The first phase of an operational change project consists in setting the right ambitions for the change, defining the target and the strategy used to reach it.

This initial phase must be short enough to avoid the tunnel effect and quickly define the stakes, but it must take the time required to share the target and draw up the road map. Depending on the ambitions that are set, this phase should last between 8 and 12 weeks. The deliverables are:

• the diagnostic,
• key levers,
• the business case,
• the priorities,
• mobilization of the management board,
• the key components of the target (process, organization, governance rules, etc.),
• the road map of the change and critical human factors.

At Argon Consulting, this initial phase is conducted by very experienced teams, including the Associate Directors, who are closely involved. This approach allows for:

• quick understanding by our teams of the existing situation,
• identification of the levers of improvement as early as possible,
• discussions with the steering committee, in particular of our standards of best practices,
• recommendations on the change strategy, based on our broad experience of numerous projects.

Our modus operandi combines our unique business expertise in subjects that are often complex (demand and resource scheduling processes, governance of the supply chain, levers for stock optimization, arbitration between productivity and stocks, tension of flows, etc.) with a joint team effort to guarantee that the complete context and the objectives are taken into consideration by our teams, and that the proposed solutions are continuously adopted.

The change strategy must be defined as part of a collaborative process, where our feedback provides valuable input, but in which our customer’s specifics play a central role. This collaborative process, which can take the shape of a seminar, is a decisive step in obtaining the support and commitment of the key players about “How”,  “How fast?”, “Which priorities?”, “With which teams and which levels of availability?”, “Which conditions for the success of the human dimension?”, etc.

Argon Consulting has already supported many customers from all sectors in these crucial project phases, with objectives including:

• a drastic reduction of stocks across the entire scope of activity,
• the improvement of the customer service rate,
• the reduction of cycles in all processes (purchasing, production, distribution, etc.),
• the reduction of operational costs.