Case Studies

Thelios Eyewear: WIP reduction by 35% by synchronizing the Value Chain

Thelios Eyewear: WIP reduction by 35% by synchronizing the Value Chain The challenge Managing complexity and growth  Manifattura Thélios was established on the 24th April in Longarone, Italy, a town renowned for its expertise in eyewear. This new site is dedicated to the production of glasses for the Maisons belonging to the LVMH group. Launched in 2017, Thélios is a joint venture combining LVMH and Marcolin’s expertise. These two groups came together over their shared vision for the future of eyewear. Marcolin Group has been creating, manufacturing and distributing sunglasses and optical glasses for major brands (such as Tom Ford, Bally, Moncler, Sportmax, Ermenegildo Zegna...) for almost 60 years. In 2018, they sold over 14 million pairs of spectacles through 150 distribution partners in 125 countries. As you can imagine, their international supply chain and production processes are quite complex. On top of that, their customers demand the highest quality, not only of the design but of the entire value chain. Thanks to the alliance of cutting-edge technologies with unique expertise, Manifattura Thélios has created a complete and flexible production tool that ensures integral product monitoring, from the initial creative  The solution Synchronisation of the value chain  EFESO took 2 months and 3 experts to examine the situation. Thanks to EFESO’s previous experience with Marcolin, Luxottica and their good rep- utation in France, they knew what type of optimisation could be achieved. The focus was on the development of processes, manufacturing areas and key suppliers: Together with the whole technical team, EFESO implemented A Lean development system to shorten development lead time, anticipate problems with the concurrent engineering of collections and knowledge capitalisation A lean design approach to rationalise the product range, by reducing unnecessary complexity and therefore reducing the risk of obsoletes A capacity model to balance workload for prototyping, development and industrialization Together with the future Operations team, EFESO implemented the Industrial strategy by developing a lean factory which has a brilliant delivery time and minimum working capital; the concept of dynamic assembly lines was initially realized in cardboard and is now a reality Human dynamics were at the centre of all EFESO interventions; in fact, the adoption of lean concepts, where flow is predominant on local productivity required a lot of effort to break the traditional production paradigms.   RESULTS Reduced response time leading to better shelf availability and faster replenishment WIP in production: -35 up to -50% Increase of value creation in development through faster prototyping and Knowledge reuse. Further loss reduction in technical department (process BPR and digitalization) Leveling of workload by setting the cadence of launches Industrialization Lead time reduction Synergy with design, early management of critical issues and sharing people for prototyping Production Lead time -35% Obsoletes in Supply Chain -30%   THE VOICE OF OUR CUSTOMER Launched in 2017, Thélios is a joint venture combining LVMH and Marcolin’s expertise, as two groups brought together over their same vision for the future of eyewear. The com- pany employs 245 people from all over the world, with 100 of them at its Manifattura.  Massimo Stefanello, former COO of Thelios says: The difference in working with EFESO is that together, in a very down to earth and joined up way, we managed to obtain serious improvements of our value chain, but it’s their focus on the human side of things which is a real asset in this type of projects.  Gianni Zoppas, CEO, Thélios confirms “With the Manifattura Thélios, we aim to anticipate the future while showcasing our long-standing expertise. This project combines our taste for top quality products with our respect for a cultural heritage essential to the region.” 

 

Lean Labs Project Improved Productivity by 33% across Pharmaceutical Product Portfolio

The client is a contract pharmaceutical manufacturer of Capsules for both Pharmaceutical as well as Health & Nutrition

 

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Huge savings generated by improving industrial efficiency in a Pharma Group

The client is a Pharmaceutical group which has a €15 Billion turnover with approximately 15,500 full-time employees working from 100 sites and offices worldwide.

 

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End-to-end retail value chain

Improving competitive performance by applying a LEAN approach in an end-to-end retail value chain

 

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Enabling growth by becoming a quality market leader in lubricant additives and synthetic base fluids

Global lubrication additives & synthetic base fluids manufacturer (Business unit of a major chemical group).

 

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How to make more quality products without increasing the market prices

A 40 BN group and 1200 plants all over the world takes control by installing a global Operational Excellence program to make even more quality products without increasing market prices.

 

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Succesfully balancing profitability, strategic focus and improvement on performance

Supporting progression of the 3 Companies along the dimensions of strategy, operational performance and people.

 

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Leading global technology and automation Group

Contract Management Excellence to improve end-to-end Project execution

 

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A successful S&OP Implementation, improving forecasting and increasing margins

The company is the manufacturer of niche and highly seasonal products.

 

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Procurement cost reduction program in an engineering & machinery company with savings of 5-10%

CLIENT SITUATION & APPROACH

The Client is one of the largest technology suppliers for food processing and a wide range of other industries with over 4 bn EUR revenue worldwide and over 18,490 FTEs.

In 2018 they launched a Procurement review program with target savings of 53 mEUR over 2 years.

During the program, some problems and complexities emerged linked to there being different entities within the client, related to recent acquisitions.

The Challenge

Our assignment was to provide support to accelerate this programme’s performance and results, focusing on 4 redblocks identified: Subcontracted Manufacturing, Field Assembly, RFQ and Negotiation Factory.

We quickly mobilized and brought additional capability and capacity to help the company in filling and delivering the savings pipeline.

The team was split between different redblocks, and activities were carried on in parallel in different countries.

Results

• Issued 2 x RfQs, bridging the needs of group entities: estimated 7% saving on CNC components (12mEUR total spend) and 5% on Carpentry (1,2 mEUR RfQ scope)
• Supported negotiation on RfQs already ongoing (further 5% obtained on 4 mEUR baseline for evaporators and started negotiation on 6mEUR skids baseline)
• Spend analysis and hourly rate collection of Field assembly suppliers, comparison and strategy definition support
• Finalization of the new comprehensive framework for the Category Strategy Development.

 

Design to Value project in the Tobacco industry attaining 30% equipment price reduction

CLIENT SITUATION & APPROACH

The Client is a global leader in tobacco products (both traditional and RRP – reduced risk products). For its next generation RRPs the client wants to reduce the cost of the machines purchased from leading OEMs. At the same time, the Client improve the relationship with its strategic supplier and setup a new collaboration framework, through a Design To Value working together project.

The Challenge

EFESO was appointed in order to setup and run the Design to Value Working Together project between Client and its OEM supplier, and EFESO’s role comprised of the following:

• Project Management and Guidance
• Methodology & Tech Expertise
• Analysis support
• Facilitation of Adoption, Transparency and Open Book approach

Results

As a result of the project the client:

• Attained a price reduction of 30%, plus additional Lifecycle savings.
• It developed as-is and to-be cost model for the equipment, providing a new price baseline
• Deployed a price vs volumes deployment model embedding best practices and Learning Curves, for additional price benefits over the expected collaboration period
• Created a book of >60 opportunities with technical and economic details, and risk assessment
• Phasing plan of saving opportunities

 

Improvement in Value Chain processes of a chemical company sees Inventory Reduced by 40 Million €

CLIENT SITUATION & APPROACH

The client is a Global Business Unit of a key player in the chemical industry. In the context of mitigated financial results, it has decided to firm up its cash management, with a major focus on inventory (working capital) The client requested our support to help them hit the inventory reduction target defined at Corporate level (short term), and improve the teams’ maturity with regards to inventory management (long term) EFESO was working in partnership with the Global Business Unit, and the in-house Excellence Center.

The project was divided into 3 phases. EFESO supported with the first two:

• Quick-win phase: Analyze 3-years best inventory performance expressed in DOS (days of sale) for every SKU and use these as “internal benchmarks”. Based on those, ask local teams to set their targets and validate that the total target reaches the overall objective. Organize weekly follow-up meetings with the S&OP managers to track progress.
• Inventory Excellence (Phase 1): Determine target Inventory level per SKU by applying algorithms and considering various constraints (service level, production constraints…). Define the necessary “performance management” to manage to the standard.

RESULTS

During the quick-win phase: the target has been achieved and inventory has been reduced by 40 Million € over a 5 months period (a reduction from 250 M€) Teams in US, Asia and Europe have been trained in Inventory definition algorithms & methodology to calculate the optimal inventory level Created alignment within the client’s Supply Chain leadership concerning Inventory Performance Management to deploy KPIs and determine where to embed them into the existing S&OP meeting structure. In parallel, several actions were conducted to reduce SMOG (creating clarity and transparency on figures, clarifying the accountabilities…)”.

 

Building Supply Chain Competence and Capability in a Pharma company

CLIENT SITUATION & APPROACH

The client is a global Pharma network. The company’s strategic plan aims at building a professional and competent Supply Chain Team at the core of the business, in order to achieve:

• Inventory Reduction
• Strengthening the relationships with the CMO supplier base (Contract Manufacturing Organisations)
• Taking back control of Demand and Supply Planning

EFESO supported the client by working through three Building Blocks

• Leadership team
  • Build understanding
  • How a Leadership Team should behave
• Full Team
  • Common level of SC understanding
• Demand & Supply Planners
  • Detailed and specific technical knowledge
  • Why and how to change the way they work

RESULTS

Four Progression Leaps underpinned this progression to gain benefits from:

• Inventory Reduction
• Greater Forecast Accuracy
• Improved Monthly Cycle for Planning process to identify value and non-value-added activities
• Effective Product Life Cycle Management

 

Maturity Assessment to accelerate speed in a pharma company

CLIENT SITUATION & APPROACH

The Client has 87 manufacturing sites in 38 countries, employing ±100,000 people. To respond to health needs worldwide, the client needed to strengthen production capacity, promote inter-site collaboration and increase its presence in emerging markets.

EFESO has been asked to provide support on how to develop the Maturity Assessment System to increase collaboration and efficiency in order to sustain this industrial network strategy EFESO supported by:

• Customisation and system design, including web tool set-up, knowledge base customisation and assessment process definition
• Initial training of future internal leaders and system calibration based on EFESO’s professional assessors’ support
• Global system roll-out to converge towards Manufacturing System and system maintenance (for contents and tool)

RESULTS

• More than 150 people actively using the system with 30 certified internal assessors
• Three waves of ten official assessments each with the definition of the progression road maps (including concrete suggestions for all the sites)
• After the first year, the assessment has been rolled out to all the regions
• There is continuous collaboration for the improvement of the digital platform

 

Progression Strategy project in Medical devices & Pharmaceuticals

CLIENT SITUATION & APPROACH

The client is a start-up and sister company of a major Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Agent firm in KSA. The client has a specific available budget to comply with, which had to be taken into account during the assessment The engagement between EFESO & the client is for penetrating new markets in the medical appliances & veterinary products field.

