'The biggest bang for the buck' did you find him?

Imagine: a triathlete who is training for the triathlon ... During his training he has to focus on all three aspects: swimming, cycling and running, but in what order should he divide his energy? His goal is not to achieve the best time on a separate part, but to achieve a good total time. In which way can he best organize training hours, and what part should he focus on? In short: where is the biggest bang for the buck for this triathlete ?.  

The example of the triathlete can also be translated into the design of an internal production process. This device can be translated into three categories: the strategy, the tactical design and the operational processes. The strategy would, among other things, determine the objectives of the organization and thereby determine what is measured to monitor progress. The tactical design then looks at the distribution of resources, and the operational processes are the core activities of the organization, which are measured with different KPIs. The triathlete could set a strategy to become '1st in the triathlon', the tactical design consists of a training schedule and the operational processes are the training itself, with as KPI for example certain lap times. In the optimal situation these three categories are perfectly aligned, but in practice there is often room for improvement.

Improvement
But where is this improvement? The easy (and often not optimal) way is first and foremostst steer on continuous improvement within the operation. In some cases there is still a lot to be gained, but in other cases this investment may not lead to an improvement in the achievement of set goals, or it is not efficient because these investments are too high in relation to the improvement in the process. It can then be better to improve the preconditions of the process. This can be done on the one hand by dividing the current resources differently, but it is also possible that simply more resources are needed to realize improvement. Are the goals set still not achieved after completing the previous three steps? Then there is a big chance that the strategic goals have been too ambitious with regard to the maximum achievable improvement within the organization, and these will have to be adjusted.

Research
In order to test the above idea in practice, I would like to get in touch with production / operations managers within beer breweries in the Netherlands and Belgium. This industry is extremely suitable and interesting for my type of research, due to, among other things, the different company sizes. The objective of the interviews is to gather practical information, which is used as input to develop an all-encompassing model. This model will ultimately serve as a basis for analyzing the current situation within organizations and identifying the most effective method for achieving process optimization.

Do you want to know where 'the biggest bang for the buck' is for your organization? Are you or do you know someone who works at a beer brewery? Then contact Jesper and take part in the research! Interested in the outcome of the research? Keep an eye on our website for the results!

Jesper van Winkel- Master Internal Supply Value - +316 51013679 - j.vanwinkel@supplyvalue.nl