When the UK officially decided to leave the EU on December 31, 2020, no one could have predicted that this 'Brexit' would follow an already tumultuous year for supply chains, as the world was still very much in the midst of the COVID-19. To that point, there was zero room for error as companies had already experienced significant delays and increased costs as a result of the pandemic.
The new realities of Brexit meant new requirements, new customs duties under new UK trade tariffs, and additional formalities. Since Brexit was truly a historically unprecedented event, there were no opportunities to compare with past experiences or models as a guide. Additionally, the guidance issued by government officials was not clear at times, leaving many companies scrambling to understand the full extent of the required changes and checkpoints to ensure full compliance with the new rules.
When Trinseo Corporation, a global chemical materials solutions provider and a manufacturer of plastics, latex binders, and synthetic rubber found their organization in need of guidance with the uncertainty around Brexit, they turned to BDP International for support.
The team from BDP stepped in to proactively identify and prioritize potential problems and risk areas for Trinseo by taking a proportionate, segmented, risk-based approach. BDP reviewed contracts, considered legislation and trade issues that could potentially cause delays, and developed contingency to ensure that Trinseo was prepared and possible issues mitigated.
As the team at Trinseo stated: "The fact that we had not one single delay since day one....that is a huge success."
Watch the full case study below.
