Professor Richard Wilding OBE, has warned UK manufacturers of the risks to the extended supply chain caused by stockpiling raw materials ahead of Brexit.
Writing in today’s City AM, Professor Wilding, Professor of Supply Chain Strategy at Cranfield University, likens the panic being demonstrated by manufacturers and consumers to that displayed in the face of the ‘Millennium Bug’ at the turn of the century.
Wilding warns: “While it might look like a sensible response to uncertainty, this kind of Brexit anxiety will have long-term implications for supply chains and for the UK economy as a whole.”
Stockpiling, while potentially beneficial in the short term as companies and individuals hoard goods and materials, can then cause fluctuations in demand that can then impact companies and the economy as stocks are run down rather than new purchases being made.
Wilding concludes: “Organisations and individuals need to look at stockpiling with their eyes wide open. We need more conversations across supply chains to help increase certainty and trust, to determine what’s necessary and what’s overreaction.
“Otherwise stockpiling could be a bigger problem for Britain than even the most chaotic Brexit.”
About Cranfield University
Cranfield University is a specialist postgraduate university that is a global leader for education and transformational research in technology and management.
