Companies have become more globalized, outsourced and technology-driven, resulting in the growing complexity of global operations. The need for simplifications has become greater.
It is a challenge for many companies to connect a sustainable product philosophy with the reality of its value chains. New product introductions have to be synchronized with the requirements of a globally distributed value creation. Planning, procurement, production and distribution do not just take place in a few sites close to the company’s headquarters, but throughout to a global distribution network. To make global value chains flexible, it is therefore essential to create an “end-to-end” perspective from customers to the supplier and back – thus integrating the entire system and making it transparent. Until now sustainability has played merely a minor role in the development of these tools.
Corporate sustainability mainly has to do with maintaining internal requirements regarding safety and environmental protection, which were recommended by jurisdiction or industry associations. Also, issues like saving energy costs and water usage, preventing the creation of waste and reducing CO2 are linked to corporate sustainability. Externalities, which are factors of production, that are available to the company free of charge but have not been included in financial records, are not yet taken into account.
As layers of processes, decision-making and IT systems swell to create an overload of complexity, business simplification and avoiding process waste is increasingly a strategic focus. The main symptoms of an overly complicated organization are:
Our Lean Operations (LEANOPS) methodology is a business simplification and roadmap approach that allows companies to scope, structure and deliver more straightforward and leaner process integration across the company and with value chain partners:
Our methodology LEANOPS uses a mix of own experience based approaches with industry leading frameworks and methods: