Companies that outsource subcontracting processes want a personal contact person on the part of the external service provider. This is one of the core findings of a qualitative study by Günther + Schramm and Hoberg & Driesch Processing. The two companies jointly surveyed 140 buyers, sales staff and production managers from the steel and steel pipe processing industry. The free study is now available for download to all interested parties.
The results of the study show that even during and after the crisis, a direct line to the supplier with a personal contact person is a decisive success factor. With the aim of reacting to changes at an early stage and maintaining a high level of supply capability, around 60% of those surveyed hope to receive regular up-to-date information on the market situation in the future. In view of this, just under half of all study participants would even like to see joint demand planning between sales, purchasing, production and the service provider for external subcontracting. The aim is to avoid additional costs with this strategic form of cooperation.
In the current exceptional situation caused by the Corona crisis, the focus is on security. Accordingly, 61% of the study participants stated that prefabrication, storage and on-call provision by the service provider is important to them. In this way, customers want to ensure availability and delivery capability even in crisis situations.
“Personal contact with an expert experienced in the industry on the part of the service provider was also important to the respondents here.”
- Bernd Seibold, Managing Director at Günther + Schramm
Brandolf Schneider, Managing Director at Hoberg & Driesch Processing adds, “The survey showed how important it is to keep the administrative effort for customers as low as possible. This makes it much easier to facilitate short and flexible delivery times.”
