The client needed a fast increase of production capacity increase (doubling in 2 years, quadrupling needed in 5 years) At the same time, the client ambition was to increase the resilience in the supply chain. The client’s own internal assessment was that the production transfers required to achieve these two goals, would take at least 2 years. Within 1 year we achieved both targets.

Our team of experts transferred >80 parts ( in majority requiring new moulds), to new suppliers in the US and in South-East Asia. In this time period, we performed Make-or-Buy analyses, supplier scouting, selection and qualification. Suppliers were audited and contracted, including QA-, regulatory compliance-, and sustainability requirements. We updated and adjusted the product specifications and related documents, and performed DfM . We set-up and managed the IQ/OQ/PQ phases to get all parts validated and approved. Within the year, capacity tripled, quality improved, while costs being reduced up to 30%.

For a couple of companies, the assignment was to develop the Procurement organization from an operational/tactical team into a global strategic organization, delivering clear direct business contribution to the company’s P&L. Important aspects were increase of EBITDA, increase of product quality, managing risk, reduction of Capex.

A procurement transformation program was developed, tailored to the specific needs of the company, in order to achieve the specifically needed performance increase in terms of e.g. resilience, cost, quality, delivery, compliance.

A few examples of the implemented work streams are listed here (not complete):

• Implemented strategic category management, and structured Supplier relationship management,
• Introduced Procurement Engineering for all new product developments and life cycle management. This enables project accelerations and savings beyond negotiations. At one company, this raised the year-on-year cost reduction achievement structurally with a factor 3
• Structured approach to make risk exposure transparent and reduce by tailored mitigations. Compliance to regulations and standards secured, extended experience in regulatory controlled industries.
• Leveraged supplier capabilities and deliverables in realisation of the corporate sustainability strategy
• Definition, implementation and trainings on new processes & tools, working methods
• Contract management (standards, tool, process) and negotiation techniques. Implemented

In its ambition to avoid future loss-of-sales, the company lacked transparency on risk exposure in the supply chain, and no mechanism were in place to ensure quick and adequate responses to disruptions.

We implemented a Supply Risk management suite, tailored to the specifics and the needs of the business and its supply chain, that determines the risk exposure on multiple criteria. The resulting exposure transparency enables short-term mitigation actions and long-term risk reduction via either Category management (Category strategies, supplier development) or via Procurement Engineering (alternative materials, concept changes etc).

The business result of a company is strongly dependent on the continuity of supply. To increase resilience, it is crucial to connect the key products from sales/marketing point of view, with the technical complexity of the products, and the associated supply chain risks.

We developed a tool to assess the business criticality of the complete product portfolio, directly involving Marketing and R&D. This resulted in a list of identified parts that are instrumental in the customer offerings for market success. For each part, it was then assessed if the currently implemented set-up of suppliers and the applied supply controls were adequate.

Based on this analysis, various measures were taken to ensure the supplier set-up meets the right requirements taking into account the importance of the product for the success of the business.

Examples of measures varied from

1. ‘Classical’ strategic category management approach to develop a high-performing supply base: adjusting relationship levels, develop key suppliers, introduce new suppliers in other regions and phase out non-performers, transferring products, insourcing etc.
2. Procurement engineering approach with R&D to reduce lock-in situations and capacity scarcity by making engineering changes to products, reverse engineering outsourced products and identifying alternatives in applied materials or supply. The number of single-sourced products strongly reduced with direct cost-down effect as well.

• The German (and in near future European) Supply Chain Due Diligence Act requires companies to go beyond ‘good faith’ and have a structured process in place to secure compliance with Sustainability related legislation. Within 2 months we defined and implemented the required processes and formats tailored to the company’s needs, based on performed risk assessment.
• Mulitple countries have implemented, or are planning to implement, multiple legislations that companies need to comply to. We defined a clear roadmap and implemented a structured approach regarding the supply base to secure complianceMaster data handling is crucial in a company’s ability to secure compliance in sustainability (and other regulatory aspects). We built up the required processes, supported by tools, and defined the guidelines how to address these with adequate supplier relationship handling (including contracts). We then rolled this out with the team and executed the processes in the suply base. All existing vendor- and material data in the systems was screened, cleaned and updated.

As part of the corporate strategy, the company wanted to go beyond compliance and turn sustainability into a market differentiator. Since the sustainability performance and the carbon footprint of company’s products depend heavily on what happens in the supply chain, we ensured transparency on its impact as a first step. By making dat structurally available on the materials used, scope 3 emissions and processes applied, full transparency on the entire value chain was obtained, and enabled improvements.

We then identified multiple opportunities and realized carbon footprint reduction by both changes in products (materials, manufacturing steps) as well as in process & handling (waste, scrap reduction, logistics, etc).

Company needed structurally higher cost-saving performance, year-on-year, much higher than the outcomes of a classical negotiation-approach.

We implemented a structured approach to identify different types of savings opportunities on direct spend. By differentiating in multiple ‘saving buckets’, multiple target groups got involved. E.g. Category managers or procurement Engineering working together with Product Development, Marketing, sales, service, production.

