Management Consulting
Operations Transformation: How to Successfully Become a Resilient, Futureproof Organization
Why Do Businesses Need Operations Transformation?
Manufacturing industries are under increasing pressure to change. Political and economic crises, strict regulatory requirements, and a growing shortage of skilled workers are making cost-effective operations more difficult than ever. Operations leaders are facing an unprecedented level of fragility and complexity. Isolated or short-term transformation efforts are no longer enough to address these challenges.
Instead, what businesses need is comprehensive and continuous operations transformation. This operations transformation aligns the entire operations system with the business strategy for long-term success, maximizes value creation, and ensures effective implementation of the functional strategy.
Operations transformation is essential for successfully navigating the constant changes businesses face today.
What Are the Core Challenges for Companies in Manufacturing?
Managing Change: Faster, More Flexibly, and with Greater Agility
Manufacturing industries have always faced pressure to adapt to changing market demands. However, business conditions are becoming increasingly challenging, with more complex economic structures, rising cost pressures, and rapid technological advancements. These factors are driving significant changes in production, logistics, and supply chain operations.
Many questions remain unanswered, yet businesses must respond faster, more flexibly, and with greater agility than ever before.
From Strategy to Effective Implementation
Most companies are aware that they need to adapt to stay successful in the future. However, there remains a challenge: transferring business strategy to business operations and implementing it on the shop floor effectively.
There is often a lack of internal capacity, operational expertise, or a leadership culture that is open to change and strong implementation. Isolated and uncoordinated initiatives also reduce the effectiveness of improvement efforts.
To master these challenges, you need to apply a structured, comprehensive approach and consider all levels of hierarchy.
Our experts are more than happy to help you develop a comprehensive approach for your operations transformation:
How Do Businesses Manage Their Operations Transformation?
Operations transformation is a comprehensive approach which spans from business strategy to effective implementation in the production system. By taking this approach, those responsible for business operations – such as Chief Operational Officers and executive team members – can make sure that the right issues are identified and executed.
At Ingenics Consulting, we have a three-step concept for this approach:
Operations Strategy
At a strategic level, key areas and directions of action are defined to match operational performance capabilities with business strategy. Topics such as production footprint, capacity utilization, supply chains, sourcing, and technology road maps provide a framework for all operational structures and processes.
Operations Design
At the conceptual level, strategy specifications are translated into concrete concepts. Take the production network for example: The specific roles that each plant takes on are defined, and the methods for optimizing utilization, market strategy, and flexibility are spelled out. Target concepts and standards are developed in a similar way for other issue categories (e.g., technological or organizational topics).
Operations Execution & Improvement
At the implementation level, the goal is to put concepts into action, such as through location strategies, technology integration, or process optimization. The focus is on project and change management, along with continuous improvement, aimed at transforming strategic goals into measurable outcomes.
Three Key Areas of Action in Operations Transformation
For a successful operations transformation, it's essential to embed three key areas of action into the organization and consider them throughout every step of the transformation process:
Lean
The Foundation for Raising Efficiency
Lean methodology is essential for excellent and flexible production systems and operational excellence. It is about having lean, robust processes and including employees. The aim is to create value and eliminate activities that do not add value for customers.
Green
An Important Aspect of Cost Effectiveness
Acting sustainably is cost effective and ecologically necessary. Businesses need to optimize their global footprint, make their supply chains resource friendly, and use renewable sources of energy to stay competitive.
Digital
A Key Enabler of Transformation
Digital technologies are the enabler of lean and green measures. They create transparency, make data-based findings possible, and connect strategy, people, and processes for efficient and autonomous business management.
Ingenics Is Your Partner for Operations Strategy and Transformation Management
A successful holistic transformation of your operations requires persistence and a thoughtful approach. It can generate lasting improvements with minimal resources, making it a highly effective investment. Thanks to our many years of experience in operations strategy and in implementing optimization projects at the shop floor level, we’re able to turn strategic initiatives into measures that are ready to operationalize.
Operations Consulting: Strategy and Implementation Combined
In business transformation, we begin by assessing your company's current situation, using a status quo analysis as the foundation for our consulting services. After that, we apply a T-approach, which combines strategy and implementation. This approach involves creating a customized roadmap for transforming your value chains, while also prioritizing and implementing measures across all operational levels—from strategy and design to implementation and continuous improvement.