Contact

Case studies

After sales and MRO

Description

More and more industrial manufacturers are shifting from an approach based on the sale of products to an approach based on the sale of services, in a drive to increase their productivity and find new opportunities for growth. The services on offer depend on the field of activity:

  • selling spare parts,
  • maintenance or repair operations,
  • general overhauls or upgrades,
  • parts repairs,
  • selling availability (sale per hour of use, penalties in the event of unavailability, etc.).

But, in order to provide these services, it is necessary to take account of the specifics of after-sales and the maintenance of systems in operational working order:

  • a service offer that is often demanding (availability, time to react, penalties, etc.)
  • an unforeseeable and erratic demand,
  • spare parts with low turnovers and highly inconsistent prices and criticality,
  • long supply lead-times (several months) for new products,
  • complex repair cycles,
  • unpredictable repair procedures,
  • rotables that must be quantified, repaired and distributed,
  • management of standard exchanges,
  • systems with multiple operational configurations that change over time,
  • parts that may be common to new product flows and the after-sales / MRO activity.

There are a number of levers that can be applied to performance. They must be adapted to each situation and each organization. Examples include:

  • the identification of service offers that meet customers’ real expectations,
  • the optimization of the distribution network and the stock policy in order to meet the demands of the service offer at the lowest possible price,
  • improved forecasts of equipment usage and spare parts sales,
  • optimization of volumes of stocks and rotables,
  • improved planning of parts and equipment repair activities,
  • greater flexibility of manufacturing resources in order to adapt to a fluctuating demand,
  • reduced repair cycles (Lean repairs),
  • better knowledge of the installed base and greater consideration of scheduled interventions,
  • improved control of equipment and parts life cycles (start of life, end of life, interchangeability, etc.),
  • etc.

Argon Consulting possesses the methods and the tools needed to identify and characterize points to be improved in the management of after-sales and the maintenance of systems in operational working order. Our interventions are based on best practices and a participative approach that aims to define the most appropriate paths of progress in each situation and to make the organization self-sufficient enough to durably implement these measures and their gains itself.

Team

Yvan Salamon – President

The founder and President of Argon Group, Yvan has managed and been directly involved in many assignments to improve operations (costs, cash flow), as well as industrial and logistics strategy assignments in the retail and manufacturing sectors. Before creating Argon Group, Yvan Salamon was a member of the European Board of Hays Logistics Group (Kuehne & Nagel), where he was in charge of production methods and organization. Prior to that, Yvan Salamon spent four years as the Production Plants Manager with CGC, and five years with the strategy consultancy bureau, Mars & Co. Yvan is a graduate of the Ponts & Chaussées engineering school.

Fabrice Bonneau –  Managing Director

Before becoming Managing Director of Argon Consulting, Fabrice was in charge of the Manufacturing Distribution Retail sector at Capgemini Consulting, and a member of the management committee. Before that, he was one of the founders of PEA Consulting.  Fabrice has worked on numerous performance improvement (cost cutting, stock reductions, improvement of service) and supply chain change and manufacturing projects. He has also managed supply chain strategy, governance and organization projects, manufacturing system projects, supply chain planning (forecasting, planning, stock optimization) projects and information system master plan projects, in all the manufacturing and retail sectors. Fabrice is a graduate of the Ponts & Chaussées engineering school and a qualified mathematician. He is also President of the Industrial Engineering department of the Ponts & Chaussées engineering school.

Fabrice Corbière – Associate Director

Fabrice Corbière has more than 20 years of experience in supply chain consulting. He has worked on almost 10 projects to change MRO activities (fixed assets and equipment fleets), and in particular on the forecasting, planning and control of repairs, the optimization of spare parts, and the organization and management of field services. He has acquired expert knowledge of the aerospace, automotive, network enterprises and utilities sectors. Before joining Argon Consulting, Fabrice was an Associate Director with PEA Consulting, then with Cap Gemini Consulting, where he was in charge of the supply chain practice. Fabrice is a graduate of Centrale Paris.

Nicolas Gelle – Associate Director

Nicolas Gellé has 16 years of experience in consulting, in particular in the fields of strategy, manufacturing or logistics master plans, the reconfiguration of supply chain processes and organizational changes, and in restructuring and working hours reorganization projects, performance, outsourcing and activity transfer plans and the design of warehouses and industrial sites. Before joining Argon Consulting, Nicolas was in charge of the manufacturing entity at Valtech Axelboss, of which he was one of the founders. He was also Supply Chain Director at Moulinex. Nicolas started his career with Ouroumoff and CSC Peat Marwick.  Nicolas is a graduate of Ecole Centrale Lille.

Thierry L. –  Director

Thierry L.is one of the Directors of Argon Consulting. Thierry L.has 12 years of experience both in supply chain consulting (PEA Consulting and Capgemini Consulting), but also in operations with Arcelor. Thierry’s broad experience of supply chain planning in international environments, from the diagnostic phase, through to the design of the target and implementation support, has allowed him to conduct major MRO change management projects. He acquired this expert knowledge in a number of assignments in the aerospace sector. Thierry is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and of the Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon.

Arnaud M. – Director

Arnaud M. joined Argon Consulting after more than 11 years with Cap Gemini Consulting. Arnaud has managed numerous change projects in the field of spare parts (RATP, SNCF, French Air Force Rafale Fleet), logistics and stock design in cooperation with the maintenance teams. Arnaud started his career as a manufacturing engineer with Saint-Gobain. Arnaud is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and of Mines Paris.

Mathieu de N. –  Director

Mathieu de N. is a Director in the supply chain and manufacturing practice. Over the last few years, Mathieu has acquired outstanding expertise in the issues of logistics strategy, logistics and supply chain performance and industrial planning. He has worked on MRO projects in the automotive sector, for both equipment suppliers (Valeo Service, Michelin, etc.) and automobile manufacturers (the Fiat Group). Mathieu is a graduate of Mines Paris.

Donatien M. – Senior Manager

Donatien M. is specialized in supply chain. He has worked with both manufacturers and distributors on issues of logistics strategy and industrial planning and scheduling and operational improvement programs. He has worked on MRO projects in the aerospace and defense sectors (DCNS and Thales). Donatien is a graduate of Centrale Paris in industrial engineering, production management and logistics.

Luigi C. - Senior Manager

Luigi C. is a Senior Manager at Argon Consulting. He has 12 years of experience in Supply Chain. He worked on MRO projects in the automotive industry (Fiat Group) and in the transportation industry (SNCF Matériel). Before joining Argon Consulting, Luigi was Manager at Capgemini Consulting. Luigi is a graduate of LUISS Guido Carli Business school in Rome.