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THE COMPANY A privately owned independent general printing company employing some 120 people. THE CHALLENGE The business was experiencing substantial financial losses month on month, perhaps within two months of putting the business into the hands of the receiver. Back-On-Track was called in initially to help make improvements to the manufacturing process in an attempt to reduce operating cost. THE STRATEGY It soon became clear that an improvement of 15% - 20% in manufacturing cost would do little to stem the fast emerging cash flow problem. A more thorough review of the business revealed that the cause of the problem was in the business strategy itself. Several key business processes were in fact either not functioning well or missing completely. Following a resizing exercise, (aimed at reducing the cash outflow) a programme to take the strategic, tactical and operational management teams through the process of developing a business strategy was designed and executed. This resulted in a refocusing of the sales effort, re-emphasis on margin and revenue not just revenue, the business processes, organisational structure and management information systems were reviewed and reengineered. THE BENEFITS
QUOTES FROM THE MANAGEMENT "Properly designed and documented processes are the key to understanding where you are…before we found it difficult to differentiate between fact and opinion" Director of Operations "It’s absolutely crucial to understand the difference between what you want to do and how to do it. If you don’t get the what straight the how becomes irrelevant." Director of Finance ADDENDUM Over the nine months since the introduction of the Business Strategy, the Company has moved form having to react on a daily basis to Customer complaints to achieving "Number One Print Supplier" status with two of its major clients (both multinational businesses). In both cases beating much larger competing organisations to top spot. "Last year at this time we were all running around like men possessed, trying to resolve quality issues, late deliveries and trying to placate angry Customers. We also realised that although we were very busy, we were not making money.... All that has changed now, we have a very much more controlled environment, we have increasingly good relations with our Customers and we know what makes money and what doesn't" Managing Director
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