Doing it together
PROCESS industry cluster NEPIC is hoping to generate more than £2m for the local economy by encouraging firms to take a joined-up approach to supply chains.
The ENCAP (Enhancing the Chemical and Process Industries Cluster) project, the latest to emerge in a growing trend for joint working in the North-east, which has led to the emergence of bidding consortia including the Tees Alliance Group, is designed to help SMEs tender for business from larger companies within the local supply chain.
It will be based on a web portal that allows them to advertise services and network with other like-minded companies.
Due to be piloted with a minimum of 10 firms before being offered as part of NEPIC’s membership programme, it will be launched at a free event on November 13 at Hartlepool’s HMS Trincomalee.
NEPIC’s Kath Birkin said it would also help companies access advice on training and grants.
The cluster approach is increasingly seen as a way of boosting the regional economy and creating jobs.
George Rafferty chief executive of NOF Energy, which takes a similar approach in developing supply chains in the North-east’s burgeoning oil and gas sector, said larger clients often preferred to deal with a consortium of companies to achieve an “all-in-one solution”.
He said: “The client can achieve economies of scale by working with a consortium - especially if it means they can deal with a single point of contact. Experienced firms like working with a connected supply chain because it can open them up to new technologies used by emerging smaller firms.”
NOF has around 7,000 contacts globally and almost 300 members, including Stokesley-based construction consultancy Armstrong Davis Associates Ltd (ADA).
Jeremy Wright, ADA’s business development manager, welcomed the emergence of cluster groups because they “help to keep trade local”.
He said: “Clusters give small businesses a louder voice and a more robust and bigger feel to them in the eyes of larger companies.”
But he said companies involved in supply chain consortia were under extra pressure to deliver the goods. “The danger is that if one member fails to deliver, it impacts on others within the cluster.”
