operations flexibility in process industries - Roland Berger Strategy ...

M&A FLEXIBILITY LEVERSWith regard to establishing flexibility to better handle divestmentsand integrations, the clear focus is on more standardizationTop levers applied to address mergers & acquisitionsRank # General Manufacturing Supply chain Mgmt. Purchasing1IV.9Orientation onI.1Optimize productionfootprintfootprintIII.1WarehouseII.12industry standardsProductionOutsourcingIV.2StandardizedI.17II.7Monitoring/ KPIsystemsystemsCorporate LeadBuyer organization2IV.3Standardized&scalable ITsystemsII.13Standards oncommodity codes&use of databasesComments• Industry standards is widelynamed as key to be flexible• Often though standards arecountry specific and thereach is thus limited• Standard KPI systems area key lever to quicklyintegrate new companiesand make themmanageable• IT standards are anadvantage but depend onthe target company's setup• Clearly still on the rise isthe introduction ofproduction systems• Even if implementation willbe different a merge with acompany that has one isachieved much faster• In the context of PMI oftenoutsourcing is helpful,provided the contract is setup in a flexible way for suchcases• Often companies take thechance to outsource duringM&A situations as thejustification case withregard to labor laws arebuilt more easily• A corporate lead buyerorganization is consideredby most of the participantsas highly adaptive tointegrate or to be integrated• The increasing use ofstandard commodity andsupplier codes also is veryhelpful in integrationscenariosSource: Roland Berger interviews, 200829