4. Operational Efficiency & Supplier/Category Management
- Do you engage key suppliers/customers in your 'lean' re-engineering studies?
- And champion collaboration within your 'category efficiency' assessments?
- Do you have 'Category Partnership' status - as a supplier?
- Do you have end-to-end 'value stream' mapping for all of your key processes?
- Are your business-critical relationships managed on 'Balanced Scorecard' principles?
- Have your 'lean' transformation/outsourcing assessments, been recently updated?
- Are your internal KPI's and SLA's in place? And are they up to date?
- Are they industry benchmarked to ensure that they are best-in-class?
With requirements for many organizations to now urgently reduce their 'cost to serve' - it is very tempting simply to 'slash' discretionary costs in the short-term… However, if you are for example a Tier 1 or Tier 2 supplier within a manufacturing/retail supply-chain environment - our 'Customer Alignment Scorecard' assessment can help you analyse both your internal operational efficiencies, as well as your key-client/customer 'value-add' against industry benchmarks... This will look at your key drivers and customer deliverables against a sector-specific 'balanced scorecard' framework - developed by some of the most rigorous and cost-efficient 'supplier-management' operators (and their multi-national / blue-chip suppliers...) based both here in the U.K. and across Europe...
This assessment will include scoring not only your overall commercial strategy / investment plans, but an open-book financial stability rating... It will look at your cost management regimes and ‘opportunity management’ / prioritisation; as well as resourcing and enabling technologies... It could also include your technical quality / innovation skills and competencies... Your stock management, planning and forecasting, range management and distribution punctuality / accuracy... Where appropriate any National Account function will be assessed, together with relevant production management regimes and supportive policies ( - including utilities, consumables and sub-contracting procurement; HR best-practice; health & safety; etc etc...)
All of these scorecards will focus on the critical 'value alignment' - meeting your customers' stated business objectives - either better and at the same cost; or at an ongoing reduced cost!... Our network of AJT Associates includes a number of senior buying/procurement experts - each of whom has 20+ years of direct experience in managing some of the key categories for 'world-class' retailers, against their continuing 'faster-better-cheaper' mantra...
If your priorities are even more urgent, and immediate overhead reduction is now paramount - again we can call upon extensive experience of world class approaches to 'lean-thinking', and the 'brown-papering' out of non-essential costs... We can bring direct experience of J-I-T and ERP approaches to the cost of complexity - within manufacturing contexts... As well as blue-chip consumer-facing businesses' approaches, to ranging and merchandising/selection and assortment policies...
Some recent AJT Associates projects...
- Manufacturing - We have conducted extensive value-chain programmes, within a 100+ strong supplier-base (including everything from owner-managed own-label manufacturers; to 'blue-chip' multi-national brands...) - delivering a sustainable -20% year-on-year cost-base reduction, across a £1bn+ business unit...
- Service - We have delivered a -20% cost reduction in the routes to market for a high street financial services operator - including customer research/journey-mapping; offshore I.T. development and new on-line service launches - as well as retail estate closures/re-locations... With NO reduction in customer satisfaction measures...
- Retail - We have generated a +19% increase in sales; with NO increase in head-count/overheads, for a high street retailer – through the detailed analysis of supply-chain; merchandising/replenishment policies; and space planning/adjacencies...
More details on how our team can rapidly add to your organisation's skill-base, can be found at Our Capabilities and Who We Are.
And a list of satisfied customers - together with details of some of our most recent commercial projects - can be found at Our Clients...
Call us now on 07974-201605 for more information...