EFESO supported by:

• Desk research involving the analysis of exports & imports and the scrutiny of both markets
• Primary research employing principal experts and in-depth interviews with subject matter experts & qualitative research with potential customers
• Strategic positioning identifying the segments with the highest attractiveness and ability
• Assessment of risks & financials for the different scenarios
• Go-no go analysis based on the most suitable product portfolio
• Detailed financial plan based on strategic positioning and operational model adopted

RESULTS

• Local market overview, with competitor & consumer profiling
• Preliminary list of products, from which 4 scenarios were proposed:
  • Medical Consumables only Focus
  • Diversification (medical consumables veterinary)
  • Veterinary diversification
  • Veterinary Pharmaceuticals focus
• Client’s Positioning matrix, involving the attractiveness vs. ability to compete for each category of products
• Prepared final business model and product portfolio which were based on price competitive advantage & quality competitive advantage
• Produced final financial plans, including revenue and cost projection, investment, cash flow analysis and return on investment

 

Advanced manufacturing in a leading pharma group: savings’ payback time of 1.4 years for first implementation wave

CLIENT SITUATION & APPROACH

The Client produces, for the world market, inhalation products in plants in UK, France and USA. The sites’ productivity increase targets are > 10% per year. Industry 4.0 activities are seen as the main lever to achieve this target and, especially as in the production area, several Industry 4.0 elements have already been implemented. To get to the next level the client wanted to have an implementation roadmap for the complete plant network and one partner for the implementation process.

The approach we proposed followed three streams:

• Collation of a short list of Industry 4.0 opportunities, starting with 3-day site assessments where the focus was on material flow and other production support functions (quality, maintenance) to determine the as-is situation. We designed an overview of the current process execution, with data flows, IT-systems and an evaluation of the first improvement potentials. In addition to this we jointly identified the most promising Industry 4.0 initiatives that had to be evaluated.
• Identification and evaluation of Smart Factory projects, including the evaluation of investment costs and savings, along with complexity, technical feasibility and implementation effort for a portfolio of 50 Industry 4.0 initiatives, along with a recommendation on which projects should be prioritized and launched
• Implementation plan on the road to the Smart Factory, designing the detailed roadmap to implement Industry 4.0 projects in three waves, defining work packages, required resources and budget for the first wave.

RESULTS

• Identified more than 50 Smart Factory projects with a positive business case
• Implementation roadmap for these projects in three waves, including smart material flow automation, predictive maintenance & digital shop floor management
• Identified savings have a payback time of 1.4 years for the first wave

 

Enabling predictive quality and predictive production through digital process twins

CLIENT SITUATION & APPROACH

A global automotive supplier was facing two major challenges in its dashboard panel production: on the one hand, risks in the process chain remain undetected due to a lack of transparency and poor supplier management. On the other hand, the processing of highly sensitive materials means that even the smallest of errors in the production process can lead to the rejection of complete components. ROI-EFESO supported the customer by using a ‘digital twin’ to map the entire production process step by step. This led to an IoT pilot project that pinpointed potential for improvement and triggers improvements in both production and value stream management at suppliers. As a first step, the project team defined process parameters that could affect both the performance of the plant and the quality result. The derivation of these parameters was empirically based and included initially more than a hundred different parameters, which were reduced or supplemented in the further course of the analysis. In the next step, the team verified that the existing process data had been correctly aggregated and processed and gathered data that had not been previously recorded. The team also used additional sensors to capture the new data required for the defined parameters.

The resulting database was then consolidated and analyzed in a cloud application. On this basis, the project team designed a model that reflects the process of improving the production line for dashboards as precisely as possible - in other words, all relevant parameters, their interactions and critical values. Like the process itself, this model can go far beyond the company. In the case described, for example, it can be extended to the logistics company that transports the foam, or even to the foam manufacturer. This is because the reasons behind problems in the foaming process - such as dangerous temperature fluctuations for the sensitive polyurethane - can appear at any point in the value chain. As a result, the company obtained a digital process map that tracks the entire physical process in real time and enables early intervention according to critical process parameters - a "digital process twin".

RESULTS

With the help of this ‘digital twin’, the project team was not only able to significantly reduce the plant’s rejection rate, but also to make the correlations of relevant influencing factors on the quality result more transparent. The company also developed a prediction model of the result at the next quality gate.

 

Realizing true end-to-end digitization for better customer journeys

CLIENT SITUATION & APPROACH

A global furniture manufacturer was offering a broad variety of different product lines ranging from luxury to discount furniture, each with its own specific sales channels. In order to reshape this kind of segmentation ROI-EFESO created a unified and integrated ‘end-to-end’ process from the customer request to the delivered product that took into account all relevant stations of Value creation: from the customer experience via ordering to manufacturing and logistics.

In two workstreams ROI-EFESO took care of the back-end integration and thus everything that happens from the ERP system all the way to the production for one. For another workstream the project team accelerated the development of the digital channel, starting with the customer experience at the point of sale, working through the ordering process and on to the factory itself.

RESULTS

Parallel front-end and back-end teams ensured that product customization was working flawlessly from the point of sale, through production, to delivery of the product.

The solution created by ROI-EFESO is a highly innovative combination of a 3D visual space and experience and an intelligent configurator. The customer navigates between OLED screens and finds himself in a virtual, photorealistic, 3D animated room. There he is viewing his desired piece of furniture - rendered as a 3D model - from all perspectives. Furthermore, an 'intelligent' configurator is used, comparable to the car configurators used in the automotive industry. During the customer's 'try out' of his virtual product, the salesperson can configure different variants, e.g. the frame of a bed, material or backrests, and visualize them on the screens. In the future, the salesperson can use several different room settings with plant arrangements, parquet or carpet. Ambient lighting effects, i.e. different lighting scenarios for day and night, will enhance the customer experience. This mix of digital and real world turns the purchase into a "wow factor" experience.

Once the customer has preconfigured his furniture, the order can be placed at the touch of a button. The process for this is automated. Product customization via the configurator at the point of sale naturally modifies the supply chain - more variants result in smaller batches. Parallel to the developments in the front-end area, ROI-EFESO has therefore combined the ERP systems of the different brands so that the data of all production and logistics processes are now available in real time.

 

Making a factory future-proof

CLIENT SITUATION & APPROACH

In just four weeks, a pharmaceutical & life sciences company wants to plan the main focus for the Smart Factory Transformation of four plants. Workflows and key performance indicators varied by line and plant, with various digitization needs and priorities. Therefore, at beginning of the project, it was necessary to get a clear picture of the actual maturity and requirements for each location. To this end, the project team developed a scalable approach for lean transformation of the plant. After starting in individual pilot areas of assembly, it transferred the improvements to the current line and finally, with further lessons learned, to the ramp-up of the two new models. After assessing the digital maturity level of the existing production system, the project team held a joint workshop with the plant management to determine the main directions for each site. The result was a big picture that ensured a common understanding among the workshop participants as to where the journey should take them. The commitment for the joint next steps was correspondingly high.

Besides that, the participants also determined the different directions of digitization of the respective locations including topics such as data transfer, advanced analytics, digital twins or autonomous transport systems (AGVs). So-called "deep dives" were then made to explore the technological and economic details of the defined directions identifying for example areas with high potential for driverless transport systems, the size of the investment needed and the economic benefits. From this, it was possible to derive very precise statements regarding profitability / pay back of individual business cases.

At the end of the project, the project team for each location arranged approx. 40 key topics and initiatives from the previous weeks into a portfolio with three structure criteria:

• How large is the existing efficiency lever and how high are the possible cost savings?
• How much does the whole thing cost in the end?
• How quickly can the topic be implemented?

RESULTS

Among other things, three key topics were identified, that fulfill three requirements: quickly realizable, low deployment cost and great benefits. The other focal points from the portfolio were added to the "open items" list in order to implement them later. After a portfolio evaluation of all decision-making instances in the company, the implementation of the following actions was started:

• Deployment of driverless transport systems for smart material flow
• Implementation of cobots (collaborative robotics) to support employees
• Realization of real-time tracking systems for more data transparency and a more precise knowledge of the current stocks

With these digitization initiatives, the company has been optimally equipped for further Smart factory transformation at all locations. Already in the planning phase, it was thus possible to improve the quality of the process and operational excellence at the sites.

 

Debottlenecking project in a Pharma company saw real benefit, EUR 2,6 m

The client is a mid-size pharmaceutical company which produces API. They anticipated an increasing demand for one of the most strategic APIs produced in their Italian plant.

 

Read more: Debottlenecking project in a Pharma company saw real benefit, EUR 2,6 m

Real Lean Transformation in a Biopharmaceutical R&D Facility

Client situation & approach

A leading pharma company engaged us to increase project workload capacity at their R&D facility whilst improving the schedule adherence of current project workloads. Advanced bioreactor labs utilization was optimized at a site responsible for the development of the next gener­ation of biological derived drugs, including one $6 billion/year blockbuster

• Robust capacity planning process for all projects that maximized equipment utilization and let scientists focus on scientific innovation (NVA tasks minimized)
• Rhythm wheel levelling strategy for preculture processes
• Established standard work practices for the sampling and analysis of results
• Electronic visual management system to monitor projects progress and report instructive KPIs

Results

• Optimized utilization of advanced bioreactor labs by 29% with significant downtime reduction thanks to new planning and re-engineered changeover processes

 

Leading Progression and Mobilising for Progression

Client situation & approach

The Benelux affiliate of an international pharma company was looking for expertise and methodology to structurally and culturally prepare their Belgian organisation for the coming year strategy, including the expansion of their product portfolio and a target of 40% in sales increase. We supported in:

• Implementing a three-dimensional approach: ‘Organisational Re-design’ combined with ‘Expected Team’s Behaviors Identification’
• ‘Leadership Practices Adjustment’ with the scope to concretise real change toward increased sales results

Results

• Definition, through a participative approach, of a new way to organise the teams, of some roles’ purpose and of a new organisational chart
• Identification of the expected team behaviors
• Start of the thinking process around the leadership practices to underline the expected cultural change

 

Value Chain Perfect Execution in a Polymer Products Leader

Client situation & approach

An international leader of polymer products for various sectors including Life Science wanted a systemic approach balancing business needs, sustainable growth and agility. We supported in:

• Designing a customer-centric methodology allowing business to visualize their strategy based on value chains
• Activating cross functional engagement creating value for customers from key stakeholders to operational teams
• Operating daily business end to end focusing on what matters the most and knowing why

Results

• Value Chain Segmentation common for all the business units, leading to a business and customer-oriented progression plan
• Alignment and engagement all through the organization and customer satisfaction sustainable improvements due to teams higher focus (methodologies and tools support)
• 25% deliveries lead time, 8% service level and of cash to cash cycle

 

Industrial master plan optimization for a leading pharma group

Client situation & approach

The Operations Top Management of a leading French pharma group with 10 units in France, aimed at building a more efficient model to face growth. We supported in:

• Defining the long-term vision and goals
• Mapping and diagnosing the current situation and defining the core competencies
• Defining the levers for the current organization: cost reduction, complexity management, new target operating model
• Defining and evaluating several scenarios

