Value Chain Connections works with you to bring your key customer partnerships to life, focusing on:
When required, we can also provide additional analytical resource and support to assist in your information gathering.
Typically less than 10 customers will contribute over 40% of the revenue and profitability to your business. Segmentation also encapsulates other essential parameters – the customer’s current market share and ability to grow, their capacity for innovation and their willingness to collaborate. Understanding these elements enables you to implement processes that protect those customers that contribute the most value and enhance the relationships to enable both your customers and yourselves to grow market share.
Does your organisation understand those attributes most valued by your customers? Do you know how your customers rate your performance against those attributes? Do you know how your customers rate your performance against that of your competitors?
Understanding these parameters enables you to focus on those service parameters that bring the most value to your customers and gives you a commanding edge over your competition. Structured customer surveys provide the platform for your customers and you to grow market share.
Customer segmentation and CVM provides the foundation to extend your relationship with your key customers beyond the typical buyer/seller function to a matrix relationship extending across the technical, supply chain and finance functions. Managed through a joint governance structure, the role of the Account Manager transforms into that of a ‘conductor’, coordinating a range of initiatives that create value for both your customer and yourself to share in. Joint business plans and scoreboards are used to identify targets and monitor progress, mitigate risk and ensure the goals are achieved.
Have you identified productivity targets across your business? Do the targets in each department complement each other to align the organisational goals? Do your teams consistently meet or better the organisational targets?
Simplifying and aligning business processes forms the basis for improving productivity. Aligned systems and processes removes waste and engages employees. Standard work, including procedures, processes and calendars, provides structure to everyday processes and frees up employees to focus further on value-add activities.
An effective inventory management framework optimises inventory across the organisation, lowering working capital and releasing cash for further organisational investment.
How robust is your procurement strategy? By segmenting both your suppliers and your raw materials, you can identify those suppliers and products most critical to your organisation and implement strategies to mitigate business risk. Combined with a product life cycle management strategy, collaborative arrangements can be established with your most important suppliers, improving supplier responsiveness, reducing order lead time and further improving working capital.
Robust S&OP processes focus on customer demand, using customer segmentation as the enabler to protect profitable sales growth and superior customer service. Demand forecast accuracy initiatives can be implemented. Combined with manufacturing capacity planning, organisations can release capacity to take advantage of short term profitable sales opportunities whilst still protecting the core sales programme associated with the most valued customers.
Overall productivity results are visible through a simple Performance Scorecard, with appropriate targets for the agreed parameters. And the performance for the most valued customers and critical suppliers will be identified.
Value Chain Connections Ltd will facilitate the development of your Productivity A3 3-Year Business Plan, and assist you in identifying those key initiatives that deliver the most value.
Whilst innovation has been traditionally linked with the development of new products, encouraging our employees to ‘think laterally’ about our customers, processes, systems and products creates a culture of continuous improvement. The resultant customer-centric solutions, as well as efficiency gains, provides your organisation with the capability to grow your customers’ and your market shares, coordinated through the customer collaboration processes.
Reflective Thinking techniques form the basis of joint discussions, quickly generating a library of ideas from a range of stakeholders that can be used to target continuous improvement and product development initiatives.
