Despite increasingly black pictures being painted about the economy, UK industry has the capacity to ride the storm as a new breed of supply chain professionals lead companies out of the worst effects of the economic crisis.

That's the view of global supply chain consultants and software developers Barloworld Optimus whose Global Business Development Director Fraser Ironside is witnessing the worldwide downturn from both sides of the Atlantic...

He adds that despite the scale of the economic downturn - already dubbed 'a recession' in the US and increasingly now in the UK - the opportunity exists for companies to emerge stronger and better equipped to face even tougher conditions in the future as supply chain professionals re-think network reconfiguration as the most effective way of weathering the storm.

"Companies in the UK, Europe and the US are being hit - and hit hard from a cost and revenue perspective. But we've been here before, and the difference between this recession and every previous economic squeeze is that concerted supply chain planning offers the opportunity to take the sting out of the worst effects.

"Technology, allied to the growing expertise of the supply chain professionals now using it, means that though the next eighteen months will be a rough ride, what traditionally would have amounted to broad-brush cost-cutting is now better targeted through supply chain reconfiguration and optimisation" he commented.

He added that as companies are being spurred into to exploring every available avenue to cut costs, the situation has focused attention on the role of the supply chain practitioner like never before - and that companies that invested in the appropriate planning skills and technology are now better placed to head-off the worst of the problems...

"Having the right people armed with the right supply chain planning tools and methodologies means they're not only able to react far more quickly to circumstances, but also to have foreseen the effects of seismic cost and revenue changes before they arose" he said.

Fraser Ironside says that fuel prices remain the biggest threat to companies on both sides of the Atlantic - and that as the escalating cost of fuel 'impacts detrimentally' on supply chains, the network models that were considered optimal even three years ago are now being re-shaped...

"One of the most notable effects of the new economic climate is a reversal of the decade-long trend of warehouse centralisation across Europe. Rising fuel costs are making the traditional centralised warehouse model look expensive: subsequently, companies are looking to open up more warehouses at country level in order to minimise transportation miles" he said.

Fresh from hosting a live weblink to the North American supply chain network this week, Fraser Ironside said that in the US - where the company's clients include Nokia, McDonalds and Colgate-Palmolive - the scale of the economic situation is forcing companies to face up to the major benefits that can be achieved through effective supply chain planning and management, and that supply chain IT and software are being recognised as the key to survival.

"Supply chain planning and optimisation capabilities have become a prerequisite for developing and maintaining responsive supply chains, and with the software now available to pinpoint precisely where and how savings can be made, inventory management and network optimisation tools represent the most effective antidote to deepening economic pressures" he said.

Last year, Barloworld Optimus - with 90 staff globally, 34 based in the UK - posted its best results ever, notching-up more than sixty new software and consultancy deals in its third successive year of marked new-business growth. The Solihull-based company is the developer of world-beating network modelling and inventory optimisation tools CAST, Optimiza and CINO.

"Against a background of supply chain costs escalating by a massive 60% over the past decade, and an economic world hit by increased global volatility, rising interest rates, rocketing fuel and commodity prices, having the right software in place alongside the required skills to make it work to its best advantage is likely to prove the key to ultimate success or failure as the world of the supply chain pro becomes ever more crucial" Fraser Ironside said this week.