Results

• Alignment with production, Supply Chain, marketing and sales
• Production footprint optimization: location, capacities, production plant technology (Factory 4.0), resources and capabilities
• New Industrial Master Plan Modelling
• Definition of a 10 M€ cost reduction plan included masterplan and impact study on the organization

 

Concurrent Digitalised Value Chain in a Pharma Company

Client situation & approach

A leading international pharma company, operating proficiently yet in a traditional manner (S&OP with limited multifunctional involvement, Supply Chain disconnected from rest of Value Chain) seeked for vertical and horizontal integration. EFESO partnership on Digital with FibonacciLab boosted proficiency in process re-design, data management, technology understanding and change management implementation. We supported in:

• Designing and integrating data with all ERPs
• Identifying and implementing technology solutions with existing systems and work processes

Results

• Service improvement from 97 to >99%, inventory reduction: 13%, remnants reduction: 3%, workforce rightsizing: -75%
• Integrated Business Planning cockpit based on ONE number and ONE source of truth
• Machine learning based autonomous Demand forecasting and narrow artificial intelligence generated Prescriptive Supply Planning

 

Digital Transformation - Progression Management System in a Pharma Company

Client situation & approach

A leading company in pharma industry had the challenge to manage performance in an efficient way, reducing bureaucracy and improving its knowledge capitalization efforts. To digitalize its performance improvement meetings and problem solving process we implemented Solvace, the EFESO Digital Progression Management Suite:

• White boards replaced by touch screens, allowing teams to run performance meetings without changing habits
• Root cause analyses moved from paper to digital
• Adoption was fast among the users, typically able to use Solvace after a couple of meetings

Results

• Digitalized log book for authorities on deviations and daily operations
• 1500 meetings run digitally every month
• Up to 20% higher adherence to action plans
• 100% of Problem Solving and Performance Improvement data capitalized

 

WCOM™ in a Global Provider of Services to Pharma

Client situation & approach

A global provider of integrated services to pharma and biotech had developed a competitive advantage enabling a sharp growth. Yet some growth blockers existed. We supported in Order Management process re-engineering, performance measurement and implemented systemic changes through adoption and leadership:

• Developing a business Progression Plan and linking strategic objectives and improvement activities at operational level
• Conducting process reengineering activities and defining a planning cycle and High Impact Meetings coaching

Results

• Detailed 4-Dynamics (Value, Flow, Asset, Human) process assessment of Order Management
• Weekly Planning cycle redesign and effective meeting frameworks implementation
• 30% OTIF, PCS for loss eradication to meet target of ~95%, Lead time control for sub-process steps, order processing, document generation, review and approval, purchasing, QC, QA

 

Performance Improvement Plan

Client situation & approach

The company has shown impressive growth in International fashion retail. A request was made to perform an operational scan at the main warehouse to find improvements in:

• Low man-hour efficiency
• Lost and damaged goods
• Debottlenecking

RESULTS

• Workshop to align shop floor and top floor
• Improvement plan focussed on the main issues in goods intake and put away
• Analyses on losses in planning and on shop floor
• Insight in flow paths to increase capacity

 

Retailer Merger for Service Improvement

Client situation & approach

The client is a major food retailer. Competitive pressure was driving the need for an integrated supply chain to improve store service and supply chain synergies. Challenging issues were:

• Strategy adoption required from 50 stakeholders, largest player perceived to dominate others so one of the smallest stakeholders appointed work stream leader.
• Inefficient legacy network with no common service level agreement.
• No defined way of trading off cost and service

RESULTS

Undertook Network Design modelling with store service set as the key objective:

• Single service agreement defined for whole organisation
• Single set of supply chain operational policies, delivering improved processes and availability (4.4% growth like for like)
• Improved lead-times and delivery frequency (33% improvement)
• Established a Logistics working party to embed a collaborative working environment

 

Cultural transformation in port of Antwerp, realising the first business results while shaping the future, together with leaders and employees

Client situation & approach

Port of Antwerp is the EU’s second-largest seaport who faces several challenges in parallel: Ensuring growth in an increasingly competitive and unstable international market, managing the growing influence of pressure groups, managing the congestion issues linked to increased traffic, organizing a transition from the linear to the circular economy, maintaining the operational excellence while evolving from a sea port to a smart port, gathering data from different stakeholders and transforming these into value added information and services.

These changes, together with the arrival of new competitors, mean that the client needs to adapt continuously if it wants to stay “one step ahead” and safeguard its existence. Based on a trend analysis, interviews with stakeholders of the port platform community and employees, the future role of the client was defined. On top of the existing roles (Operator, Landlord, Authority), it became clear that the port was expected to take on a new role of Community Builder of the platform, being a facilitator to resolve structural and systemic issues to create a win–win for different players. This new role expects the client to evolve from a monopolist government institution to a stakeholder driven enterprise, which requires a fundamental change in strategy, processes, collaboration and human dynamics. This being a company wide culture transformation, EFESO worked on enterprise program portfolio alignment, leadership engagement, focused improvement initiatives and change management; collaborating with other specialist partners and with stakeholders in the port platform community.

The approach consists of:

• Co-creation workshops with transversal Extended Leadership Teams (ELT) to define the strategic program portfolio and governance to determine the Company Priorities of the Enterprise Plan, linked to one overarching and compelling storyline
• Launch of Leadership Journey where ELT members define and implement the desired cultural framework in sprints (strategy cycle process, winning teams, leadership, ...)
• Definition, roll-out and follow-up of the Port Enterprise Portfolio Management Office and launch of the governance of SteerCos and project teams
• Focused Process Improvement and change management initiatives within several divisions
• Facilitation of Extended Enterprise Workshops to enhance collaboration with different stakeholders in the port platform

Initial results

• Approved Strategic Project Portfolio and Governance Plan based on the new mission/vision as a compass for the company
• First results from the Strategic Program Projects (Commercial Strategy, Waterbus, improvement of safety results, ...)
• First business results, e.g. maintenance time reduction from 6 months to 6 weeks (“Major revisions” Throughput Time Reduction (TTR) on tugs from /- 6 months to /- 10 weeks, within budget – Throughput Time Reduction on “large planned maintenance” from /- 6 weeks to /- 3 weeks , within budget - Faster reaction to, and handling of, breakdowns due to role & responsibility clarification and leaner process)
• Promising collaboration pilots with different stakeholders (shippers, forwarders, inward shippers, ...)
• Improved management and operational practices during High Impact Moments in line with the desired culture

 

Network Strategy Distribution Centre

Client situation & approach

A national food retailer grown in recent years through acquisitions. Potential distribution network synergies not been realised. Challenging issues were:

• Different product group characteristics.
• Predicted growth, stretching the capacity of the legacy assets.
• Multiple outlet formats with little understanding of the cost to serve differences.

We used our standard approach with specific emphasis on:

• Segmentation analysis to identify customer needs and logistics product groups.
• Detailed understanding of the key supply chain cost drivers related to the customer types and product groups.
• Developed a network model to evaluate multiple scenarios, retaining Divisional visibility for stakeholder engagement.

RESULTS

Designed a flexible logistics infrastructure to realise operational synergies and support the business expansion plans.

• 17%-20% reduction in operating cost
• Developed a 5-year migration plan and roadmap to seamlessly transition to 4 new warehouses

 

Product Development Process in the Automotive sector

Client situation & approach

The Client is a luxury car producer, which is suffering from the lack of a single reference for the Product Development Process, resulting in no standardization, synchronization, best practice application, efficiency and effectiveness during execution.

EFESO supported the client with:

• Establishing alignment to One Product Development Process (PDP), which ensures higher effectiveness during execution and a solid base for further improvements, in terms of time and cost reduction during development
• The creation of a Handbook, illustrating the main processes and their interconnections, interdependencies and criticalities, thus harmonizing the PDP and eliminating different approaches

Results

ONE PDP Handbook composed of:

• Product process development mapping, description and synchronisation (objectives, main milestones and gates of each PDP phase)
• Clear definition of phases, process and deliverables
• Clear definition of the organisational structure and roles and responsibilities applied in each phase (methodology: SIPOC, RACI)
• Templates and standards compiled for each PDP phase

 

A worldwide Concurrent Digitalised Value Chain Program for a leading car glazing manufacturer

Client situation & approach

The Client is a leading global manufacturer of car glazing. After years of limited competition, strong market pressure from competitors indicated that our Client needed to build solid E2E operational foundations across the Value Chain.

EFESO developed a tailored approach supported by the “CDVC” model. This proprietary survey technology, ensures that all the E2E domains advance their capabilities and performance standards with aligned goals and synchronized workflow, while striking the right balance between global vs regional benefits:

• Phase 1 was globally driven and started with the aim of identifying the gaps between the “In Control” vs “Responsive” areas of the Value Chain (CDVC Levels 2 vs 3). Five regional roadmaps were developed to close gaps during the following 2 years, covering Process, People and Digital
• Phase 2 focused on a quick scan to identify 4 additional “Quick Start” modules: Sales & Operation Planning, Supplier Relationship Management, Supply Chain Academy and Value Chain Segmentation

Results

• Regional & Global S&OP: Process design and pilot
• Value Chain segmentation & Performance Control System: global blue print and a regional pilot with a key segment
• Supplier Relationship Management: global blue print and regional pilot with a key supplier
• Supply Chain Academy: global and regional skill matrices, internal training material developed and delivered for Pilot Population & Senior Leadership Academy, to drive Global Leadership Alignment

 

Acceleration of Continuous Improvement in Operations

Client situation & approach

Our client is a worldwide leader among luxury sports car manufacturers. Acceleration of continuous improvement in performances is the goal of the company, whose imperative is to deliver top class in quality and, at the same time, be capable of attaining Excellent Operational Performance in vehicle production and assembly processes, by exploiting state of the art technologies and digital opportunities.

EFESO supported with a 360-degree assessment of both the manufacturing and supply chain processes, in order to find opportunities at different levels to leverage the Human Dynamic aspects and the new digital / Artificial Intelligence solutions.

Results

The key deliverables have been a detailed roadmap of initiatives covering:

• Quality Systems and measurements:
  • Focused Quality Loss Reduction
  • High Impact Moments and Routines enhancement
  • Effectiveness of quality controls through organizational alignment, Artificial Intelligence solutions and digitalization of data analysis
• Assembly Line Performances:
  • Digital Assembly Solution Modernisation
  • Real time feedback / performance visualization
  • Improved loss analysis and loss deployment processes
• Supply Chain E2E processes:
  • Information and workflow synchronization and digitalization
  • Review and simplification of current constraints

 

Integrated Planning (IP) deployment in an OE supplier for Automotive

Client situation & approach

Our client is a leading Swedish OE supplier for the automotive industry with more than 100 plants around the world. It wanted to move from fragmented Demand Planning to an Integrated Demand Planning process in 50 sites and 20 warehouses. This would be the biggest change in the client’s demand chain for 30 years, dramatically impacting staff roles and responsibilities and ways of working. EFESO was asked to do a light HD assessment of the first two deployed plants, as well as the affected warehouses with the purpose of coming up with an HD reinforced progression plan

Results

• Increased responsibility of channel planning function: end-to-end responsibility
• Removed the planning function from warehouses, where they keep execution only
• Installed a new Demand Management function, interfacing with sales reps and customer markets
• Implemented advanced system support via SO99-plus

 

Improved capabilities from WCOM™ program increase net returns in Cosmetics

Client situation & approach

The client is a Brazilian company involved in the sustainable development of cosmetics and beauty products and was founded in the early 1960s.

