About the session
The speaker's approach to supply chain enhancement is about the number of transactions. There should be more focus placed on helping companies make orders and generate cash flow. His company (MAS/Grant Thornton) has devised a priority pyramid for how large OEMs select partners. The most common reasons for lack of engagement between SMEs and bigger manufacturing firms, is a lack of access to finance, technology and ambition compared to sectors like the digital industry, as well as problems around R&D misalignment. When it comes to selecting new suppliers when an existing supply chain is already reliable, the basic viewpoint of tier-one companies is one of indifference ("Why should I care?"). This needs to change to boost local supply chains while being sympathetic to the tier-ones' price and delivery criteria. On finance for growth, private equity still showed very low levels of investment in manufacturing, because the sector often showed the weakest level of performance for return on investment. There was a trend towards bond capital, which provided a debt solution but often within restrictive criteria , and there was a need for more creative finance solutions, Mr Reddy said. He added that MAS and UKTI needed to do much more to promote sales of UK goods, which should include marketing and branding assistance.
