The path to operational excellence in indirect areas
Operational Excellence
STAUFEN AMAZONAS FRAMEWORK
The challenge of modern companies
Many companies today are facing significant challenges that require profound changes in their indirect areas. The rapid progress of digitalization is demanding and challenging for many organizations. At the same time, the rising costs of products and indirect areas are shrinking profit margins. Short product life cycles and the pressure to innovate put companies under additional pressure. Complicated processes and long order processing times hinder efficiency and increase complexity. An increasing employee turnover leads to a loss of valuable know-how.
The Amazonas Framework as a solution
This is where the Amazonas framework comes in. The goal is to achieve measurable success through operational excellence in the indirect areas. The framework uses performance enablers in various performance clusters to achieve a sustainable, flexible and efficient performance. It offers a structured and holistic approach to address the pain points mentioned above and to measurably increase and continuously improve the performance of the indirect areas, their value contribution, measurably and continuously improve it.
You can achieve holistic operational excellence by taking the step from production to sales, marketing and development. This will gain a pull effect that will boost everyone away. Historically, the start is often in production areas. The market and development side should be integrated at an early stage in order to set up the base for excellent processes.
Alexander Bartel Managing Director, Gebr. Brasseler Gmbh & Co. KG
Why Amazonas?
The name “Amazonas” was deliberately chosen because it symbolizes the great river that flows through various landscapes in South America and connects numerous ecosystems. The Amazonas is not only one of the largest rivers in the world, but also a synonym for constant flow, growth, and diversity – principles that are also of central importance in Lean Management.
Just as the river is constantly moving and provides life to everything in its environment, the Amazonas framework is intended to ensure that processes in the indirect areas are designed to be fluid and efficient. It promotes a continuous improvement process that connects and optimizes the various areas of a company.
Structuring knowledge
Managing data
Ensuring knowledge availability
Designing end-to-end
Making it measurable
Reducing waste
Managing portfolio
Managing deviations
Proceeding iteratively
Ensuring agility
Designing a network
Shaping change
Leading effectively
Promoting team performance
Developing talents
Developing a digitization strategy
Digitizing processes
Using AI
Structuring knowledge
Managing data
Ensuring knowledge availability
Performance clusters and their enablers
The framework is divided into seven performance clusters, each containing specific enablers to enable the necessary transformation:
Service portfolio: This involves managing the entire life cycle of products, reducing complexity costs, and establishing sustainable practices. By optimizing the service portfolio, companiescan reduce their costs while achieving their sustainability goals.
Processes: The design of end-to-end processes, the measurability of processes and the elimination of waste are key elements. Efficient processes lead to better controllability and shorter lead times, which in turn increases competitiveness.
Projects: Effective project portfolio management, deviation management and iterative approaches ensure that projects are completed successfully. This increases the flexibility and adaptability of the organization.
Organization: Agility, network design and change management are key issues. An agile organization can react quickly to market challanges and successfully implement change processes.
Collaboration: Effective leadership, driving team performance and talent development are critical to success. Strong collaboration leads to higher team performance and better employee retention.Collaboration: Effective leadership, driving team performance and talent development are critical to success. Strong collaboration leads to higher team performance and better employee retention.
Digitalization: Focus is on developing a digitalization strategy, digitalization processes, and using artificial intelligence. This improves data availability, makes processes more efficient and increases the ability to innovate.
Knowledge management: Structuring knowledge, managing data, and ensuring knowledge availability are the main tasks here. Effective knowledge management leads to better use of information and faster decision-making.
Target state achieved
Through the targeted application of performance enablers in the various clusters, companies achieve operational excellence. That is characterized by high efficiency, flexibility, and sustainability throughout the entire organization.
These improvements are measurable and are reflected in optimized costs, improved processes, increased employee satisfaction and lead to increased customer benefits.
Nicolas Romfeld is Project Manager at STAUFEN.AG. He is Coach for executives, employees and teams, as well as Consultant for agile work and lean management. Already during his studies, he used lean management methods within student consulting projects. Since then, he managed several optimization projects with STAUFEN. Quality Engineers and STAUFEN.AG, in different industries, in production and assembly as well as in indirect areas. Currently, Nicolas Romfeld is specialized on collaboration in development departments using lean development. Agile work is his passion for more than five years, that’s why he is significantly involved in the development and expansion of Staufen’s consulting approach Agile Performance. He is also a companion for employees, teams, and companies in the transition towards an agile organization.
Michael Metzger is an experienced Lean consultant for indirect areas, functions and processes. While studying for an industrial engineer degree, he had early gained experience due to his practical activities with lean approaches. On this basis, he initially carried out several Lean Administration projects in various areas of the automotive industry at home and abroad. Subsequently, he transferred the approach also in other branches such as e.g. machinery and plant construction, logistics, energy industries and the banking industry he was able to achieve significant improvements. His experience as coach and trainer completes his competency profile. Michael Metzger has been an adviser at Staufen AG since 2013, he started as a consultant in Lean Administration and works as a Project Manager since 2016.
Staufen, your reference for Operational Excellence. As the leading top management consultancy for operational excellence, we enable our clients to improve results in all areas along the value chain.
Dr. Christoph Weiss has formed companies from a diverse range of situations in his career: advisor, restructuring manager, corporate manger, and proprietor. As CEO of C & E Fein GmbH, he has worked with the support of Staufen AG to focus more closely on the indirect areas. In a discussion with Christian Möllers, a partner at Staufen AG, he explains how they went about raising efficiency potential there.
How to achieve operational excellence in indirect areasExcellent in indirect areas
Global competition and the economic downturn are forcing companies to optimize their costs. An often overlooked potential lies in the indirect areas. Savings of 15 to 25 percent can be achieved through holistic optimization approaches.
But indirect areas are rarely addressed comprehensively, mostly due to a lack of transparency and measurable performance indicators. A holistic approach requires a unified view of all resources.
This allows areas to be evaluated, benchmarks to be established, and priorities to be set.