The client has a direct sales model with approximately 5.7 thousand collaborators, over 1 million female consultants and a portfolio of 739 product.

• In the first year EFESO delivered the PKE course (Process Kaizen Engineering) to transfer its knowledge to a large number of client coordinators
• In the following year EFESO started to implement a WCOM™ program with the aim of increasing productivity, reducing costs and improving OTIF
• As part of the WCOM™ program EFESO introduced several methods for loss reduction and Pillars covering Autonomous Maintenance, Planned Maintenance, Focused Improvement, Education & Training, Safety, Environment, Progressive Quality, EEM and EPM
• In 3 plants a Performance Control System was installed to manage the day to day issues and improvements

Results

• As a consequence of the PKE projects, there was a net return of R$ 2.230.000,00
• There was an increase in OEE of more than 20% at the packaging lines
• An improvement of 22,6% in OTIF reaching a level of 96,6%.

 

 

Redesign of industrial organisation and developing an ambitious cost reduction plan

Client situation & approach

The client is a family business and a leader in the French and European cosmetics industry. The group is present in more than 100 countries and has a turnover of more than 2 billion €.

The Leaders of Group Operations wish to:

• Reduce the cost of 7 manufacturing functions: Purchasing, Supply Chain, Logistics, HR, Maintenance, Quality and Development (with costs higher than that of its main competitors with brand-name products)
• Develop operational agility by having the ability to support a strategy of mass customization.

EFESO supported by:

• Analysing the organisation and its interfaces by using our “Fit-to-Win organisation” approach
• Carrying out flash diagnoses of the 7 functions
• For each function, we devised and implemented an improvement methodology based on mixing bottom-up and top-down approaches. From this we created, in tandem with the Client, an improvement roadmap

Results

• Redesign of the industrial organisation by improving the fields of expertise, refocusing of plants on the core business and sharing relevant capabilities
• Identification of savings greater than the set target of 10% ( 4,5 M€)
• Design, in tandem with the client, selected recommendations per function
• Modelling and building a roadmap for the deployment of those recommendations over the next 3 years

 

 

Global multi-site Quality Control Lab Excellence Program

Client situation & approach

The client is a leading consumer goods company, wanting to improve overall laboratory performance in the areas of quality, productivity and analyst engagement.

The targets were specific to individual sites and were dependent on complexity and level of lean maturity.

A further aim of the program was to improve communication with and visibility around global functions of operational performance.

EFESO supported by:

• Designing unique levelling, flow & standard work solutions in each lab, including the development of testing cells combining both urgent and queueable work
• Creating visual management boards that support daily work assignments, tracking of sample status and the weekly metric overview.
• Introducing 5S, Method Improvement and Gemba

Results

• Productivity increases of 10-30% across the lab network
• Establishment of a risk-based tool for method improvement
• High visibility into daily and weekly testing requirements
• Increased analyst engagement and ownership

 

 

Modelling a € 10 m cost reduction plan and 2030 Roadmap

Client situation & approach

Our client is one of the biggest French Groups in the cosmetics industry, with around ten production units in France. In a challenging economic context (strong competition, productivity concerns and consumer fear towards industrial products…), the Operations Top Management aims to design a new Industrial Master Plan (IMP) to cover the period up to 2030:

In the short term it wishes to optimize the current IMP i.e. reduction of complexity, optimization of flows and processes.

In the long run it needs to build a more efficient model to sustain growth at a competitive cost.

EFESO supported by:

• Defining the long-term vision and goals with Operations Top Management
• Mapping and analysing the current situation
• Defining the core competencies required to support the 2030 plan: new technology and capabilities
• Defining performance levers for the current organization: cost reduction, complexity management, new target operating model for several functions (e.g. quality control, maintenance)
• Defining and evaluating 4 distinct scenarios, considering several variables

Results

• Created an alignment between Production, Supply Chain, Marketing and Sales
• Optimized Production’s footprint: location, capacities, production plant technology (Factory 4.0), resources and defining the capabilities required...
• Modelled the Industrial Master Plan
• Defined a 10 M€ cost reduction plan
• Defined the «How to make it happen»: masterplan including a view of its impact on the organization

 

 

Boost operational performance

Client situation & approach

Our Client is a top player in the Aerospace Industry. Securing the ramp up rate of specific aircraft sections and reducing Recurring cost (RC) target were the company’s main challenges. The shopfloor stayed in firefighting mode, basic routines were not installed and the interfaces with key support functions were not well defined.

In this context, consultants now employed by EFESO supported the client in a 22-week project by:

• Review and implementation of shop floor routines and performance behaviour standards
• Reducing losses at the interfaces of the various functions by:
  • Designing and implementing a performance management system and routines
  • Supporting the definition of SOI/Work sequences
  • Ensuring recruitment and training was aligned with Production
  • Challenging individual performance evaluation methods

Results

• Sustainable 150 hours RC reduction per aircraft
• Additional reduction activities planned to secure further improvements
• Standard Operating System fully revised, enhanced and implemented on shop floor area
• Performance culture aligned with newly designed site and project governance driving continuous improvement and sustainability

 

50% Lead time reduction in aerospace industry

Client situation & approach

One of the leading actors in the Aerospace Industry, partner of the major airlines and technological leader for carbon components, with a turnover of 2.7 billion €. The client needed to reduce costs, accelerate deliveries and renew its approach to industrial engineering. EFESO supported by:

• Designing, with the customer, a training programme on Aeronautical Industrial Engineering
• Over 6 months, 50% of the time was spent delivering that programme to 44 people in 7 plants
• Facilitating improvement projects lead by participants as a final part of the programme
• Performing final tests and presenting projects to the management team

Results

• 50% Lead Time reduction and Productivity Improvement
• Continuous Improvement in ways of working and processes put in place
• Established a new generation of engineers using lean tools and methods

 

Growth strategy in frozen food

Client situation & approach

A French company specialized in the breeding, processing and marketing of poultry as well as in the preparation of meals.

EFESO was engaged to support the Executive Committee progress towards sustainable and profitable growth through their 5 years strategy plan for national branded products. 

The deliverables of the project included:

• A deep end to end analysis from the vision down
• Identification of major growth opportunities in 10 years from mega trends and major food trends
• Development of potential strategic scenarios from detailed strategic initiatives
• Involvement of key functions across the business to engage all stakeholders

Results

• Divestiture from non-profitable categories
• Roll-out of the strategic roadmap across all families and functions
• 7% increase in turnover 4.7% increase in net operating income

 

Agile product development in ingredients

Client situation & approach

An ingredients supplier facing a highly aggressive and competitive manufacturing market. The company had to develop new grades, reduce harmful byproducts and optimize cost-effectiveness. EFESO supported the senior management with:

• Diagnosis of R&D department and portfolio
• Lean development implementation, lead time reduction and productivity improvement
• Breakthrough in Capex and industrialization projects

Results

• Installed a proactive innovation process to accelerate development and minimize Capex
• Revamped the development phase gate system and implemented multi-project management systems
• Reviewed and optimized project management control, implementing an Obeya room process
• Optimized resource use in R&D using Scrum

 

Cascading corporate strategy into operations strategy in a Malt industry

Client situation & approach

A world leading malt producer set the objective to double growth, mainly in Asia, Pacific and Africa, and EBITDA within 10 years. To achieve this, the company needed to define an operations strategy to support business objectives with limited CAPEX.

Starting with a pilot region covering continental Europe and export activities to Africa, Asia and Southern America, EFESO supported in:

• Identification and assessment of robust operations strategic options: both incremental potential e.g. sourcing, logistics, transport, manufacturing and breakthrough initiatives such as make or buy strategies, acquisition of competitors facilities and / or divestment of some existing manufacturing facilities and greenfield project
• Definition of a business plan
• Definition of a transformation plan

Results

An accelerated process managed in 100 days delivered:

• Understanding of strategic priorities in operations and their impact on progressing strategic goals
• Clarity on improvement and breakthrough levers to create an edge on the market and their contribution towards growth and profitability
• New industrial footprint design
• Robust methodology to be deployed on other geographical clusters

 

Operational Excellence in the beer sector

Client situation & approach

An international leader in the Beer sector present in 70 countries with more than 150 breweries spread across the globe. The company decided to launch a global Continuous Improvement initiative to generate cost efficiency improvements to support new acquisitions while at the same time creating a common ‘way of working’ throughout its Supply Chain Operations.

EFESO supported in:

• Co-designing its customized Operational Excellence Program framework
• Deploying it progressively in the operating units
• Designing and delivering on-the-job training to thousands of employees on OpEx methodologies to build internal capabilities for an autonomous roll-out in the new units
• Co-creating the client’s methodological ‘OpEx Toolbox’ with all main pillars in manufacturing and logistics
• Providing plant leadership teams with a step change in their change management skills through training programs followed by the practical application
• Facilitating the process for High Performance Organizational design of their future operating units

Results

• An extended Continuous Improvement culture throughout the entire Supply Chain organization with all 150 breweries consistently running the OpEx Program
• Major results in terms of OEE improvement ( 20%), material waste reduction (-22%), transportation cost reduction (-12%) and other losses reduction through more than 20.000 improvement projects
• In the first 8 years of the OpEx Program implementation, productivity doubled and fixed & variable cost were reduced by 35% contributing to delivering 400M€ savings within Supply Chain
• A full-fledged HPO Organizational Design blueprint for future operating units
• 700 certified PKE™ employees able to successfully drive Continuous Improvement both in manufacturing and logistics
• A fully embedded change management capability in most operating units

 

Strengthening a fit to win organization in the food industry

Client situation & approach

A global player in the food industry faced challenges: profitable growth acceleration and fixed costs continuously increasing in value and in percentage versus gross margin but with an EBITDA lower than that of the main competitors.

EFESO worked in tandem with the executive team to redesign the organization in 100 days through four complementary approaches:

• Translation of strategy into strategic capabilities
• Gap diagnosis
• "Top-down" analysis of macro organization scenarios
• "Bottom-up" workshops with operational staff

Results

• Savings valued and agreed around 15% of total SG&A costs segmented on three levels, linked to the complexity of change: "restore basic conditions", "optimize the organization" and "transform the organization “with a concrete progression plan for deployment
• The progression plan included structural, competence and motivational drivers with options including outsourcing, shared services and new process design with change management elements to facilitate the transformation execution

 

Value Chain progression in confectionary

Client situation & approach

A leading confectionery manufacturer reviewed their Operating Supply Network (OSN), a global network of 22 factories, 68 in-house warehouses and 240 third-party DC’s serving over 100 markets in 3 regions. 

