Contact

Case studies

Manufacturing

Description

While the levers impacting industrial performance are well known (industrial manufacturing strategy, make vs. buy, performance of systems, operational productivity, Lean transformation, planning and scheduling, etc.), the difficulty lies in choosing and implementing them:

  • How can the most important factors affecting progress be identified in a given environment and with regard to given issues?
  • How can they be implemented effectively and durably?

Industrial manufacturers face a number of challenges:

  • identify the most appropriate levers in view of their performance targets and their capacity to implement them,
  • bring about changes in their organization in a manner that is coordinated with ongoing initiatives,
  • mobilize operational staff and encourage them to adopt changes so that they become durable,
  • make the organization self-sufficient enough to pursue and broaden the scope of its progressive actions.

The economic factors related to this type of project are obviously closely dependent on the maturity of the sector and the companies. Many production plants still have significant scope for progress:

  • meet the right needs in order to cut scrapped products by 20 to 40% and material costs by 5%,
  • improving the reliability of equipments can halve the number breakdowns, while cutting maintenance costs by 15 to 25%,
  • optimizing operational procedures and balancing the distribution of workload can boost productivity by 10 to 20%,
  • perfecting the production plan and optimizing changes in series can help to reduce production in progress and cycle times by almost 50%,
  • improving the reliability of physical flows can reduce occupied space by 20 to 60%, and reduce movements and necessary stocks.

At Argon Consulting, we are convinced that any changes in a company can be justified by the case for change. We cooperate with operational management to identify any malfunctions and assess the performance levers at the start of the project.

Bringing about change in organizations is at the heart of our business. This process presupposes a broad consensus on the diagnosis and the solutions and guides our action throughout the project, which is executed in close cooperation with our customers’ teams.

Our approach to Lean transformations of multi-site organizations relies on a spin-off approach that makes the teams autonomous. It applies some key principles in order to make a sufficient impact on our customers’ teams:

  • the buy-in by field staff into the initiative right from the initial audit,
  • the mobilization of the entire organization around the key principles of Lean management,
  • the creation of lightweight steering and communication instances,
  • the quest for the right balance between rapid and medium-term solutions,
  • making the best possible use of best practices that can be deployed on several sites and of the deployment methodology.
Team

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.

Dominique Hondermarck – Associate Director

Dominique Hondermarck has more than 15 years of experience in consulting. Prior to that, he occupied an operational position for 15 years as Director of Manufacturing and as Design Office Director. He has supervised numerous projects in the manufacturing (PSA, Airbus, Volvo Trucks, Saunier Duval, Française de Mécanique, DCNS, etc.) and distribution sectors (Auchan, Systèm U) in particular in the following fields: Lean Manufacturing and manufacturing performance, Lean office and efficiency of the support functions, while always paying close attention to change support. Dominique is one of the French experts in Lean manufacturing. Before joining Argon Consulting, Dominique was an Associate Director with Cap Gemini Consulting, then with Ineum, where he was in charge of the manufacturing activity. Dominique is a graduate of Ecole Centrale de Lille and INSEAD. He is also qualified in manufacturing information technology.

Nicolas Gelle – Associate Director

Nicolas Gellé has 16 years of experience in consulting, in particular in the fields of service 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.

Arnaud M. – Director

Arnaud M. joined Argon Consulting after more than 11 years with Cap Gemini Consulting. Arnaud has already managed numerous projects to improve industrial performance (Lean manufacturing, planning / scheduling, change management) in a range of sectors (DNCS, Thales, Arcelor, Arjo Wiggins, Eramet, Lubrizol, Servair, Péchiney - SFG). Arnaud started his career as a manufacturing engineer with Saint-Gobain. Arnaud is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and of Mines Paris.

Eric T. – Director

Eric T. joined Argon Consulting after 10 years with BearingPoint, where he worked on logistics strategy projects, and on logistics and manufacturing performance. Before that, he worked for Productive Edge Associates. Eric has accomplished assignments to improve industrial performance in a range of sectors (agrifoods, automotive, railroad equipment, etc.). Eric is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and of Ponts et Chaussées.

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 and industrial strategy, logistics and supply chain performance and industrial planning. He has helped several of the business units in the Valeo group to define their industrial strategy. 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. Donatien is a graduate of Centrale Paris in industrial engineering, production management and logistics.

Isabelle H. – Senior Manager

Isabelle H. is a Senior Manager in the supply chain and manufacturing practice, with more than 10 years of experience in consulting. Isabelle has already managed numerous projects to improve performance, with both manufacturers and distributors. She has also managed a number of Lean assignments. Before joining Argon Consulting, Isabelle worked for Sylea (Valeo) and in the planning department for Hays Logistics (Kuehne and Nagel). Isabelle is a graduate of the Arts & Métiers school.