It is estimated that one-in-six metal organizations are planning to spend more than 10% of revenues on innovations.
With the recent economic disparity, prominent metal companies are looking overseas to capture new growth opportunities and enhance their footprint in the market. Moreover, with the growing concerns pertaining to transparency in supply chain activities, businesses are investing highly in technologies to automate their operations, drive efficiencies, and improve the quality of the products offered. In today’s challenging environment, organizations are also focusing on refining their service architecture to manage costs and improve efficiency while meeting the demands of the end-users. The increasing growth rate of the construction, automobiles, and heavy machinery sectors will influence the growth of the metals industry.
Here are some of the factors that may influence the growth of the industry over the years.
- Price volatility of raw materials: The rising demand for steel among the Asian countries is affecting the prices of the raw materials such as iron ore. In the steel industry, the cost of iron ore has increased exponential in the last decade. On the other hand, government initiatives to invest in natural resources are forcing businesses to offer consistency in their product offerings.
- Labor shortage: In the recent past, the metal industry has started witnessing a shortage in the labor supply with a considerable number of workers nearing the age of retirement. This can have a radical impact on their overall production capabilities. To address such issues, organizations are facing pressures to increase their hiring capabilities while retaining the employees.
To counter such challenges and profile the key metals supplier, leading businesses are leveraging supplier identification solutions. A supplier identification solution helps businesses profile the most suitable suppliers and gain better visibility into the supply chain process. The solution also helps companies identify and engage with the right suppliers to enhance the supply chain efficiency.
The Business Challenge
- The client: A renowned metals supplier
The client, a renowned metals supplier, wanted to profile the prominent suppliers and execute best practices and process for efficient supply management. With the help of a supplier identification solution, the metals supplier wanted to streamline their marketing efforts to meet the unique needs of the customers. Moreover, by relying on innovations, the metals supplier also wanted to automate the supply chain process and develop a list of new suppliers to reduce the time to market for the products offered.
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Our Journey
To help assess the supply market landscape, the supplier identification experts at Infiniti carried out an extensive research comprising interviews and discussions with prominent stakeholders in the metals supplier space. To establish a better relationship with the suppliers, the experts also compiled information from reliable sources including trade shows, newsletters, and magazines in the metal supplier space.
The Solution Benefit and the Business Impact
The supplier identification solution offered by Infiniti helped the leading metals supplier identify new suppliers and improve the overall company’s performance. The metals supplier was also able to reduce the time for delivering the products while meeting the quality requirements. The solution also sought ways for the client to efficiently drive customer demand and build a brand reputation while meeting the compliance requirements.
The Future
The future of the metal industry will be marked by innovations, such as the use of advanced technical capabilities like electrolysis to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase productivity. Moreover, the growth of the Internet of Things will also have a radical impact on the safety and efficiency during the extraction of metals.
A must-read case study for strategy specialists and decision makers looking to develop an understanding of the metal supplier space.