There were no consistent standards across Customer Services, Planning, Warehouse and Transportation. People worked in different ways, SAP was applied variably with no consistent operating model. Skills and capabilities needed progression. 

EFESO provided project management and designed a new industrial roadmap including:

• Transfer of products and production
• Tender for outsourcing logistics
• Implementation of a crisis task force
• Product portfolio rationalisation

Results

After the first stage of the project:

• Differences and complexity were reduced
• A common reference model, standards and PPI were designed
• Increased governance and best practice sharing were embedded in the identity of SC people and learning organization

This is now being rolled out across the business as part of the Progression Plan.

 

 

Complexity optimization in the dairy industry

Client situation & approach

A leading manufacturer of fresh dairy products faced a low operational profit level (2% versus N° 1:14%) despite turnover growth and a loss of market share of the third player in the market. This was mainly due to the impact of a growing complexity: internationalization, market volatility, fragmenting consumer demand, multi-sourcing.

A global performance program was needed to eradicate value-destroying complexity that does not add any competitive advantage and differentiation and to manage value-creating / adding complexity reducing negative impact on direct and indirect costs.

EFESO deployed a complexity optimization process:

• Assessment of current complexity cost and real profitability by product and client (simplified ABC costing)
• Identification, evaluation and prioritization of causes of complexity
• Definition of solutions for complexity optimization (eradication of value losses and monetization of value enhancers: e.g. portfolio rationalization, late differentiation manufacturing process deployment, redesign to cost activities, pricing optimization, SG&A costs reduction
• Implementation of a pilot on complexity optimization
• Expansion to the entire organization
• Roll-out of a complexity management process and development of complexity management capabilities

Results

• Within 3 years, the business achieved a 5 point increase in operating profit and significant improvement of ROCE
• New stockholder entry in the company after overall improved attractiveness of the company

 

Distribution Center Optimization

Client situation & approach

The company is a retailer that is gradually increasing its online sales and divesting its food business. Sales are decreasing slowly and profits are under pressure. The DC struggles to:

• Implement improvement projects
• Get the continuous improvement loop running.

Results

We ran a diagnostic to identify the potential and mobilised a 3-year program that led to:

• Definition of a steering and accountability structure
• A breakdown of KPI’s to Action Indicators and frequent monitoring of these to evoke performance behavior
• Trained and coached personnel to act as facilitators during performance meetings (shift handover, daily meetings etc)
• A 6% improvement in productivity performance 10 months after the start of the program.

 

Supply Chain Process Improvement in Global Wholesale Retailer

Client situation & approach

The client is a wholesale/cash & carry division of a global multiple format retailer carrying food and non-food product ranges for trade customers. We supported the client in:

• Some small step changes in performance improvement had been achieved, but more improvement was needed
• The actual on-shelf availability was not fully understood, resulting in lost sales

Results

• Identified quick wins to improve availability based on effort and reward
• Developed a “what good looks like” tool for step change in range management
• Created a framework to roll out and sustain the benefits.

 

Supply Chain Strategy and Inventory Optimization in Food Wholesaler

Client situation & approach

The company is a national food retailer that has grown in recent years through acquisitions. As a result, the potential distribution network synergies had not been realised. Challenging issues where:

• Different product group characteristics (fresh, frozen)
• Predicted volume growth, stretching the capacity of the network

Results

We modelled the future demand per postal code and the effect on the supply chain. We ran scenarios to find the best option for our client:

• Base case: business impact if current situation is maintained
• Improved base case: what if we optimize current network? 
• The integrated delivery wholesale option saved 17%-20% in terms of operating cost 
• Future Case: identified the ideal DC network in terms of footprint and goods flow to accommodate growth

 

Supply Chain Excellence in a Global Beverage firm

Client situation & approach

The company is a global beverage firm with production sites in over 60 countries. A continuous improvement program (already established in manufacturing) needed to be extended to logistics, supply chain and planning

Results

• Roll-out in over 40 countries in 6 continents, over 5.000 people involved in the program, over 3.000 projects finished. Impact on bottom line >250MEuro
• Company standards introduced for operational excellence in the supply chain across core pillars (plan, deliver, return)
• Prioritised opportunities according to client business requirements and supply chain strategy
• Knowledge transferred via PKE training courses to make client teams self-sustaining

 

Performance Improvement at Food Manufacturer Distribution Center

Client situation & approach

Our client is going through a process of establishing an omni-channel strategy. This requires a restructuring and integration of its distribution network. The opportunity for change at it’s key distribution center includes:

• Optimisation of operations and cost reduction
• Identification and delivery of  improvement projects
• Creation of a continuous improvement culture and way of working
• Development of performance oriented culture and behaviors

Results

• Increased productivity and reduction of labour costs (>10% within year 1)
• The establishment of a new management system, including the training and coaching of all managerial and supervisory levels
• Optimised product flow and resource planning resulting in an increased capacity of the DC
• Incorporated a continuous improvement approach within the operating model

 

Design to Value & Should Cost practices to sustain advanced Procurement strategies

Client situation & approach

Global manufacturer of helicopters wanted to profitably increase market shares in both mature market segments and innovative niches. Investment in key Design to Value initiatives on two main product platforms, one dating back 20 years and one game changer in the industry. We supported in:

• Addressing the overall product structures, on both make and buy and assessing the cost reduction potential of both product platforms
• Evaluating best improvement strategies and solutions for components and airframe, combining re-negotiation, re-sourcing, re-industrialization, re-design
• Implementing cost reduction programs

Results

• For the existing platform, more than 20% of product cost reduction, and gap closed with target cost enabling to profitably win new contracts
• For the new platform, more than 25% cost reduction and financial viability ensured for the program business case, with sign-off of investments to finalize entry-into-service
• DTV/SC organizational unit set-up and capable to support product competitiveness in make and buy cost areas

 

Value Chain Excellence in Global Tyre Manufacturer

Client situation & approach

A leading global company, active in the development and manufacturing of tires for automobiles, trucks, and motorcycles. Due to growing competition from emerging countries and from incumbent leaders, quality and differentiation have become critical success factors. In order to maintain competitiveness and operational excellence, a program was launched to address complexity costs and improve the capability to master complexity more efficiently by:

• Developing a Complexity Total Cost Model to evaluate the global cost of complexity and inform key decisions regarding product range, specs, materials, production allocation, factory planning, scheduling
• Identifying and implementing de-complexity initiatives
• Establishing a dedicated Complexity Management unit

Results

• Cumulated annual impact of more than 30% Ebitda
• Capabilities to autonomously continue and expand built
• Dedicated Complexity unit installed and operational
• Clear Guidelines and procedures defined to reduce existing complexity and limit new complexity

 

Contract Management in the Rolling Stock Sector

Client situation & approach

An Italian leader in high-speed trains design and manufacture of, with more than 2,000 employees, entered into separate contracts for the design and manufacturing of 100 high-speed diesel trains.  This was in response to the need of a primary railway operator to modernise its train fleet. 
EFESO was asked to carry out industrial and economic evaluations and to work in a joint task force alongside the legal office and the company’s management to:  

• Support the negotiations with a wide range of activities, including the elaboration of specific analysis and task force coordination
• Support the Client in the day by day management of the complex contractual framework
• Achieve an amicable settlement between the Client and the final customer
• Execute the projects in compliance with the mutual contractual obligations, reducing the possible rise of future disagreements

Results

• Avoidance of the contract termination risk
• Mitigation of damages requested by the counterpart for the delivery delays
• Agreement on the supply of additional value-added services in lieu of the cash payment

 

Leveraging IP in a joint-venture to fund a new programme

Client situation & approach

A world leader in Aerospace & Defence was willing to establish a joint venture with a foreign partner to develop, produce and market a new product. EFESO was asked to help quantifying the background IPR value in order to build the Joint Venture scheme and prepare the documentation to support the negotiation with:

• IP asset inventory
• IP packages definition
• IPR $ valuation
• Securitization & feasibility issues
• Pricing issues
• IPR dossier for JV negotiation

Results

• Comprehensive set of documentation supporting client’s negotiation strategy and activities
• Analysis and sensitivity of different IPR valuation scenarios

 

Lean implementation in helicopter assembly with lead time reduction by 20% and capital reduction by 35%

Client situation & approach

One of the leading worldwide helicopters manufacturer, with 5,000 employees, which was not able to respect promised delivery times and avoid high extra-costs due to the request of shorter delivery time, an increase in complexity of configuration and the high costs of late configuration. In this scenario, EFESO was asked to:

• conduct an analysis of actual flows and loss intelligence
• implement a new process-oriented organization (lean “engineering to order”)
• perform a modelling of workload and queues in engineering department
• define effective planning based on configuration

Results

• Stability by the introduction of lean in engineering
• Improved reliability of planning and visibility of losses upfront
• Lead time reduction of 20%
• Working capital reduction by 35%

 

Disputes resolution and litigation support in a civil aircraft programme

Client situation & approach

An Italian leading company which designs, builds, integrates and supports complex systems for commercial and defense markets worldwide, was playing a key role in world-class aircraft programs. This company was fully engaged in an advanced world-class program for a twin-jet airliner led by a global OEM. To maintain good business relations, it indirectly admitted its fault and signed a contractual amendment entitling the OEM to claim for damages. EFESO was appointed as technical expert to perform:

• Fact finding activities, Meeting with OEM and liaising with external lawyers
• Cost impact review, Build-up of our client’s Position and Quantification of the resulting damage to be compensated

Results

• Mitigation of the damages claimed by the OE
• Support to the negotiation between our Client and the OEM

 

Indirect spend optimisation programme in a soccer club

Client situation & approach

A professional Italian football club was wanting to achieve important savings in different areas (marketing, catering & food, facility mgt, materials & prof service, utilities & municipality, rental, travel and digital strategy). In tandem with the client, EFESO launched an Indirect Spend Optimisation programme, composed of three steps:

• Mapping and Maturity Assessment, to map the external expenditures and assess top-down procurement function maturity
• Levers identification and Roadmap definition, to reduce expenses and define the implementation plan
• Implementation, to support the procurement functions in achieving targeted savings

Results

• -25% overall gains (-25% travel, -40% catering & food, -47% telco, -34% insurance)
• New process and tools to ensure spend control
• Increased contractualisation level and monitoring of suppliers’ performances
• Functions more skilled

 

Capability development for contract management excellence in an electrical company

Client situation & approach

A leading electrical company whose central Contract Management unit had recently developed a staged roadmap for achieving Contract Management Excellence and need external expert support. EFESO was engaged to:

• Develop Change Management Functional Competency Model
• Develop Change Management Assessment system
• Prepare and execute Change Management Functional Competency Face to Face Reviews
• Identify main capabilities and organizational gaps

Results

• Contract Management Functional Competence Staged Model
• Contract Management Self-Assessment and Face to Face Review system
• Assessment to a population of >100 Contract Managers worldwide
• Training delivered to 15 Assessors and material developed to enable the deployment of the developed Change Management Assessment system
• Gaps and improvements were also identified following Change Management Processes and Competences assessment

 

Huge savings result from greatly improved distribution network

Client situation & approach

The client was a leading global tobacco manufacturer based in Turkey and losing in GBP10m p.a. due to a lack of critical mass which was driving a high cost to serve. The issues to overcome were:

• Small deliveries driven by traditional nature of Turkish supply chain
• Cash only with high frequency to be first to obtain the outlet’s available cash
• Every supplier delivered its own products separately with exclusive distributors
• Client distributors delivered 3% of the tobacco on its own

EFESO supported by:

• Carrying out an As-Is assessment including visiting distributors and outlets in both urban and rural areas
• Modelling of the cost to serve
• Identifying and assessing the tactical and strategic operational improvements needed to improve the situation
• Developing alongside the client team a business case and implementation plan

Results

• Gained the understanding and commitment of local management to the radical changes needed in their route to market
• On-going implementation of the plan to achieve the benefits of GBP 9m, as committed to by local management, by:
  • Setting-up a shared distribution platform with a portfolio of complementary products
  • Rationalizing the distributor network, improving controls and optimising delivery frequency.

