The Catalyst

The Supply Chain Director started to build a new strategy to step change the way the function operated within the business. He engaged his leadership team in the challenge where he wanted to develop solutions to deliver the following:

They wanted to develop solutions to deliver the following:
  • The People Plan for the SC function to enable the delivery and execution of the new strategy
  • A Continuous Improvement Programme – A tailored programme designed to transform the logistics operation within Northern Europe
  • A leadership capability programme to develop the future leaders of the Supply Chain function. To become ‘end to end’ thinkers and deliver the new strategy
  • A comprehensive development programme available for all of Supply Chain covering Continuous Improvement techniques and Business first thinking defining how to maximise my impact on the business
  • The People Plan for the SC function to enable the delivery and execution of the new strategy
  • A Continuous Improvement Programme – A tailored programme designed to transform the logistics operation within Northern Europe
  • A leadership capability programme to develop the future leaders of the Supply Chain function. To become ‘end to end’ thinkers and deliver the new strategy
  • A comprehensive development programme available for all of Supply Chain covering Continuous Improvement techniques and Business first thinking defining how to maximise my impact on the business
“It wasn’t just the tangible results we attained working with People Hub it was the intangible results of behavioural changes and the positive impact on the culture that made the real difference to the multi-solution approach we took”.

European Supply Chain Director

The Solution

The key insights we identified during the initial scoping of the programmes were:

The Need For Aligned Leadership

The need to ensure the leadership team were aligned with the new strategy and they had the capability to lead the change

Develop Culture and Skills

To develop the culture and technical skills in logistics to transform the way SC worked

Supply Chain Effectiveness

To develop the leaders of the future to drive Supply Chain effectiveness in the business for the next 3-5 years

Add Value

To add value to the Supply Chain employer brand to attract and retain key talent

The Solutions

We worked with the SC leadership team and created a suite of programmes and projects to address the challenges identified.

  • We create a talent programme for the leadership talent pool called Blue Rockit. It consisted of 6 key elements of leadership along with the delivery of strategic projects to improve the SC operation.
  • We created a number of workshops and projects to increase the general capability for all of the SC teams to drive the impact and effectiveness across the European business. This programme was called Launch Pad.
  • We also developed a tailored Continuous Improvement programme that delivered tangible business efficiencies to ensure Supply Chain became a world class function that outperforms the competition. As part of this programme we started to deploy focused improvement projects and 5S to build the new culture of team work and cross functional effectiveness.
  • We used the P4 diagnostic tool (Purpose, Performance Culture, People Capability, Process & Organisation Structure) to develop the people plan with the SC leadership team. We worked with the team to engage the wider SC audience in the deployment of the new strategy. Some of the programmes we developed and deployed were key parts of the people plan, including the transformation of the Logistics team.
Future Proof Outcomes
Key Successes

The combination of programmes we designed and executed had a huge impact on the business, the people and teams that made Supply Chain effective. The key successes were:

  • We had a successful 5S programme that supported the cultural change in Logistics
  • The Continuous Improvement programme enabled us to increase the capability of our employees and the way we worked. We had a 20% reduction in agency staff resulting in £600k/yr saving in employment costs
  • The strength of our success plan increased by 33% and the number of external hires decreased saving c£60k in recruitment costs
  • The team had an agreed purpose which created an alignment and increased working effectiveness with the Commercial functions. These new ways of working had a huge impact on the S&OP process and allowed us to get products to market faster. We had a 5% EBITDA increase on 2 key product ranges through our Retail channels
  • We experienced a business wide ’hacking’ of the ERP system. The whole leadership team attending the Blue Rockit programme ‘stepped up’ to alleviate key problems with supply levels and customer satisfaction. The estimated cost saving was £250k due to this intervention
Key Successes

The combination of programmes we designed and executed had a huge impact on the business, the people and teams that made Supply Chain effective. The key successes were:

  • We had a successful 5S programme that supported the cultural change in Logistics
  • The Continuous Improvement programme enabled us to increase the capability of our employees and the way we worked. We had a 20% reduction in agency staff resulting in £600k/yr saving in employment costs
  • The strength of our success plan increased by 33% and the number of external hires decreased saving c£60k in recruitment costs
  • The team had an agreed purpose which created an alignment and increased working effectiveness with the Commercial functions. These new ways of working had a huge impact on the S&OP process and allowed us to get products to market faster. We had a 5% EBITDA increase on 2 key product ranges through our Retail channels
  • We experienced a business wide ’hacking’ of the ERP system. The whole leadership team attending the Blue Rockit programme ‘stepped up’ to alleviate key problems with supply levels and customer satisfaction. The estimated cost saving was £250k due to this intervention