Debt Collection in Manufacturing

What causes unpaid invoices in manufacturing?

In the manufacturing sector, unpaid invoices often stem from more than simple unwillingness to pay. Payment issues may arise due to:

• Large clients leveraging your dependency on their business
• Debtors exploiting ambiguous contract clauses
• The sector's reliance on reputation
• Inadequate due diligence processes 
• Legal obstacles due to cross-border complexities

The complex nature of these situations makes recovering debts in this industry a challenging task for regular debt collection agencies.

As such, you will want to entrust the collection of your unpaid invoices to experts with in-depth legal knowledge and a deep understanding of how companies within the sector operate.

Preventing debt collection in manufacturing

Because the situations leading up to debt collection in the manufacturing sector are often complex, companies may wonder if there is anything they can do to protect themselves against non-payment. To answer this question, our experts have compiled 7 essential tips:

• Mitigate customer concentration risks
  Relying heavily on a small number of clients exposes your business to disproportionate financial risk. A single delayed or defaulted payment can severely affect cash flow. To safeguard against this, diversify your client portfolio across industries, geographies, and company sizes. In addition, include termination and suspension clauses in your contracts, allowing you to pause deliveries or end agreements swiftly if a client’s financial situation deteriorates.
• Shorten payment terms and strengthen enforcement procedures
  Long payment terms can lead to a lower liquidity, as well as increase your exposure to bad debt. As such, we advise to renegotiate shorter terms wherever possible. Ensure your policies are clear and enforcement is strict by using automated reminders, escalation triggers and follow-up workflows to your advantage. Early intervention often makes the difference.
• Enhance credit risk assessment with comprehensive due diligence
  Incomplete or inconsistent credit checks can lead to uninformed decisions. Implement a structured due diligence process for all new and existing clients, with verifications of company registrations, ownership structures, financial statements, and trade references. Use credit reports and solvency metrics to determine appropriate credit limits and set up periodic reviews.
• Use solid contracts to prevent disputes and enable enforcement
  Ambiguous or poorly drafted contracts are a leading cause of payment disputes. Ensure that your agreements are airtight by having one of our lawyers periodically review them. Proper contracts not only reduce disputes, but also strengthen your legal position if it comes to debt recovery.
• Anticipate cross-border legal complexities
  International trade brings opportunity, but it can also be challenging from a legal perspective. Each jurisdiction has its own laws pertaining to late payments, enforcement, and insolvency. That is where Bierens stands out. With both our in-house team of international lawyers and debt collection specialists, and our extensive legal network, we offer the best solution for every situation.
• Establish robust credit control and monitoring systems
  Strong internal credit management is the first line of defense against overdue invoices. Set up a dedicated credit control department responsible for continuous monitoring of client payment behaviour and credit exposure. Develop and enforce a clear internal debt collection policy that defines roles, responsibilities, and escalation procedures.
• Escalate decisively
  Waiting too long is one of the most common mistakes in debt collection. The longer you wait when chasing overdue payments, the lower your chances of recovery will end up being. Establish clear escalation timelines and criteria for transferring cases to your debt recovery partner. By decisively entrusting your case to a specialised international debt recovery law firm like Bierens, you can be sure of an approach that combines business understanding with legal enforcement to produce the very best results.

What to do if a client still does not pay?

Even if you have done everything correctly, there is always a chance that some customers may not pay. When that happens, working with a trusted debt collection partner can help you recover what you are owed efficiently and professionally.

Why manufacturing companies choose Bierens

Our firm has a long history of debt recovery in the manufacturing sector, our international team of 115+ in-house lawyers and debt collection specialists is able to pursue claims strategically, ensuring our clients’ financial interests are protected efficiently and effectively.

Other reasons why manufacturing companies entrust their debt collection cases to Bierens include:

• An out-of-court success rate of 95%
• No Win No Fee debt collection
• In-house expertise with national and international lawyers
• A detailed Web Portal for 24/7 tracking of your case
• Both extrajudicial and judicial debt collection

Our working method – No Win No Fee

During the extrajudicial phase, we work based on No Win No Fee. We believe it is important to try to solve the case during this phase, without court intervention. You will only have to pay €185 for administrative costs.

Should legal action be necessary, then we can help you perform a credit check and analyse your debtor’s financial status. We will discuss the costs with you and will only start working on your case after receiving your permission.

Debt collection lawyers in manufacturing

We understand the difficulties that companies in the manufacturing sector face. Therefore, we believe that it is important to provide practical advice that is as close to normal business operations as possible. For instance, we look at your operations and see how we can build in checks and balances. In addition, we also ensure that these checks and balances are implemented and executed in the right way.

Our specialists are ready to recover

For decades, Bierens has helped many companies across different industry sectors. Our team of debt collection lawyers also specialise in international debt collection. Whether you have a debt collection case in your own country or abroad, our lawyers have the expertise and knowledge to help you.

So do you operate in the manufacturing sector and has your client left your invoice unpaid? Then send us your invoice right away. Our specialists will immediately start working on your case.