Poland’s Strategic Role in Production and Supply Chains

Thanks to its strategic location and strong industrial base, Poland is strengthening its position as a leader in production and supply chain, meeting international staffing and investment needs. However, increasing labor, energy, and raw material costs are becoming a challenge. In the face of these changes, companies are actively seeking new technologies that can increase production efficiency, reduce manufacturing costs, and streamline processes. Organizations are also focused on maintaining a constant workforce, which allows them to optimize onboarding costs. Salaries in both sectors are rising, although the growth is less dynamic.

Strategic Location of Poland

Poland, strategically located in the heart of Europe, is distinguished by a strong industrial base and a dynamically developing production and supply chain sector, adapting to global trends and increasing demand for specialists. However, the high competitiveness of the country faces challenges associated with rising labor, energy, and raw material costs, prompting some companies to move less advanced production processes to lower-cost countries. Poland still wins in the region thanks to its high quality and efficiency, making it an attractive investment location, despite competition from other Central European countries.

Polish companies, however, are cautious when recruiting. In the face of market uncertainty resulting from large fluctuations in orders, they are focusing on maintaining current staff, treating stable employment as a key strategy element. Reducing staff turnover allows for optimization of onboarding costs, and today’s approach to personnel management is primarily based on a pragmatic analysis of costs and benefits.

“Today, it is difficult to talk about a universal strategy that would effectively retain employees in companies. Everything depends on the sector and the individual condition of individual companies. A company in the automotive sector, which is feeling the strain because of the costs of developing components, competition from China, and rising ecological demands, will have to take completely different actions. This, in turn, translates into rising car prices and declining sales. Different decisions will be made by companies in the FMCG sector, which are mostly not struggling with such large problems. However, regardless of the sector, the rule on the market is simple: current employees often earn less than people the company would have to hire in their place. As a result, organizations prefer to make a counteroffer and raise the employee’s salary rather than engage in the process of implementing a new person,” says Krzysztof Tuszyński, Head of Business Development at Michael Page.

Among the five most sought-after roles in the production and supply chain industry, we can list the Plant Manager/Operations Manager, who can earn from 25 to 65 thousand PLN gross depending on the location and size of the company, as well as the Automation Engineer, whose salary can reach even 16 thousand PLN gross. Other positions are: Commodity Manager/Procurement Manager, Technical Manager, and Logistics Manager/Supply Chain Manager. In both sectors, the level of salaries is rising, this rise is becoming less dynamic.

Modern technologies in the production and supply chain sector

As pointed out in the Deloitte report “2024 Manufacturing Industry Outlook” [1], the implementation of intelligent technological solutions can significantly increase productivity in the production sector by up to 12%. There is therefore a growing need for specialists in automation, robotics, and risk management, especially in response to global disruptions in supply chains, as highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“On the European and global market, we are witnessing a technological and mental revolution. In the face of rising employment costs, companies are actively seeking new solutions that can increase production efficiency, reduce manufacturing costs, and streamline processes. As a result, automation, robotization, and digitization of production will continue to develop dynamically. It is difficult to predict what role artificial intelligence will play in the next ten years, but it will certainly influence changes in the labor market. Some positions may be replaced by AI, e.g., freight forwarder or production planner, and new ones will be created, for example, responsible for human cooperation with artificial intelligence or a robot,” adds the expert from Michael Page.

Furthermore, numerous ecological technologies are being implemented in Europe, shaping the production and supply chain sector and responding to growing environmental requirements. Companies are increasingly investing in renewable energy sources, energy-efficient machines, and solutions that reduce CO₂ emissions and minimize waste.

“Rising environmental requirements are leading to an increase in production costs, as they require investment and the adjustment of processes, which may affect the final price of products. Despite this, they are becoming more and more attractive in the face of growing demand for environmentally friendly products and tightening emission penalties. On one hand, these actions may strengthen Europe’s competitiveness in the segment of ecological goods, on the other, in the current global economic situation, the main determinant of purchasing is the price. Environmental requirements pose significant challenges for companies, especially smaller ones, which must deal with higher costs,” concludes Krzysztof Tuszyński.

[1] Deloitte Research Center for Energy & Industrials, “2024 Manufacturing Industry Outlook”, https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/manufacturing/manufacturing-industry-outlook.html

Source: https://managerplus.pl/produkcja-i-lancuch-dostaw-strategiczne-sektory-rozwoju-polski-55902