Over the past 12 months, the Brexit dial has moved ominously from safe ‘Soft Brexit’ impact to the unsettling ‘Hard Brexit’ scenario, with a worrying time more recently where it seems ‘No Deal’ is a possibility. Throughout this time, we have been working with businesses across the island, analysing their supply chain risks with feedback from the trenches including;

  • “My NI-based supplier is the holder of product authorisations under REACH” – Paint Producer, Cork
  • “Our supplier has a factory in Naas and Leeds – I presume our products are coming from Naas?” – Food manufacturer, Sligo
  • “Our biggest customer is also our biggest supplier, based in Bristol” – Aviation Maintenance, Shannon
  • “We have a UK agent who is the sole distributor for UK & Ireland” – Motor Factors, Carlow
  • “Our suppliers are in mainland Europe but it’s a bulky product shipped via the UK” – Wholesaler, Athlone
  • “I have just realised 80% of our raw materials comes from the UK or NI” – Cleaning Company, Leitrim

Brexit is another business risk and Arvo use strategic sourcing techniques to reduces costs and risks associated with Britain’s exit from the EU, while defining appropriate sourcing strategies so as there is minimal interruption to our client’s supply chain.

Arvo provide strategic sourcing consultancy and have delivered practical workshops & training, specifically focusing on Brexit supply chain risks and helping SME’s answer questions such as; 

  1. What suppliers will impact the business most if they cannot supply you tomorrow?
  2. Do you know what % of your goods and services are coming directly or indirectly from the UK/NI?
  3. Have you researched alternative non-UK suppliers?
  4. Are there contracts, licenses or regulations restricting your global sourcing strategies?
  5. Are you aware of the potential additional costs to import from Europe in terms of hubbing, customs, logistics partners, Minimum Order Quantities plus the impact on cash flow?

Therefore, let us know today how we can help build resilience into your supply chain for Brexit (& other Political, Economic & Technological events that may cause risks for your business in future).

The outcomes from an Arvo engagement include a Strategic Sourcing Plan, a completed Kraljic Analysis defining your strategic and bottleneck suppliers while we have also created a Sensitivity Analysis Tool to analyse how the different values for a set of independent variables (costs) affect a dependent variable (price/margin) under certain specific conditions (Brexit).

Take note of these Brexit Planning Tools and Resources, to reduce your Brexit exposure.

Finally, Arvo are working with Enterprise Ireland, InvestNI and Intertrade Ireland, who all have Brexit supports to help you on the journey to develop your contingency plan;

Contact Us or the agencies above to get support for your Strategic Sourcing Brexit risk