 

Multi-channel distribution project in the Textile Retail sector

Client situation & approach

The client was a worldwide custom-made fashion and home furnishing company offering home delivery. It operated in a promotion-driven market. Although successful there was:

• A highly volatile demand pattern which created service level problems and lead to compensation payments and huge negative publicity
• Unquantified costs of quality which were clearly high
• No real quantification of true profitability

Therefore, the challenge was to improve customer satisfaction, dramatically improve service levels, reduce costs of quality and optimise pricing and promotions.

EFESO supported by:

• Analysing costs of supply by product category / supplier
• Identifying hidden supply costs and true cost of quality
• Analysing service constraints by supplier
• Reviewing cost reduction options
• Developing action plans by supplier
• Designing a weekly performance report to track the KPIs

Results

• Agreed a blueprint for growth and cost reduction
• Achieved c. £8m p.a. benefit for pilot categories (14% reduction)
• Improved service performance to support sales growth (worth £3.5m p.a.)
• Changed pricing and promotions which generated a 20% increase in sales and margins
• Optimised promotions and tightened retail disciplines to reduce “unofficial discounting”
• Gained strong commitment to change from suppliers

 

Building supply chain capability to support growth in developing markets – sub-Sahara Africa

Client situation & approach

The client is a diverse conglomerate in an emerging economy with interests in manufacturing, processing and distribution including food, beverages, dairy and agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa with a turnover of $1bn. The group operations cover 90% of the region, including 28 major cities served by various multi-temperature transport modes (including road, rail and barge).

With a growth trajectory of c.300% over three years, the business needed to implement a fit for purpose Supply Chain across the group. The objective of the program was to develop group supply chain capabilities (infrastructure, organization, people, process, systems) through a blend of step-change and continuous improvement. This progression was supported by a learning and organization development approach to deliver sustainable competencies, capabilities and skills.

EFESO supported by:

• Creating an integrated end to end improvement program with main workstreams covering Procurement, Logistics Assets, Warehousing, Inventory and Planning, Inbound /Primary Logistics, Distribution/ Route to Market.
• Developing a Learning and Education curriculum to provide key skills and capabilities across the workstreams. EFESO delivered specific continuous improvement methods training with learning that was applied directly to business priority projects (PKE)
• Governance and program management support for the end to end program

A progressive three-phase roadmap was supported around 3 themes:

1. Establish Basic Foundations
2. Sweat the Assets and raise Efficiency
3. Innovate for Future growth and capability

Further support was provided by EFESO in the client’s journey from a highly decentralised and function based organisation to a cross functional driven structure, able to leverage strengths from both an end to end supply chain and business unit synergies perspective.

Results

• Inventory reduction 15 to 25%
• Procurement savings 3 to 5%
• Logistics Operations cost reduction 10%
• Knowledge transfer of continuous improvement tools and methods
• Culture change across the end to end supply chain
• Created a knowledge base to allow the client to become self-sustaining in skills and capability development

 

E2E Value Chain progression strategy project in the Lubricants Business Unit of an Oil & Gas client

Client situation & approach

The client was the Finnish & Russian Packed Lubricants division of the world's largest publicly traded integrated petroleum and natural gas company, whose logistics & distribution operations were outsourced.

The client needed to identify the best logistics & distribution model and evaluate potential service providers.

The issues the client faced were:

• High logistics costs
• The current suppliers’ contract expiration
• A non- optimized logistics and distribution model
• The need for strategic logistics scenarios to be considered by the Client for future development (Finland and Russia)

EFESO Supported by:

• Data gathering and analysis of current/forecasted volumes
• Modeling a cost structure according to the current logistics and distribution solution and calculation of the related “should cost”
• Definition of the best logistics & distribution model along with calculation of the related overall cost
• Scouting for logistics and distribution service providers
• Preparing and launching an RFI process for Service Providers, as well as their evaluation and selection
• Design of future scenarios/strategies for supplying the Russian market

Results

• Identification of future strategies according to some key external variables
• Optimization of the logistics and distribution model, highlighting:
  • potential savings in logistics costs
  • potential savings in distribution costs
  • potential improvements in service level
• Identification of the best logistics & distribution service provider according to Company requirements

 

Biologics drug substance and drug product

Client situation & approach

Our client is Biologics Drug Substance and Drug Product manufactorer in a Global multi-site environment in Europe, USA and Asia. This project was targeted to improve the speed, quality and productivity of the QC functions at individual sites to contribute to a more stable supply of product. Additionally, it focussed on development of a standard capacity planning tool and process to provide visibility of resources at the site and network level. We supported in:

• At a Network level: A standard best practice visual management model covering daily process control and medium-term performance management; a consistent capacity planning tool and process
• At a Site level: Levelling, flow & standard work solutions specific to a variety of lab types; Standard best practice approaches to 5S and consumable management

Results

• Productivity improvements of the order of 15% released via levelling, flow and standard work
• Consistent adherence to all lead time targets
• Accurate projection of required QC resources highlighting likely capacity constraints
• Implementation of a standard set of global QC KPIs and linking of these to identification and initiation of continuous improvement opportunities
• Daily lab huddles are driven by a standard visual management system

 

 

 

 

Improve Nutrition laboratory efficiency and effectiveness

Client situation & approach

Our client is a Nutrition laboratory in a Global multi-site environment in Europe, USA and Asia. The objective of this program was to improve laboratory efficiency and effectiveness through the utilization of lean tools and principles. It covered a range of GMP laboratory types including analytical chemistry, microbiology, environmental monitoring, incoming materials and in process control. We supported in:

• Levelling strategies specific to the lab type
• Flow via defined sequences such as rhythm wheels and trains
• Standard work supported by role cards
• Short interval control and supporting visual management tools
• Targeted elimination of non-value adding activity

Results

• Productivity improvements ranging from 15% to 46%
• Balanced, productive work days for all analysts
• Increased levels of cross training
• Continuous improvement of culture and mindset growing within the laboratories
• Consistent adherence to lead time targets

 

Reduce the overall lead time for an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient

Client situation & approach

Our client is an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) company located in Ireland. The objective of this program was to reduce the overall lead time from the manufacture of the product to the final release (Quality Control and Quality Assurance). We supported in:

• Quality Control: queue based levelling and rhythm wheel, standard work roles, visual management
• Quality Assurance: batch record re-engineering, process optimization (batch record review and corrections, investigation management, disposition).

 

 

Results

• Reduction in QC lead time from an average of 13.4 days to an average of 4.7 days
• Alignment of the QA timeline to the QC timeline i.e. disposition ready to complete as soon as the lab results are finalized
• Fixed repeatable analyst requirement
• Continuous improvement culture and mindset growing within the laboratories. 

 

 

Reduce batch record review for a Solid Dose (Small Molecule) Pharmaceutical company

Client situation & approach

Our client is a Solid Dose (Small Molecule) Pharmaceutical company in a Global multi-site environment in North America. The primary objective of this project was to reduce batch record review and disposition times to facilitate accelerated release of product to market. Ancillary objectives included increasing QA team productivity through implementation of capacity planning and standard work and streamlining of deviation management processes. We supported in:

• At a Regional level: A standardized approach for managing batch review and disposition workloads including capacity planning and monitoring of key performance indicators
• At a Site level: Levelling, flow and standard work solutions tailored to the site-specific targets. Implementation of effective visual management systems that optimized daily internal processes and customer delivery. Design and implementation of a digital visual management solution for site-wide deviation management

Results

• Reduction of batch record cycle time from an average of 12 days to 48 hours or less
• Self-directed work teams capable of overcoming transient workload peaks through capacity resource modelling, ultimately ensuring robust supply chain delivery
• Increased visibility and oversight of deviations with concomitant rapid escalation and resolution through the implementation of a digital visual management system

 

 

 

 

Throughput time improvement in a Contract Research Organisation

Client situation & approach

Our client is a Contract Research Organization (CRO) in the USA. Our client, a leader in the third-party contract testing field engaged us to improve the throughput time from sample receipt to COA approval. This environment is quite a challenging one given the paucity of forecast data and the need for a dynamic, flexible workforce to meet challenging customer turnaround times. Additional foci of the project included the creation of standardized roles and a robust and consistent capacity planning process. We supported in:

• Short term assay-specific volatility levelling, increased flow dynamics and standardized work aligned to customer needs
• Capacity planning process integrated with the client’s sample management IT system
• Standard best practice approaches to visual management, 5S and consumable inventory management.

 

 

Results

• Re-engineered front-end framework resulted in priority samples reaching the testing laboratories faster (30-40%) without any retardation of routine samples, resulting in increased on-time delivery/customer service
• Optimized capacity planning structure gave rise to significant decreases in workload volatility (20%), ensuring consistent and repeatable performance
• A substantial increase in workforce flexibility (40%), ultimately contributing to greater customer service
• Implementation of visual management, sample management, consumable inventory management and 5S / workplace organization systems improving overall productivity.

