Trade tariffs: How can heavy equipment manufacturers offset rising steel costs?

Trade tariffs are especially problematic for heavy equipment manufacturers, as many rely heavily on cross-border supply chains.  The tariffs could represent an increase in costs of production by 6% for agriculture and construction equipment and 7% for mining equipment, according to an IHS Markit/AEM report. 

Many equipment manufacturers are not able to pass the rising cost of steel to their customers. But the costs have to be offset somehow, leading many manufacturers to look for fresh approaches to eliminate longstanding supply chain inefficiencies and increase productivity.

What if you could minimize the impact of tariffs and turn your supply chain into a competitive advantage?

Proudfoot's Supply Chain Rapid Assessment gives you a more granular view of costs and opportunities, pinpointing where your supply chain is letting you down. This helps you achieve a new level of precision in your budgeting process and lays a foundation for sustainable improvement in performance.

We then accelerate improvement by implementing world-class systems and tools to increase your supply chain visibility and controls. Even more importantly, we address the human factors that lie at the heart of your operational challenges to improve productivity and reduce costs throughout the business. By engaging your people and establishing a new behavior model you can enable them to make the right decisions and deliver better results at a lower cost. With this approach we recently helped a leading Tier-1 auto supplier increase labor productivity by over 20% and reduce their supply chain overhead cost by over 30%.

Request a Supply Chain Rapid Assessment

Contact Proudfoot’s Managing Director of Industrials, Dennis Santare, to initiate a 360-degree assessment and quickly identify your biggest opportunities to improve supply chain performance through a sequence of focused actions: