Operations Excellence
Achieving operational excellence is the "holy grail" that leads to increased value over the long term. It is one of the essential strategic differentiation factors that provides answers to company growth, efficiency, cost and profitability issues. Companies that have a functional operational strategy and are prepared to make difficult changes to improve their business are the "best in class."
The first edition of think: act International Management Knowledge, entitled "Operations Excellence – Smart Solutions for Business Success", critically examines their strategies and pinpoints approaches that will enable companies to achieve operations excellence.
This series of management books expands on the reach of the award-winning international client magazine think: act. The first edition addresses operations excellence and smart solutions for business success. In four chapters, 26 experts from seven countries tackle today's key management issues. In Part I, approaches and cases from R&D are introduced and discussed. Part II deals with trends and approaches in sourcing and purchasing and Part III examines developments in the field of manufacturing. Part IV looks at means to improve supply chain management and covers aspects such as comprehensive process optimization, reducing complexity and improving working capital.
The first edition of think: act International Management Knowledge, entitled "Operations Excellence – Smart Solutions for Business Success", critically examines their strategies and pinpoints approaches that will enable companies to achieve operations excellence.
This series of management books expands on the reach of the award-winning international client magazine think: act. The first edition addresses operations excellence and smart solutions for business success. In four chapters, 26 experts from seven countries tackle today's key management issues. In Part I, approaches and cases from R&D are introduced and discussed. Part II deals with trends and approaches in sourcing and purchasing and Part III examines developments in the field of manufacturing. Part IV looks at means to improve supply chain management and covers aspects such as comprehensive process optimization, reducing complexity and improving working capital.
Learning from the "best in class"
This book deals with the following questions: What value should a company create itself and what value should be generated by external parties? Where are the company's production sites and which key technologies and products take center stage? How and where does a company manage and support innovation? Where is a company's supplier base mainly located and how can the supply chain be steered to achieve maximum effects?
The authors provide answers based on their extensive consulting experience, gained while working with leading industrial companies over many years. They keep two things in mind: What do leading companies do? And what can we learn from their approach?
Axel Schmidt, head of Operations Strategy at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, says: "This book provides many helpful suggestions that enable managers to achieve operations excellence within their own company." At the beginning of the 20th century, Henry Ford developed modern assembly lines to manufacture cars, which marked the beginning of a decisive and formative paradigm shift. "These days, the principle of operations excellence has spread far beyond traditional manufacturing industries and is now shaping entirely new sectors," Schmidt says. McDonald's, for instance, extended the main features for operations excellence and made them relevant for the restaurant sector.
This book deals with the following questions: What value should a company create itself and what value should be generated by external parties? Where are the company's production sites and which key technologies and products take center stage? How and where does a company manage and support innovation? Where is a company's supplier base mainly located and how can the supply chain be steered to achieve maximum effects?
The authors provide answers based on their extensive consulting experience, gained while working with leading industrial companies over many years. They keep two things in mind: What do leading companies do? And what can we learn from their approach?
Axel Schmidt, head of Operations Strategy at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, says: "This book provides many helpful suggestions that enable managers to achieve operations excellence within their own company." At the beginning of the 20th century, Henry Ford developed modern assembly lines to manufacture cars, which marked the beginning of a decisive and formative paradigm shift. "These days, the principle of operations excellence has spread far beyond traditional manufacturing industries and is now shaping entirely new sectors," Schmidt says. McDonald's, for instance, extended the main features for operations excellence and made them relevant for the restaurant sector.
Three levels of excellence
"There are three levels of operations excellence," explains Roland Schwientek, one of the editors and a Partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. The first level –strategy –provides companies with information on how they should go their own way toward best practice and the milestones they should chart on their medium- and long-term- horizons. The second level is that of performance improvement. It provides answers to questions such as: Which service level must my company reach to be competitive and achieve a leading edge? What requirements should my company expect from asset productivity and what should be the cap for our various cost types? The third level addresses the so-called "enablers." This level answers questions about the correct organizational form, best processes, most appropriate human resources and key performance indicators, as well as infrastructure excellence fields such as IT.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this or any other story, please do not hesitate to contact us:
"There are three levels of operations excellence," explains Roland Schwientek, one of the editors and a Partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. The first level –strategy –provides companies with information on how they should go their own way toward best practice and the milestones they should chart on their medium- and long-term- horizons. The second level is that of performance improvement. It provides answers to questions such as: Which service level must my company reach to be competitive and achieve a leading edge? What requirements should my company expect from asset productivity and what should be the cap for our various cost types? The third level addresses the so-called "enablers." This level answers questions about the correct organizational form, best processes, most appropriate human resources and key performance indicators, as well as infrastructure excellence fields such as IT.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this or any other story, please do not hesitate to contact us:
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