For asset-intensive manufacturers, maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) is where cost, risk and uptime collide. ABB's global reliability survey of 3,600 decision-makers found that 69% regard unplanned downtime as costing at least $10,000 per hour, with a substantial share putting the figure far higher—yet the spend that prevents it is fragmented across dozens of suppliers and rarely managed with the discipline applied to direct materials. That tension defines MRO strategy in 2026.
The '2026 Indirect Procurement Report: Uncertainty Driving Efficiency' (RS & CIPS, 2026)—the ninth annual survey of UK and Ireland procurement professionals—captures the moment precisely. Its title reflects a profession using volatility as a catalyst for leaner, smarter operations. This article examines the pressures shaping MRO strategy and the practices leaders are using to balance uptime, cost and risk: supplier consolidation, cost-to-process discipline, emergency responsiveness, digitisation and sustainability.
The pressures are intensifying and intertwined
Inflation remains the dominant concern. In the RS & CIPS survey, 68% of respondents cite inflation and higher costs as their biggest challenge for the year ahead—up from 62% and the highest reading since the pandemic. Half (50%) highlight supply chain risk, while supply chain disruption and global political uncertainty are each cited by 47%, the latter jumping from 37% in a single year.
These pressures are not isolated. As Martin Wakelin, Group Head of Indirect Procurement at Valeo Foods, puts it in the report, the only way to stay resilient is to treat procurement as a strategic lever, not a back-office task. Cost, continuity and geopolitics have fused into a single strategic problem.
Process manufacturers feel a sharper version of this. In that segment, inflation concern rises to 73%, asset performance pressure to 49% (against a 29% average) and the challenge of maintaining ageing assets to 46%—a reminder that for asset-intensive operators, MRO is inseparable from reliability.
Supplier consolidation is a resilience strategy, not just a savings lever
The structural shift in the data is supplier rationalisation. The average organisation now works with 83 MRO suppliers, down from 92 the previous year, with discrete manufacturers cutting from 97 to 73. Half of respondents (50%) name consolidating suppliers as their primary efficiency tactic, and 46% point to driving value through supplier partnerships.
This is being framed as resilience as much as cost control. Fewer suppliers mean fewer administrative processes, more leverage and deeper partnerships that enable joint problem-solving over transactional haggling. The discipline matters: consolidating organisations rank on-time delivery (73%), quality (68%) and price (60%) as their top supplier KPIs—above the survey averages—showing that consolidation works when it is performance-led, not simply vendor-elimination.
Pull quote: The best operators are pulling every lever to drive efficiency—scrutinising every pound of indirect spend, consolidating tail suppliers, and building risk-mitigation plans so they can stay lean without being exposed when disruption hits. — Raj Patel, Managing Director UK & Ireland, RS
Falling cost-to-process signals genuine discipline
One of the report's clearest efficiency signals is the cost to process an order, which fell from £89 to £77. Among those who track it, 72% now report a cost below £100, up from 59% last year. RS attributes the decline largely to digitisation.
The blind spot is visibility itself. Only 37% of organisations know their cost to process an order, and 38% do not know it at all. This is a striking gap: a function under intense cost pressure cannot optimise what most of its members cannot measure. CIPS argues organisations need to invest further in technology, and perhaps AI, to surface better insights, good data and improved supply chain visibility.
Uptime responsiveness separates the best operators
In asset-intensive manufacturing, the cost of a stockout is measured in downtime, not inconvenience. The report found 66% of organisations can place an emergency order within a day of receiving a quote, with discrete and process manufacturers higher still at 77% and 79% respectively.
This responsiveness is where MRO strategy earns its keep. Average MRO spend itself fell from £2m to £1.7m—a 16% reduction—concentrated across automation, mechanical and electrical (27%), maintenance services (24%), tools and consumables (20%) and PPE (18%). The goal is leaner spend without exposing the line to a missing critical spare.
Digitisation and guided buying close the leakage
Tail spend is where MRO value leaks. Low-value, high-frequency purchases typically account for a small share of spend but the majority of transactions and suppliers. Guided buying—making the compliant, contracted option the easiest one—channels this spend toward preferred suppliers and standard data, reducing maverick buying and improving the data quality every later efficiency decision depends on.
Yet adoption remains early: only about one in ten organisations currently use AI in procurement and supply chain. The top reasons cited for adopting new procurement technology are to drive operational efficiency (39%) and minimise internal complexity (36%). Digitisation is the foundation on which automation and AI-enabled decision support are built.
ESG: sustainable at parity is the winning proposition
Cost pressure has changed the sustainability conversation but not ended it. Willingness to pay a green premium fell to 53%, from 62% a year earlier and 82% two years ago, while 47% still say sustainable procurement grew in importance over the past year. That two-year decline is steep, and the drivers are specific: sustained input-cost inflation has squeezed discretionary budgets, capital that might once have funded a green premium is being defended for core operations, and board-level priorities have tilted toward continuity and cost certainty as geopolitical risk has risen. The net effect is not abandonment but reframing—sustainability must now prove operational value rather than command a premium on principle.
Leading organisations are prioritising actions that deliver both environmental and cost benefits—waste recycling (74%), renewable energy and reduced energy use (both 60%) and energy management (59%). ESG governance is maturing too, with weighted ESG criteria in tenders (40%) and ESG provisions in contracts (33%, up from 27%). The winning proposition is "sustainable at parity," evaluated through total cost of ownership rather than a premium.
Building an MRO strategy that holds under pressure
Leading procurement teams are converting these pressures into a repeatable operating model. Several practices stand out.
First, leading organisations consolidate suppliers on performance, not price alone, grouping by category and protecting availability for critical spares. This builds leverage while reducing administrative drag.
Second, they make measuring cost-to-process a baseline discipline. Knowing the true internal cost of a transaction is the prerequisite for any credible efficiency programme—and most organisations still cannot.
Third, procurement teams design for uptime by segmenting MRO categories: strict availability and dual-sourcing for critical spares, consolidation and volume discounts for consumables. Total cost of ownership, not unit price, governs the decision.
Fourth, they digitise and deploy guided buying to eliminate maverick spend and surface the data that funds further improvement.
Conclusion
MRO strategy in 2026 is a balancing act between uptime, cost and risk—and the RS & CIPS data shows the profession rising to it. Supplier consolidation is delivering resilience and leverage, falling cost-to-process signals real discipline, and the sustainability case is being rebuilt around parity and total cost of ownership. The persistent blind spot is visibility: too many organisations still cannot measure what they spend to buy. The leaders closing that gap—through digitisation, guided buying and performance-led partnerships—will turn uncertainty into durable efficiency.
What’s the solution?
Unite operates across 12 European markets and works with leading public and private sector organisations across the manufacturing sector. To understand how Unite supports indirect procurement compliance and spend intelligence, speak to our team.
MRO procurement covers the maintenance, repair and operations supplies—spare parts, tools, consumables, PPE and maintenance services—that keep production running but never form part of the finished product. It is high-volume, fragmented and directly tied to asset uptime, which is why it carries disproportionate risk for asset-intensive manufacturers.
Consolidation reduces administrative cost, increases negotiating leverage and deepens partnerships. The RS & CIPS 2026 report found the average MRO supplier count fell from 92 to 83, with half of organisations naming consolidation as their primary efficiency tactic—and the strongest results come when consolidation is led by supplier performance rather than vendor elimination alone.
It reveals the true internal cost of buying, beyond the price of the item itself. The 2026 report found the average fell to £77, but only 37% of organisations know their figure—meaning most cannot optimise a cost they cannot measure. Establishing this metric is the foundation of any serious MRO efficiency programme.