 

 

 

 

PERFORMANCE BEHAVIOR AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN A GLOBAL F&B CORPORATION

Client situation & approach

An international food, snack & beverage company with a large global footprint of manufacturing and distribution sites needed help setting up and deploying a sustainable lean culture, initially, in multiple European sites. In tandem with EFESO, the client introduced Human Dynamics elements into the existing programme from top floor to shop floor in the following manner:

• Creating a strong compelling storyline
• Defining concrete behaviors for every target population
• Make leaders examples and cultural ambassadors
• Install a Performance Management System to manage progression of the site culture

RESULTS

• 10% reduction in safety incidents
• Waste decreased from average 6% to average 4%
• Translation of the concept of “culture” into concrete and observable behavior
• Improved leadership capabilities to manage and influence behavioral change, and to engage and mobilize teams towards the desired Lean culture

 

Performance Behavior In Industrial Chemicals

Client situation & approach

The client is a global producer of natural gas-based fertilizers and industrial chemicals, employing around 3000 people. Confronted with an ageing workforce at the sites, increasing environmental regulations, internal pressure to reduce safety risks and need to improve the plant performance a Behavior Excellence initiative was launched in 1 key site in the Netherlands as a blueprint.

Results

• BAS (Behavior Analysis System) score of Effective leadership skills and behaviours increased from 25% to 65%
• Reduction weight variation packing department from 10 % variation to 2% variation
• Sustainable and tangible process improvements realized leading to significant benefits (e.g. increased volume, increased First Time Right quality, improved safety indicators)
• Effective performance management and dialogue established throughout all layers of the company
• Improved ability to conduct transformation programmes at the sites with limited resources from external parties

 

Engagement Monitoring In a service environment

Client situation & approach

The client is a leading postal operator and universal service provider, offering an array of mail, financial and insurance products through its dense points of sale network. As the Service Levels to clients became ever more important, the client wanted to know the status of the level of engagement amongst employees and to understand which points of attention needed to be managed to maintain and increase service. With the boundary condition to prevent creation of “another survey” adding to the already numerous surveys the population is faced with on a yearly basis, EFESO was asked to build and deploy a monitoring system to understand the engagement and to help define and implement possible remedial activities.

Results

• Over 85% response rate from a “survey-fatigued” population
• Monitoring is part of a cycle of progression, participants understand that the feedback is used to improve in a structured, measured and visible way

 

Mobilizing people In a company dedicated to mobility

Client situation & approach

The client is a leading company aiming to upgrade and maintain mobility for its members. Services include road-side assistance and insurance. The company decided to streamline and digitize operational processes by implementing 2 standardized ERP systems. They needed help designing and deploying a Change Master Plan to ensure adoption of the new tools and new way of working. Complicating factors were that this was the first time the implementation of a major application was outsourced, go-live data had been postponed a number of times, it was one of many simultaneous projects and absence of key management roles led to scepticism and a “wait and see” attitude.

Results

• Successful use of the two ERP systems by all populations
• New way of working adopted without strike or operational downtime
• All employees are engaged and were involved in the description and documentation of their own processes
• The new way of working is more client-centric & digitized

 

Leading Progression In a global Dairy Company

Client situation & approach

One of the world’s largest dairy companies came to a point where they needed alignment in the mix of improvement activities that were running simultaneously. The goal was to achieve a change in mindset, behaviour and leadership to sustainably support the progression initiatives from a leadership perspective. A programme was designed to:

• Integrate leadership development in daily business
• Allow leaders to grow with peers
• Give leaders more influence on performance and important issues

Results

• Understanding of the High Impact Moments where leaders can make the change happen
• Support structure in place to sustain development
• Anchoring of change at all levels of the company with monitoring, measurement and adaptation
• All sites involved have positive response towards different way of managing and leading improvement

 

 

Cultural Change In a global retailers large store

Client situation & approach

One of the most successful retailers in the Netherlands has a growth in EBITDA of 30% year-on-year.

The Client wants to maintain and build on the current market position. The major objectives of the project were improving communication processes and inter-connection between departments, achieving sustainability in processes, systems, standards but most of all in the behaviour.

This was achieved by implementing a Daily Management System over a 3 years plan eliminating losses and waste on specific targets. The departments worked together to eliminate losses that arose from not giving each other information of changes in the process quick enough. Individual coaching was offered to management to improve how they acted in their leadership role and to sustain the desired behaviour. The standard way of working was improved by using Job Instructions Module of TWI (Training Within Industry) for the capability development.

RESULTS

• Performance improved by 8/10% per department, due to the behaviour development within the departments
• Improvement teams performed even better than the targets
• Planning and forecast KPIs improved by 95% > 98%
• Concerning Quality, Picking reliability improved from 98,7% to 99,3% and Picking Lines OK improved from 99,5% to 99,9%

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TESTIMONIAL

Thanks to this program I am not only improving on my KPIs but also on how I manage the process and, most important, the people

Now I really make a connection with my team leader and everything is much more structured, so we know what to do and what to expect from each other

 

Operational Strategy driving industrial footprint re-design

Client situation & approach

Our client is a globally leading player in the Life Science and Materials sector. Facing a situation of geographic demand shifts and changing demand patterns, there was the need to reconsider the Industrial Footprint of production & Supply hubs and by this prepare for the future/protect ROCE targets. We supported in:

• Co-development of a customized Industrial Footprint redesign methodology (BOS - Business Operations Strategy)
• Build-in engagement & high-impact moments for the leadership team in the approach to ensure ownership
• Develop new Industrial Footprint for 4 Business groups – in the beginning EFESO being in the lead then gradually handing over to internal consultancy group which was involved from the start

Results

• Industrial Footprints developed for 4 business groups with significant savings determined
• Internal consultancy group enabled to do BOS exercises autonomously

 

 

 

Organisational Effectiveness by organisational re-design

Client situation & approach

Our client is a leading provider of Epoxy resins. After subsequent acquisitions, the company experienced vastly different organisational structures and practices specifically in the Maintenance organisation. The decision was taken to use one of the biggest sites as a pilot to develop a Blueprint for roll-out into the group. We supported in:

• Re-design of the complete Maintenance organisation
• Development of detailed implementation & qualification plan for organisational development
• Coaching people into their new roles & constant learning review to adapt initial concepts based on real experience

Results

• Re-designed and implemented Maintenance organisation
• Increased contractor safety performance & professionalism in contractor management
• Blueprint organisation developed for further roll-out into the group

 

Lean/agile development at a provider of polyurethane foam and polyurethane adhesives and epoxy resins

Client situation & approach

Our client is a provider of polyurethane foam and polyurethane adhesives and epoxy resins. The organisation was facing an increasingly competitive market environment, where only continuous innovation was helping to protect margin levels. We supported with:

• Development and implementation of objective evaluation systems of ongoing development projects
• Review and re-prioritization of the development project portfolio to focus resources
• Training in SCRUM methodology and coaching of application (incl. visual planning boards, SCRUM sprint approach)
• Design and setup of a management system to steer the progress of development projects and evaluate/initiate new projects when required

Results

• Reduction of development project time by more than 80%
• An increase of OTIF level of projects by more than 30%
• A significant increase of successful completion level of development projects

 

 

 

 

Operational excellence at a global leader in thermoset resins serving aero- space, energy and automotive markets

Client situation & approach

Our client is a global leader in thermoset resins serving aero-space, energy and automotive markets. The organisation determined ambitious targets to improve safety, reliability & cost effectiveness. A Manufacturing Excellence programme was launchedto sustainably drive change and achieve those targets. Key elements of the programme:

• Creating an infrastructure for change through training & coaching of change agents
• Simple and practical solutions rolled out into the sites around dimensions of Process Excellence, Performance Management and People Engagement (e.g. 5S, visual management, OBEYA- room, leadership development and Gemba-walks)

Results

• Data-driven decision making and effective management of performance is now the norm at sites
• Local and enabled change infrastructure established – from top floor to shopfloor
• Sustainable and tangible process improvements realized (reduced downtime, avoided product contamination)

 

 

 

 

Value chain improvement for a leading provider of chemicals

Client situation & approach

Our client is a leading provider of speciality chemicals and services to the food, healthcare, industrial and energy sectors. The business had grown rapidly as a result of acquisitions and was already quite advanced with functional initiatives to reduce cost. The targeted next step in maturing Supply Chain practices was to seek a holistic optimisation of the inbound materials supply taking into account the total cost of ownership, We supported this process by:

• Development of a customized and holistic Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) approach across the value chain
• Identification of main loss/benefit areas from a TCO perspective and set up of targeted projects to address those
• The inclusion of both suppliers and internal functions throughout the process and building their capability for improvement.

Results

• €7M Loss elimination delivered through 19 focused projects
• Development and implementation of TCO loss eradication methodology.

 

Cost reduction and productivity increase for a world-leading packaging manufacturer

Client situation & approach

Our client is a world-leading packaging manufacturer with production plants globally that needs to reduce claims, waste, and productivity losses and converting costs. To achieve the set goals an extensive WCOM™ program was rolled out to all 24 plants worldwide as well as corporate skill development training. The close collaboration proceeded during a period of eight years.

Results

• Claims reduced by 50 %
• Waste reduced by 50 %
• Productivity increased by 30 %
• Converting costs reduced by 37 %
• Several TPM-awards achieved on all levels

 

Securing wood supply volume and abatement of Price Fluctuation for a high-end paper and board producer

Client situation & approach

Our client is a high-end paper and board producer only utilising virgin fibres. The reliable supply of wood, preferably FSC-certified, is critical for our client. Our client has three main sources of wood, namely: its own forests, international import and wood from private landowners. The latter is secured via an organisation purchasing harvesting rights from private landowners. The set goals were to increase the amount of FSC-certified wood, stabilise price levels and increase volume per purchaser. The tools used included a mixture of Lean Administration, Performance Behaviour and Sales Growth.

Results

• The effectiveness of the purchasing organisation increased with over 10 %
• The price fluctuations or rather errors when pricing harvesting rights were reduced to zero
• The amount of FSC-certified suppliers increased by 26 %

 

Customer service function optimisation for a manufacturer of publication paper

Client situation & approach

Our client is a manufacturer of publication paper facing a decreasing demand from the market and needs to focus on cash flow and reducing operational costs.

• Customer service offices have been closed and the remaining ones need to handle an increased workload
• KPIs show differences in performance across markets
• Known differences in daily work across markets and employees

Initially, an estimation of time-splitting between core tasks was executed and the formation of a core team. Workshops were held to define a future way of working for several processes, a plan to deploy a common way of working through local training and follow-up through daily meetings as well as the execution of the deployment.

Results

• Definition and documentation of 20 main procedures for daily tasks
• Deployment through 45 local training sessions
• Higher integration between offices
• Prerequisites created for a shared Performance Control System

 

Remarkable OEE Increase for a board manufacturer

Client situation & approach

Our client is one out of several mills of a board manufacturer with a production capacity of 350 kton. The plant had the ambition to increase the production output to 400 kton – equal to an increase of 6,7 p.p. of OEE. The assignment included an initial analysis of where the main losses occurred in the production area and, based on conclusions, create cross-functional teams to achieve maximum progress towards the set goal. All employees were involved and trained in the improvement work.

