Operations Strategy

Support functions enable business operations. Optimizing cost structures according to the lawnmower principle can significantly harm company performance. Our performance value analysis compares the costs and performance of organizational units, providing companies with an objective basis for making informed decisions on cost adjustments, such as internal optimization, in-house shared service units, or outsourcing. The key to optimization is to make the performance of overhead areas transparent and quantifiable, and to identify the relevant effort and cost drivers of each function to enable optimal, more flexible sizing of these areas.

In medical technology and pharmaceuticals in particular, but increasingly also in other industries, compliance with rapidly increasing legal requirements is crucial for securing or expanding a company's own market position. We structure and support quality programs, e.g. for the 28 FDA-relevant quality elements - from audit simulation to the definition and implementation of specific measures for each of the potentially affected corporate functions.

The corporate R&D project portfolio aims to ensure long-term company success through innovation. While companies often have no shortage of new product ideas, consistent evaluation and prioritization of innovation projects based on market success is crucial. Without this focus, attempts to develop everything at once with limited resources can lead to failure. The innovation pipeline is often overloaded, resulting in slow development and a high proportion of unsuccessful products. It takes the right methodology and entrepreneurial courage to identify early on which product developments are most likely to succeed. In today's dynamic sales markets, the ability to quickly and robustly bring successful products to market is crucial for long-term competitiveness. By optimizing R&D portfolios using design-to-target principles, development units can work more efficiently and achieve greater success.

Shorter delivery times and greater supply chain reliability can come at the cost of higher inventories, money, and risk. However, with intelligent positioning, these costs can be minimized. Segmentation of the supply chain, optimization of the location structure, and precise alignment with market requirements are particularly important in achieving this. This significantly improves the locations of production and logistics centers, as well as the handling of orders and distribution processes. Our location and segmentation models, the Inventory Optimizer and tried-and-tested material flow templates achieve significant improvements in delivery times, reliability and costs.

Suppliers can significantly impact a company's costs, delivery capabilities, and product quality. The key factors here are transparent costs, a structure that ensures supplier homogeneity within each product group, and clarity regarding the effectiveness of purchasing levers such as consolidation, internationalization, and substitution. Based on this information, product-specific strategies can be developed and successfully implemented with the appropriate purchasing organization. We assist companies in optimizing their purchasing function and realizing potential savings through spend analyses, product group portfolios, and cockpits. Significant savings can often be achieved most quickly in the purchasing department.