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recognised what an opportunity this presented to reinforce customer loyalty
and provide added value that competitors still could not offer.
1.2.4
The ten key problem areas
The team had developed a list of 10 key problem areas:
1.
Communications:
There is an urgent need to improve internal
communications. Since too many processes are delayed unnecessarily
because clarification is impossible at short notice. This applies in
particular to coordinating specific customer requirements between
sales and production planning, but also applies to the other business
units.
2.
Document management:
The same thing applies to documents of all
kinds generated within the company. Business transactions are
difficult to track due to the decentralised organisation; important
development documents are only available locally at the production
locations; there is virtually no cross‐unit coordination, and on‐site
service cannot access service documentation. A central data
repository has become an urgent requirement.
3.
Sales:
Sales staff at all locations need not only the customer contact
data but also a full set of up‐to‐date sales‐related facts on the
customer and delivery status, turnover per customer and outstanding
invoices. The same thing also applies to external sales partners with a
limited scope.
4.
Quality testing:
To reduce the need for time‐consuming and
expensive quality tests, in the form of trial runs with new control
programs, more tests should be run as simulations. As a result,
development time and development costs should be cut by at least
half.
5.
Warehouse management:
The issue of high stock levels on the one
hand, and delays in delivery on the other due to missing parts, should
be optimised by introducing transparent stock management with
automatic synchronisation with incoming orders and daily reports for
procurement. Procurement should be empowered to act in an
anticipatory way based on statistical data, and to establish a ‘just‐in‐
time’ supply chain with suppliers.
6.
Service:
The permanent nuisance of expensive on‐site calls to update
machine control units that have been delivered to customers should