As a result of this continuous program, a so-called Cost-Down funnel was built, that enabled business decision makers to decide on the prioritization of the implementation based on clear business cases.

Combined with an continuous operating rhythm and clear reporting, this resulted in structural higher saving performance, a factor three beyond the results of standard negotiaton only.

Soliper has extended experience in many cases of value engineering (VE), because of our thorough understanding of engineering, manufacturing technology and supplier management.

A few examples of successful VE, we have listed here (not complete):

• Design optimization of a serially produced reactor vessel for the biopharmaceutical market, resulting in a cost down of 30% of the product, without compromising on functionality and quality
• Development of a pop-nailed high-accuracy frame for a 3D printer to be produced in large volume series. Instead of welding, this frame is pop nailed without compromising on accuracy, stiffness, and quality. Special attention was paid to the positioning and fixation of the frame parts. Significant cost down of 25% has been realised
• Development of large, high-accuracy frames for industrial printers to be produced in low and mid volume series. Instead of welding, these frames are jointed with screws without compromising on accuracy, stiffness, and quality. Just like for the pop nailed frames, special attention was paid to the positioning and fixation of the frame parts. Significant cost down of 30% has been realised and risk reduced of quality critical parts
• Redesign of a handling robot of substrates in a cleanroom environment to reduce production costs. Cost reduction of 35% by application of a different drive concept
• Replacement of a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) by a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) for the control a serial produced mechatronic system resulting in a cost reduction of a factor 100
• Replacement of a metal clamp (buypart) used for clamping plastic bags in serial produced reactor vessels for the biopharmaceutical market by a newly designed and outsourced plastic clamp resulting in a cost reduction of 75%.

To improve the hand-over phase during New Product Introduction between Product Development and Production, several clients needed structured configuration management. Moreover, these clients faced challenges as well during life cycle management, product transfers and in managing multiple versions of the same product.

We identified the specific configuration management needs. We cleaned up and completed the product documentation packages including version control, and made them ready for Product Data Interchange. We consolidated the approach by having defined, implemented and trained a formal Configuration Management (CM) process, as well as the supporting Product Data Management (PDM) system.

Soliper has helped a various number of customers with production automation solutions because of our thorough understanding of engineering, manufacturing technology and supplier management.

A few examples we have listed here (not complete):

• Feasibility study process automation and product controls in order to to realise a more efficient deployment of operators over multiple production sites. Based on this study and recommendations, the client defined multiple improvement and engineering projects.
• Development of automatic in-line weighing machines of various types of products such as chalk, vegetables and glaze in order to improve performance, secure quality and optimise the number of operators.
• Development of automatic in-line straightening machines for straightening products in a production process such as print paper and roof tiles in order to improve performance, secure quality and optimise the number of operators.

For companies it is crucial to keep up with technological developments and to stay ahead of competition. The structure and organisation of Product Development has to enable quick identification of opportunities and optimal application of such new technologies. Moreover, they should encourag optimal collaboration with external partners and suppliers, and push for methodologies to introduce new products to the market fast. Sometimes organisational adjustments in the set-up are required to get the best results.

A few examples

• Client wanted to speed up market introduction of their new products. A new promising production technology was the bottle-neck and the implementation had to be accelerated. To ensure competence development and ownership for this new technology, we restructured the R&D department, introducing a new discipline. With our support, this new team managed and secured the multi-disciplinary development processes, outsourced a part of the engineering and implemented the new production technology within the project time target
• Several clients lacked transparency of progress in product development and predictability of the market introduction date to be expected. First priority was to get in control of its product development process, later to accelerate time-to-market.
  After a deep-dive analysis we started with a tailored, pragmatic approach. We designed and introduced a project management structure that adheres to the following requirements:

(a) clearly defined project phasing with clear deliverables, milestones, and passing criteria.

(b) clear defined roles and responsibilities, governance and reporting, for all involved cross-functional contributors and stakeholders

(c) clear prioritization of projects based on the company’s Product Introduction Roadmap, aligned with all business functions

(d) clear project deliverable definition, aligning the customer offering proposition into technical requirements.
The project management approach was supported with required processes, tools, templates etc, that we developed. It was successfully implemented in several key projects.

Next to our experience in Medical Device & Lifescience industry, we also have extensive experience in the area of Healthcare related procurement.

In several Hospitals and other Healthcare organisations, we completed a number of different assignments, both on interim management basis as on a project basis.

A few examples of the organisations are:

• Elisabeth-Tweesteden Hospital
• Canisius-Wilhelmina Hospital
• Horacio Oduber Hospital
• NVZ
• St. Anna Care Group
• Annadal Clinic
• Arkin Mental Healthcare

A few examples of the topics addressed:

• Procurement management
• Supply base optimization resulting in costreduction and quality improvement
• Program management cost savings programs (medical devices, IT, laboratory, facility, medicines)
• Program management optimisation IT infrastructure, IT systems and Interconnections
• Development support, supplier selection, contracting and implementation of complex IT systems like Medication management, EHR (EPD), RIS, PACS, PDMS, LIS, ERP, WAN/LAN/Telecom, ECD, Client portals and Interconnection Data platforms.