Innovation i tech High

Implementing Holistic
Business Strategies:
Cornerstone, making Good
Companies Great
INTERVIEW
Robert Odink is the Founder and Managing Director of
Cornerstone, the Operational Excellence firm that helps
organisations to achieve world-class performance, working
at both ends of the P&L; revenue enhancement and cost base
reduction through positive, people-centric change.
What picture do you
get of the challenges
that companies face
in the industries
that they serve and
how is Cornerstone
addressing them?
The challenge for most of
our clients is to timely adjust
their business to a rapidly
changing environment.
Increased demand requires
our clients to change and
utilise manufacturing assets
better. Increased competition
requires our clients to change
and get a more effective
sales force to secure revenue
growth. Cornerstone would
help clients to accelerate
change and stay ahead
of the game. Cornerstone
typically starts with clients
to improve and re-design
their processes to increase
sales and throughput; to
reduce operating costs and
overheads that usually does
not require any significant
Capex. In parallel, we
work with clients to create
a management operating
systems to install rigour
and discipline, through a
set of coherent, operational
indicators, providing
immediate visibility of past
and predictable underperformance.
This will
almost automatically prompt
the corrective managerial
actions. We help clients to
embrace Visual Performance
Management tools.
Ultimately, we help our clients
to create a performance
driven culture, so to sustain
the new levels of productivity
and profitability. This involves
behavioural analysis and
training, coaching and
communications to enhance
skills and embrace change at
all levels of the organisation.
The cash tangible benefit
associated with the
operational excellence
implementations can be
reinvested into the company:
1. Major opportunities to
directly invest into new
technologies and production
capabilities.
2. Hugely important to invest
in developing the right set of
labour force capabilities to
capitalize on the manufacturing
transformation.
What are some of the
current technological
trends existing in the
markets that you serve
and how do you inject
those trends into the
effective solutions you
offer?
Major trend is Industry 4.0
and our professional offering
is to help clients to implement
world class manufacturing or
boost operational excellence.
We also provide clients
program management of their
manufacturing transformation
journey.
What were the
key elements that
INNOVATIONANDTECH
January | 2018
29