We worked with a large automotive company on a purchasing transformation. A key objective was the transition to a new operating model that would differentiate between strategic buyers and transactional buyers.
A limiting factor was the inefficiency built into the company’s legacy model. Buyers were spending time on non-value-adding and non-differentiating activity. Rapid growth had compounded these issues.
In just 4 weeks our objective was to:
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Identify opportunities to shift buyer time away from non-value-adding and transactional-based activity
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Develop recommendations that yielded benefit to release at least 10% capacity across the purchasing function
The solution
We collaborated with a team of buyers to conduct an end-to-end process diagnostic. This included:
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Building capability through the delivery of Lean awareness training that educated the buyer community on key Lean principles, concepts and tools
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Identifying improvement opportunities through a 4-week diagnostic. We leveraged DILO (day-in-the-life-of) techniques to observe the actual work and distinguish between time spent on value-adding vs non-value-adding activity
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Developing a diagnostic report with solution work packages that unlocked benefits across multiple improvement levers e.g. Simplification, Automation via Robotic Process Automation and Outsourcing to a shared service centre.
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Designing a programme to deliver all identified improvement opportunities
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Ensuring each work package had a sponsor, delivery lead, and a clear path to delivery
The result
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FTE productivity benefits identified & validated
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Direct cost savings identified as a result of outsourcing and RPA opportunities
