When sourcing outside Europe, many companies fear that a lack of quality can lead to incalculable costs or supply risks. With the right "tools", this is not the case.

The demands on modern purchasing have changed considerably in recent years, especially due to Corona and political tensions. Not only the technical possibilities through the use of modern media have significantly changed the activities in purchasing. The demands on the person of the buyer have also become noticeably more complex. In this article, we want to analyze the change in purchasing organizations from a pure procurement department to a modern supply chain management and take a closer look at associated changes in the company.

The year 2019 was very successful for the foundry industry and related industries. Unfortunately, the following year brought the COVID-19 pandemic, which stopped the development and caused a decrease in production in all branches related to casting. This decrease was felt in all European countries, and in most of them, quite drastic. China became the first country to introduce a total production blockade because of COVID-19. However, China was also the first country to return to a positive GDP result for 2020 (+ 2.4%). This year Turkey also achieved a positive GDP (+1.8%). Other countries felt the effects of the pandemic even more, and quite clearly, in the second quarter of 2020. When the lockdown was introduced in Europe, production in various industries significantly slowed down or even stopped. The year 2020 also brought a significant increase in inflation, as can be seen in Graph 1.

You grant credit payment terms to your customers every day. And because it's a standard way of doing business, you may need to consider the risk you are taking.