Case Studies

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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%.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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
• Potential reduction of lead times around 20%
• Potential reduction of working capital by 35%

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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. 

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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.

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

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 %

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

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

Client situation & approach

Our client is a large paper manufacturer facing an investment ina 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

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

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

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

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)

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)

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

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

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 priorityfor breakthrough results, Share-of-pocketobsession, Bottoms-up gap-closingof 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

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”

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%

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