Building a COVID-resilient supply chain episode one: procurement

The COVID-19 outbreak has created health, operational and logistical challenges on an unprecedented scale. BHP relies on more than 10,000 businesses from 60 countries for the goods and services needed to extract and deliver commodities to our customers around the globe.

In this first episode of our resilient supply chain series, Group Procurement Officer Sundeep Singh analyses the steps BHP is taking to support its supply chain and supply partners.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global supply chains and unleashed a unique mix of challenges across the business community.

BHP’s global supply chain adapted quickly to the outbreak, filling critical gaps in health and hygiene supplies, securing critical materials, tackling logistical challenges around work travel and collectively enforcing strict social distancing across operations.

Throughout the acute period of the crisis and now as we shift to the next phase, the priority for us and our suppliers remains keeping our people and host communities safe and healthy. We are continuing to do everything possible to keep our business safely operational by building resilience throughout our supply chain.

Last year, we paid a total of US$20 billion to our suppliers around the world for the essential materials, equipment and services we require to operate safely 24 hours a day. Since the outbreak escalated in early March, they have worked tirelessly to provide us the continuity of materials and additional services we have needed to keep our doors open.

It’s crucial to our business that our supply partners also remain operational through the outbreak, which is why we’ve implemented several measures to help reduce their economic burden. We’ve immediately paid all outstanding invoices and reduced payment terms to seven days from 30 days, set up a $6 million labour hire fund for sick leave and travel support in Australia, recruited for 1,500 new roles in Australia, and in Chile, introduced a $25 million fund to support our suppliers' displaced workers.