GHD Advisory: Transforming Supply Chains
Tim Mawhood, Executive Director of GHD Advisory, sat down with Procurement Magazine to discuss the role the company is playing in revolutionising modern supply chains across a range of sectors.
Tim is a seasoned executive leading the company’s advisory operations in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. With more than 25 years of consulting experience in infrastructure investment and advisory, he delivers data-driven and strategic counsel and solutions for clients across finance, transport and logistics.
Operating globally in water, energy, resources, environment, property, buildings and transportation, GHD harnesses cutting-edge digital tools with deep technical expertise to deliver sustainable solutions.
This strategy addresses today’s supply chain challenges through the embrace of digital transformation and the fostering of sustainability, ensuring long-term success for clients.
Could you tell us more about what GHD does and how it operates?
In a nutshell, GHD is a global professional services company operating across water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings and transportation. GHD delivers digital, engineering, architecture, environmental and construction solutions to both public and private sector clients.
GHD supports its clients through the entire value cycle for assets from concept origination, through business or investment case, acquisition due diligence, planning, design, operations, asset management and disposal (sale-side diligence) or repurposing.
Our ability to combine leading-edge business consulting with our deep technical expertise and digital enablement ensures client solutions that are value-focused. Where we have capability gaps, we partner to provide a turnkey solution for clients.
Established in 1928, we have grown to roughly 11,000 professionals in more than 160 offices around the world. All these offices operate under one vision to ensure people and places thrive, by making water, energy and communities sustainable for generations to come.
How is GHD planning for a sustainable future?
Sustainability is one of the central driving forces behind GHD. We’re committed to delivering lasting, positive sustainable solutions for communities and clients around the world. But what does that actually mean?
As a business, we are very focused on delivering lasting community benefits, which by their nature need to be sustainable.
We have purposely built a significant data and digital capability that allows us to assist clients in gaining true visibility of asset performance, condition and operational optimisation options.
We have also built a strong sustainability team who engage with clients early to ensure embedment of required operating and reporting principles. GHD’s Sustainability Monitor 2024 finds that 97% of executives believe their sustainability agenda adds commercial value to their organisation.
Climate resilience and sustainable planning is increasingly becoming more central to business strategies. Scope 3 reporting requirements pose a real challenge for organisations but also an opportunity to positively impact supply chains and suppliers.
How have GHD digitised supply chains and why is this important?
At GHD, we’re embracing digital tools which enable decisions to be made earlier and more efficiently.
For instance, introducing digital twins enables us to mimic a real-world project or asset by replicating it in a secure, cloud-based environment. GHD are using unique data sets to help visualise supply chains, especially around major road networks and international gateways.
Coupled to behavioural analysis and deep technical expertise, this data provides actionable insights for our clients to identify areas or actions to improve efficiencies and reduce carbon footprints. It also allows them to continue to monitor their position to keep improving and maximising value.
The efficiency of supply chains is a fundamental requirement in improving global emissions and improving sustainability ratings. Large or elongated supply chains are by their nature carbon-intensive and complex – but even small efficiencies can lead to material sustainability improvements.
GHD has also been assessing specific elements of supply chains, for example, the use of 'Green Procurement' and new materials for construction projects aiming to reduce carbon-rich concrete reliance.
GHD innovate best in conjunction with our clients; we don’t engage to dictate solutions, we co-create to design long-lasting benefits for the client and planet.
Digital transformation is a necessity, not a luxury. Businesses must digitise supply chains to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences and deliver innovative solutions.
What advantages does AI offer GHD?
AI only offers anyone advantages, if you are clear about what you want to achieve.
At GHD, we are focused internally on driving efficiencies in delivery and externally on judiciously using AI for scenario and options analysis as an example.
Where we have dynamic (data-driven) models coupled to AI and Machine Learning tools, we are now able to more quickly assess scenarios.
Obviously, given our data focus, AI development is proving a really positive addition for GHD.
In terms of supply chains, we are seeing generative AI use across the supply chain ecosystem, from planning to procurement. Using advanced algorithms that learn patterns from inputted data, generative AI can create new and original content.
GHD Digital estimates it has the potential to transform the economy by a five to six percent increase in global GDP over the next ten years. As an example, AI can create strategies for logistics optimisation by considering factors such as fuel cost, delivery time and carbon emissions.
By generating new data on global supply chain networks, it gives us the tools to help our clients develop robust contingency plans.
These capabilities can enable more efficient and resilient transportation systems – paving the way for transportation that is smart, sustainable and responsive to an ever-changing landscape."
What is the most important supply chain factor for your clients to consider in the current landscape?
Global supply chains are gradually recovering from unprecedented and continuous disruptions.
On the operations side, businesses face labour shortages and rising costs. Holistically, geopolitical tensions and climate change are all impacting the current landscape.
These issues are complex and interrelated. Escalating geopolitical tension, for example, has caused a tug of war between localisation and globalisation.
Businesses, usually reliant on offshore manufacturing, are now re-evaluating their models. The last few years have exposed vulnerabilities in global supply networks, prompting a shift towards localisation to increase resilience.
Substantial evidence indicates that reshoring is already underway.
Underpinning geopolitical tensions, we need to bear in mind people are a crucial piece of the puzzle. If you have raw materials, but no people to build them, you have an immediate problem. There are skills gaps in many parts of the world.
As these geopolitical issues unfold, shortages in people and parts are perhaps the most important factors to consider. To tackle this, businesses must adapt, diversify and fortify their strategies to safeguard the uninterrupted flow of goods.
How does GHD help its clients navigate global supply chain challenges?
At GHD, we’re constantly looking for new and innovative ways to guide our clients. In almost one hundred years, GHD has navigated depressions, economic booms, wars – all amid shifting business expectations.
Today, our team is driven by the same desire to help our clients navigate the choppy waters of global supply chains. In an increasingly turbulent landscape, GHD offers robust risk assessment and management strategies.
This incorporates supply chain resilience testing, scenario and disaster planning and financial contingency planning. By helping our clients to pre-emptively address potential risks, they are equipped to make operations resilient, to ensure the company’s long-term viability.
Organisations face increasingly complex challenges alongside the need to drive positive business outcomes. We work with our clients to build supply chain resilience, leveraging lessons learned from the ongoing disruptions in order to shape their supply chain management strategies.
What does the future look like for GHD and its clients?
"GHD is on a mission to build future communities that will flourish, working with clients that align with our vision. Embedding resilience into supply chains, sustainability plays a key role in this."
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