The report highlights a number of trends that threaten to disrupt engineering and manufacturing businesses including; migrating manufacturing and regionalization, cost pressures and consumerism, and lifecycle sustainment.

The paper is entitled “The resiliency challenge: constructing the agile supply chain for heavy industry”. It finds that engineering and manufacturing companies are currently operating the least mature and therefore most costly supply chains in global industry – with significant room for improvement in resilience, flexibility, visibility and agility.

And it warns that those that delay in responding are risking critical damage to their market share from new and more innovative competitors and, ultimately, jeopardizing their bottom lines.

“Change won’t come easily to an industry populated by companies which have been around for over 80 years and are used to business as usual,” said Harrington. “But it is imperative that they transform their supply chains to meet the demands of modern business with its onus on faster, leaner and more resilient operations. Those that do so can use their newly discovered logistical capability as an offensive weapon against competitors who fail to adjust.”

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