Manufacturing

Consumer Packaged Goods manufacturer turns to Everest for operational expertise and executable plan on enterprise-wide process improvement initiative.

Scope: IT infrastructure, IT Applications, Finance & Accounting, Human Resources, Procurement
Geography: North America and Europe

Situation
This leading Consumer Packaged Goods manufacturer had a history of delivering on top and bottom line growth targets, but recent increases in raw material prices were impacting profit margins. A strategy consulting firm did an initial analysis indicating that implementation of outsourcing, offshoring, and re-engineering solutions might realize significant savings, but didn’t offer an actionable plan. Needing to move forward, the client engaged Everest Group to evaluate company-wide processes and identify global sourcing opportunities that would enable sustainable enterprise support services by meeting business requirements for quality and speed at competitive cost.

Approach and Solution
A project of this complexity required a strong full-time Program Management Office to drive uniformity in data gathering and to synthesize meaningful comparisons and prioritization. The team orchestrated consistent communication through the organization and engaged the leadership group, lead by the CEO, on planning for change management, solution evaluation and integration with other major business initiatives that included a SAP rollout and the development of a near-shore captive.

The global reach of this initiative required special consideration to address geographic differences. The team used a workshop approach centered around regional needs, and combined geographic functions only when the leverage would create the more significant scale required for outsourcing.

Results
After an evaluation of ten functional areas, Everest facilitated solution design, partner selection and contracting for six internal processes and made re-engineering recommendations for the remaining four processes. From these initiatives, the client realized approximately 18% savings that can now be reinvested into product innovations and R&D improvements. Ultimately, the solution allows the management team to focus on market facing activities that will directly impact customers and enable future market performance.