEdge Insights has helped procurement professionals and sourcing teams manage multiple spend areas and achieve more than $2 billion in savings. Activate your free account today!

Silicones Category Insights: What is inside

The Silicones market report offers a complete picture of the supply market and analyzes the category from the perspective of both buyers and suppliers. Analysis of the category trends, procurement best practices, negotiation levers and overall category management strategy advisory are interspersed with in-depth data and commentary on spend outlook, pricing ecosystem and supplier landscape drilled down to a region-level coverage.

Data

A key highlight of this report is the in-depth outlook created on Silicones procurement spend and pricing trends. The report further delves deep into the aspects of cost structure, total cost of ownership and supplier margins for Silicones. A dedicated section to supplier profiles and evaluation helps decision makers cast a wider procurement net and identify gaps in existing relationships.

Insights

Along with specific category and supplier intelligence, the publication also includes curated insights on Silicones market trends, price influencers and inherent risks. These insights help the decision makers prepare for market shaping trends in advance and create alternative strategies for changes in the market conditions.

Advisory

Additionally, the report also advises on the best practices and strategies to manage the Silicones category efficiently. Negotiation levers and opportunities are explained in detail along with quantification of their potential. Benchmark KPIs for supplier and buyer performance management are also aggregated to better organize the category objectives. Other themes of advisory include ideal procurement organization structure, enablers to achieve KPIs or category objectives and ideal SLAs to have with suppliers.

Category Ecosystem

Buyer and supplier ecosystem
Competitiveness index
Buyer and supplier power
Threat of new entrants and substitutes

Global and Regional Sourcing Insights

Category spend
Spend growth
Dynamics
Opportunities

Pricing and Cost Analysis

Pricing outlook and data
Drivers of pricing
Cost structure and inputs cost
Total cost of ownership
Pricing models and margins

Cost Saving Opportunities & Negotiation Strategies

Buyer and supplier side levers
Quantified cost saving opportunities
Negotiation strategies and quantified outcome

Procurement Best Practices, Strategy and Enablers

Procurement excellence
Sustainability and innovation
KPIs and category enablers
Risk management and outsourcing

Vendor Analysis

RFx essentials and selection criteria
SLAs
Supplier evaluation metrics
Detailed supplier profiles

Our research is complex, but our reports are easy to digest. Quantitative analysis and exhaustive commentary is placed in an easy to read format that gives you an in-depth knowledge on the category without spending hours to figure out “what does it mean for my company?”

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Category Research Framework

SpendEdge presents a detailed picture of Silicones procurement solutions by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. The analysts have presented the various facets of the market with a particular focus on identifying the key category influencers. The data thus presented is comprehensive, reliable, and the result of extensive research, both primary and secondary.