Focus Project

Real Operational Excellence for tangible efficiency increases

Q: What is the goal of this project – and what isn't?

Goal is a clear diagnosis of your value stream and a roughly developed action plan for layout, Operational Excellence building blocks and ERP processes. Operational implementation (workshops, conversions, process redesign in detail, ERP customising) is expressly not part of this project and can be commissioned separately.

Q: How deep do we go into the ERP system?

We consider ERP processes along the value stream: from order through disposition and manufacturing to warehouse and dispatch, including typical workarounds and media breaks. Technical detailed implementation or system change aren't envisaged – this concerns a functional target picture and prioritised starting points for later implementation.

Q: Which results concretely exist at the end?

You receive documented value stream analysis, an overview of key problem points and waste plus 2–3 rough target pictures for layout, Operational Excellence standards and ERP support. From this we derive a prioritised action and implementation roadmap in clear work packages.

Q: How strongly are employees involved?

Workshops and walk-throughs deliberately take place with employees from manufacturing, logistics, planning and IT because they know actual procedures and hurdles best. This creates a realistic picture – and acceptance for later Operational Excellence programmes and ERP adaptations.

We analyse value stream, layout and processes, identify bottlenecks and outline how you reduce production costs with Operational Excellence building blocks.

Current Situation

This focus project is for you if at least one of these points applies

1. **Your manufacturing delivers but only with much improvisation** Material flows, layout and planning have grown historically, lead times are difficult to predict, and many problems are solved ad hoc on the shop floor rather than structured within an Operational Excellence approach. 2. **Inventories and WIP are higher than you'd like** Intermediate storage, work in progress and safety stocks tie up capital without it being clear which steps in the value stream are actually necessary and where waste arises. 3. **Excellence standards and metrics are sporadic but not consistently anchored** Individual methods like 5S, Kanban, standard work or OEE exist, but a consistent Operational Excellence framework connecting layout, working methods and control is missing. 4. **ERP and production reality don't properly fit together** ERP processes were designed rather "IT-driven" than from value stream, many procedures run via Excel or workarounds, and data help only limitedly with planning and control.

To the case study

Project Deliverables

Project objectives

- **A clear picture of how your value stream works today – and where it sticks** We visualise material, information and personnel flows from order receipt to dispatch and make visible where time, space and capacity are tied up without customer value. - **Concrete starting points for layout, Operational Excellence building blocks and ERP processes** Based on analysis we develop in broad strokes how factory layout, Excellence standards (e.g. 5S, Kanban, standardised procedures, visual management) and ERP procedures should work together so lead times fall and inventories drop. - **A prioritised action and implementation plan** You receive a structured overview of which levers can expect which effect, which steps make sense in which sequence and what can be implemented internally or with external support. Actual implementation (workshops, layout conversions, system customising) is commissioned separately.

Implementation

Our concrete steps here:

Can we help you? If this topic is relevant for you, we should talk.

Q&A

Most frequent questions and answers

1. What is the goal of this project – and what isn't?

2. How deep do we go into the ERP system?

3. Which results concretely exist at the end?

4. How strongly are employees involved?

From loss-making operation to viable business

How an industrial operation was sustainably turned around from -2 to +4 million EUR EBIT through clear decisions on costs, prices, product mix, and financing