Results

• OEE increased by 8,3 p.p. – Exceeding the initial goal set by 1,6p.p
• The three improvement teams working on reduction of breakdowns identified and completely eradicated the root cause – for a period of five weeks there were no breakdowns
• Higher integration and collaboration between departments that historically have been working separately

 

Vertical Start-up for Millions of Revenues for large paper manufacturer facing an investment in a new paper machine

Client situation & approach

Our client is a large paper manufacturer facing an investment in a new paper machine, increasing their capacity tremendously. By integrating Project Management, Early Equipment Management and WCOM-methodology the investment project reached exceptional results and went beyond the purchase of the new machine and involved the restructuration of the entire mill.

Results

• 3 % of OEE vs. budget
• Start-up lasted half the time in comparison to the benchmark in the group
• Generated five million EUR additional revenue in the first ten months

 

Closing Saw Mill saved by WCOM™

Client situation & approach

Our client is a sawmill producing 85 000 sqm of customized sawn timber for carpentry. The sawmill was at risk of being closed due to a declining trend in efficiency in the production process deriving from a high amount of breakdowns, shortstops and quality problems. To stay in business our client needed to increase efficiency from 30 % to 34 %. After conducting an analysis to identify the biggest losses, cross-functional improvement teams were put together to eliminate losses and improve efficiency. In addition to this, all employees were trained in improvement methods.

Results

• Efficiency was increased from 30 % to 38 % on average per week
• Sawmill still operating thanks to the extensive improvement
• Awareness throughout the whole organization on breakdowns, shortstops and quality problems and how these factors affect equipment efficiency

 

Mobilising for Waste Reduction for one of the world’s largest producers of multi-layered packaging bags

Client situation & approach

Our client is one of the world’s largest producers of multi-layered packaging bags. The major part of the company’s cost is made up of raw material costs and a target had been set to reduce waste by 30 %. A data collection system to identify defect modes was implemented which was followed by restoring basic conditions (cleaning, inspection, lubrication and tagging), identifying root causes to defects and counter measures to these. To withhold the gains and create lasting results new routines were set in place.

Results

• 55 % waste reduction
• 250K EUR of annual savings
• 29 collaborators trained in the new standards
• Improved teamwork between production and maintenance employees
• Establishment of machine care by production personnel

 

Successful Cultural Change for a global leader in packaging solutions

Client situation & approach

Our client is a global leader in packaging solutions who is encoun- tering a severe lack of motivation from employees, a low level of efficiency from the steering committee, an ageing site and impaired perception of the site. The problems can be traced to a merger of two business units. A program integrating Behavior & OperationalExcellence was designed and implemented, including:

• Performance Behavior
• Change Management
• Operational Performance
• Visual Management
• Steering (monitoring results)

Results

• One year without accidents
• Plant meets food and beverage standards again
• Steering team cohesion achieved
• Award for best F&D-progression
• The plant has become a reference plant when it comes to making and succeeding in how to make a cultural change

 

Digital performance control system implementation in chemicals

Client situation & approach

Our client, the Food Specialties branch of a major chemical group, aimed at increasing the output of its enzyme business, which was constrained by the supply. Confronted with a lack of performance culture and of execution discipline, the management had the ambition to have full transparency, to provide an integrated view on performance and to leverage on digital and advanced analytics, with the objective to increase the output of a site in France by 40% in 12 months, without major capacity investments.

An ambitious Digital Performance Control System was implemented during 6 weeks through a step-by-step and bottom-up approach: starting with daily site, then underlying sectors, adding problem solving, leveraging on behaviour (prepare, facilitate, action closing, …), improving meeting content in a participative way, integrating data.

Results

• Important impact on meeting efficiency (shorter meetings, less participants, better coverage, automatic data feed, …): 40%
• Huge impact on meeting effectiveness (coherence, speed of intervention, right topics, deeper insights, quality of root cause analysis, … and especially discipline on action closing)

 

Problem solving digitization in a chemical organisation

Client situation & approach

Our client is a major European chemical organisation whose organisation had undergone a global Manufacturing Excellence program but was concerned with the capture and sharing of knowledge around problem solving. We introduced EFESO digital collaborative problem-solving platform that learns from each problem and connects the dots within the organization through machine learning. We used the following approach:

• Demonstrate the value of our Problem-Solving module at the largest plant within a focused team (ca.10 maintenance & production engineers / technicians), digitizing problem-solving process
• Roll-out the module in an organic way across the organization, using online training and coaching by change agents

Results

• More problems solved (access to the right experts, deeper analysis, more rigorous action plan follow-up)
• Less bureaucracy (paperless, centralized monitoring and reporting)
• Knowledge capitalization (captures 100% of each problem-solving initiative from start to finish)

 

Driving organic growth in an organization matured with World Class Operations Management WCOM™

Client situation & approach

The client is a leading player in the agri-food industry, with EUR 4 b net sales.

After five years of the successful deployment of a WCOM Operations Excellence Program in Production and Logistics, the focus was turned to building and driving Growth through excellence in marketing & sales and innovation.

A pilot phase was started with ten improvement teams in growth planning, performance management, customer and offering management, sales & marketing execution.

A Growth Assessment was carried out in 3 core business units, based on Growth Opportunities to build a 3-year strategy implementation plan, including a Capability Gap Closure Plan.

growthAn End-to-End improvement program, involving the entire company from Business team to Operations, was implemented.

Results

• Successful turnaround of two business units returning to strong growth (best-in-group)
• For two core businesses, Share-of-pocket based growth plans were implemented
• The time thieves in sales force were reduced, thus doubling effective quality sales time
• Sales gap mapping and Closure Customer Interfaces were secured and Individual Steering Cards for sales reps were designed
• The organization has now acquired the capability to systematically execute Improvement Teams in Sales & Marketing

 

Developing creative growth strategies to capture value

Client situation & approach

The client is a multinational consumer healthcare / pharma company, with EUR 33 billion in sales, is present in 100 countries and employs more than 110.000 people.

The ambition was to become n°5 and n°2 worldwide in two product categories, creating and maintaining an entrepreneurial attitude for smart decisions taken at global level.

Market, business, trends & needs analysis was performed through a network of experts and innovators to capture growth opportunities.

The assignment contained development of distinct growth strategies considering the «company fit» including capabilities, culture, brand analysis, M&A opportunity identification and innovation stream.

Multiple risk analyses and business cases for deployment of global and regional growth initiatives were developed.

Results

• Eight strategic scenarios were designed, each one containing a coherent strategic direction to reach the target turnover
• P&L impact of all strategic scenarios was quantified and an overview of the sensitivities of each business case was drafted
• The innovation stream produced ten fully developed concepts

 

Growth Excellence pilot with market leader in mineral building materials

Client situation & approach

A world-wide leader in mineral building materials had the growth target in its Central East Europe premises to double turnover in 5 years and increase EDM (Effective Direct Margin) by 1 p.p. per year. The client is mature in manufacturing operations, thanks to a five-year WCOM (World Class Operations Management) program but, was experiencing a low market share and thereby uncaptured margin potential in the pilot market for its main product domain worldwide.

The company’s sales operation identified a 20% Time Thieves Loss. Further to this, a major loss area was ineffective preparation, execution and follow up of customer meetings. No behavior element was present in the operational sales steering. A Pilot Growth Excellence Program was designed, leveraging the strengths of the WCOM maturity on the operations side and centered on Growth on every agenda, Management by priority for breakthrough results, Share-of-pocket obsession, Bottoms-up gap-closing of sales efficiency and Boosting local sales activity level

EFESO tailored a Growth Excellence pilot program with four core modules: Performance Behavior in Sales, Time Thief hunting in Sales, Effective Customer Meetings, Share-of-Pocket based Growth planning.

Results

• In the 3-year pilot project, they had sales growth of 10% CAGR, twice the underlying market growth, as well as achieving the set target of EDM improvement of 1,0 p.p. per year
• Share-of-Pocket increased significantly in the target growth segment, as well as the number of sales visits and the number of new customers
• Thanks to the Performance Behavior Module, a deep mindset change occurred in the organization. In particular, the degree of autonomy and drive to develop business and ways of working was boosted
• A next wave of improvement activities was planned to further expand the results of this pilot phase

 

Successful implementation of global WCOM™ Project in Cosmetics

Client situation & approach

The client is one of the world’s leading cosmetics manufacturing groups, which has 4 divisions: FMCG, Luxury, Professional Products and Cosmetic Active Products.

Our client wants to overcome a range of issues:

• Marketing comes first and Manufacturing second
• It had a bad experience with other consultants in some plants in the past
• It is not familiar with WCOM™ (World Class Operations Management) and thinks it is the best at everything
• It has never worked with a worldwide consulting company

EFESO started the implementation of a WCOM™ programme for 29 plants in 15 countries over 4 years, and it was also implemented in all new plants.

• The first plant was in Mexico
• The next 3 years covered 14 European plants
• Simultaneously working in 8 plants in North and Latin American, 4 plants in Asia and 2 plants in Africa

Results

• A successful first-time worldwide project
• 20% improvement in worldwide involvement over 2 years
• 259 teams launched since the beginning of the program
• Efficiency Improvement led to add 20% of production capacity worldwide with the same plants. OEE% from 58% to 70%
• Material losses reduction by 30% (from EUR 140M to EUR 90M)
• The group as global entity won the “Operational Excellence Prize” and one of the plants was rewarded as “Best French plant of the Year”

 

 

Cosmetic client uses Lean-Agile to meet the aggressive demands of the market place

Client situation & approach

This client is working in the highly aggressive and competitive environment of cosmetic make up. These market conditions are forcing an increase in the number of product / collection launches per year from four to six. Alongside this increase in launches is the need to keep costs at target level.

EFESO supported by:

• Assessing and Transforming the client’s product development process to become Lean-Agile
• Creating a blueprint design of the product development process and organization, which was aimed at waste elimination and resource utilization improvement
• Redesigning of the project management system
• Introducing Lean tools and methodologies (Pull planning, Kanban, Scrum, Obeya) as well as training

Results

• Introduction of project selection via cascaded matrices
• 25% reduction of critical path activities
• Reviewed project management and introduced Design Cycle and Design Review
• Resource workload levelling and SCRUM in the functions
• From 20% to 40% time to market reduction on different categories
• Project on Time was improved to 97%

 

 

Performance behavior & WCOM™

Client situation & approach

Our client is going through a process of establishing an omni-channel strategy. This requires a restructuring and integration of its distribution network. The opportunity for change at it’s key distribution center includes:

• Optimisation of operations and cost reduction
• Identification and delivery of improvement projects
• Creation of a continuous improvement culture and way of working
• Development of performance oriented culture and behaviors.

RESULTS

• Increased productivity and reduction of labour costs (>10% within year 1)
• The establishment of a new management system, including the training and coaching of all managerial and supervisory levels
• Optimised product flow and resource planning resulting in an increased capacity of the DC
• Incorporated a continuous improvement approach within the operating model