Chubb has launched a packaged insurance product for manufacturers in the Asian markets of Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.
The product, known as Chubb Assembly, will supplement Chubb’s existing insurance offering for the manufacturing industry, such as PremierTech for manufacturers of technology products and Life Sciences Liability for manufacturers of pharmaceutical products and medical devices.
According to Chubb, the ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought about new risks and challenges for manufacturers. These include new supply chain risks, as manufacturers' relationships with suppliers and customers become increasingly interdependent. Companies also face greater exposure to cyber incidents, with digitalisation rapidly changing the factory floor with developments such as automation, robotics, internet of things and artificial intelligence.
Manufacturers are also more likely to be held contractually liable for financial losses incurred by customers, due to manufacturers and customers becoming more intricately connected for a larger part of the product lifecycle, especially if manufacturers add on services like maintenance and/or consulting, Chubb said.
A recent report by Chubb and Accenture, Digital Business Accelerated, found that small and medium businesses worldwide are greatly exposed to various emerging risks of digital transformation.
Chubb Assembly is a scalable and modular product that offers public and product liability cover, manufacturing errors and omissions liability, and cyber enterprise risk management. The cyber component provides an incident response platform to mitigate and resolve first-party cyber incidents that may entail business interruption, data recovery costs and extortion negotiation, as well as coverage for third party liability arising from a cyber incident.
“Traditional insurance does not adequately address the evolving risks the manufacturing industry faces given the pace of change it is undergoing,” said Kevin Stevens, Chubb's Head of Industry Practices in Asia-Pacific. “Implementing Industry 4.0 will come with increased exposures, and Chubb Assembly can help manufacturers address these risks through insurance coverage and loss mitigation through Chubb's pre and post-loss services.”
