JANUARY 2019 BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT
plant, trained people and practiced – there’s a
very good chance they’ll get it wrong. While a
loss adjuster will help guide the firm, they can’t
retrospectively brief customers and suppliers
on what to expect. Similarly, firms can’t make
collaborative arrangements with third parties
to provide support.
The risks faced by the sector
Of course, every business faces risk, and
Robinson acknowledges that most organisations
have some understanding of the risks they face.
But continuity risk is different. “It relates only to
threats that have very low likelihood of occurring
and penetrating defences yet have potentially
catastrophic consequences for business, he says.
“Typically, we can identify tens of these triggers,
possibly hundreds, depending on circumstances,
however, the resulting scenarios we must deal
with are relatively few in number, and this is key
to effective continuity planning.”
In contrast, MacKillop thinks preparedness
is lacking. “I sit on the organising committee of
the Scottish chapter of the British Continuity
Institute, and there are hardly any manufacturing
representatives in the group,” he explains. “The
majority of conferences and seminars don’t tend
to have a lot of manufacturing sector attendees
or speakers at them… only very small numbers
of advertised BCP jobs are in the manufacturing
sector.” He has contacts within the drinks
industry and is not aware of many who formally
undertake BCP. “Unfortunately I think a lot of
the manufacturing industry still hope that it a
disaster won’t ever happen to them,” he warns.
As to what to plan for, the
most likely are loss of all or
part of a site; denial of access
for two weeks or more; loss of
technology or automation; loss
of data or information integrity,
including disclosure; loss of
critical plant, equipment or
resource; loss of a key supplier;
and loss of product integrity,
contamination, and quality.
MacKillop, however, thinks
that securing the supply chain
should be up near the top
of any manufacturer’s risk
register. “When you are a large
manufacturing organisation
like us, with a hugely complex
supply chain from all over the
world, it becomes extremely
time consuming to map out
the complete ‘field to factory’
route.” He explains that Chivas
prioritises brands and products
and engages with suppliers –
they want to be comfortable
with supply routes and
resilience. MacKillop also warns
that as automation continues
to increase, “we will see more
and more disruption to the
manufacturing industry through
cyber issues and attacks; in
short, disruption of industrial
control systems.”
Writing a plan
Those firms without a BCP
need to set about creating one.
“The first step is to think about
building a management system
with a clear and enduring scope
and objective,” says Robinson.
“This means analysing the
organisation thoroughly – if
you don’t understand it, how
can you possibly rebuild it?”
MacKillop would also look
to get senior management
involved. But he would have
them rank or prioritise brands
and products “into what gives
you the most ‘bang for your
buck’ or anything that is seen as
strategic”, not forgetting new
products or new key markets.
Allied to this, he suggests
focusing on product lifecycles,
from the sourcing of its raw
materials, the manufacturing
process and the resilience
of processes and sites, right
through to getting the final
product to the customer.
Robinson would next want
to understand the marketplace
and the deadlines faced. Allied
to this is the need to inventory
everything needed to resume
operation, distinguishing
clearly between emergency,
Chivas Brothers’
Strathisla distillery
has undergone a
major BCP process
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