Client Results

Client Results

Sales Force Productivity

Engaged 45 sales reps in designing their ideal work environment wherein people want to join the company, can do their best work, and want to stay with the company. As a result, several key productivity-enhancing ideas were implemented. These included changes to the compensation system requested by sales reps, technologies for sales calls and for allowing reps to better use downtime, and flexibility in their sales strategies.

Sales Training Program

Helped a sales training organization achieve a breakthrough redesign by engaging sales representatives in revamping sales training to help new and existing reps sell more effectively. It is widely believed that new reps get up to speed more quickly, producing higher sales more quickly. Sales reps and management are very satisfied with the training process.

Customer Engagement

Engaged 50 physicians in designing their ideal relationship with a pharmaceutical company with more than $20B in sales. Based on the insights generated, top management in the US division implemented a number of changes to reduce costs and drive sales. For example, the physicians want fewer sales calls, but value information in studies in medical journals. The company was able to reduce selling costs while simultaneously meeting physicians’ needs more effectively and efficiently.

Consumer Healthcare £125 Million Cost Reduction Program

Helped a team specially commissioned by the President of a company’s consumer healthcare business develop their ideal plan for making progress on their goal of saving £125 million. Numerous cost savings opportunities were identified and pursued, contributing incremental millions to the goal. For example, the team developed a plan to have each new product be accompanied by a cost management plan for the product’s entire lifecycle instead of haphazardly attempting to reduce costs mid-lifecycle, which is much more difficult.

Procurement Systems

Led the procurement systems team for six years. Created a world-class suite of systems that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in incremental savings. Systems created included: spend analysis; contracts management; savings tracking; sourcing strategy creation; and materials cost planning/standards tracking. Licensed systems implemented included: eProcurement and eSourcing.

Product Design

Worked with 60 scientists in a pharmaceutical company to design equipment for testing how potential medicines dissolve into the human body (e.g., peak concentrations, durations). Resulted in a breakthrough design that is shortening the R&D cycle, improving quality, and freeing scientists to work on other things because the equipment requires less monitoring. Shorter R&D cycle time will earn the company multi-million incremental dollars under patent.

IKEA – Ideal Shopping Experience

Engaged IKEA’s customers in designing the ideal shopping experience. The design of IKEA’s highly successful Chicago-area store (Schaumburg, IL) was based on the customers’ design. Sales volume achieved twice the expected level and customer satisfaction soared.

Packaging Process Design

Coached pharmaceutical packaging engineers in using idealized design to generate one extra day of sales under patent without increasing cost. They shortened by 65% (from 17 hours to six) the time required to print prescribing information leaflets (the leaflet one finds inside the box of a prescription) at launch or when the FDA requires label changes. For each product with sales of $1 billion, this translates to an extra $4 million in revenue per product at launch and when label changes are required.

Research & Development Process

Worked with a biopharmaceuticals R&D team to design the ideal late-stage development process, organization, and market engagement strategy. Key aspects of the design were subsequently implemented, including merging early- and late-phase R&D into one organization. Benefits included a more integrated and less fragmented overall process, which is resulting in a quicker, less expensive development process. Being earlier to market will generate multi-millions of dollars of incremental sales under patent.

Worked with a pharmaceuticals R&D organization to design the ideal pre-clinical organization and R&D process. This team’s remit includes safety assessment, pharmacokinetics, chemical development, pharmaceutical development, and physical product delivery. This initiative resulted in the formation of a new organization that helps ensure that strategic alliance partners (from which 50% of new products derive) have their required preclinical development work executed in an efficient and timely fashion. The company’s future revenue stream is accelerated and increased by this organizational change. Thus far, the improvements have reduced costs, and they will generate millions in incremental revenue from additional sales under patent.

Retail Shopping Experience

Engaged customers in designing their ideal carpet buying and installation process. Generated key insights that enabled a Fortune 500 company's fibers division to select the best positioned retail channel partners.

Manufacturing Process

Helped a biopharmaceuticals manufacturing team design their five-year strategic plan for the business in terms of taking developed and in-licensed products through to the “manufacturing” phase. Breakthroughs include flexible space to accommodate internal and in-licensed product, adaptability to very unpredictable product pipeline, and ease of expanding manufacturing capacity as demand increases. These improvements position the manufacturing operation to not only support incremental sales through variable capacity but also to take on highly-profitable manufacture of products for other companies.

Procurement Organization Transformation

Engaged a procurement department's staff and stakeholders in a participative visioning/redesign process that energized individuals and teams, generating their commitment, and building strong support for the strategies. Worked with many procurement teams including: systems and operations; facilities procurement; supplier diversity; lab equipment & supplies procurement; maintenance, repairs, & operations; travel and events management procurement; and, production procurement. These teams were then able to more efficiently and effectively manage the company’s spend.

Green Procurement

Worked with a company's Procurement, Manufacturing, and R&D functions to develop plans to reduce waste associated with the supply of goods and services and reduce the company’s carbon footprint. Numerous waste reduction ideas were generated and a number of these have been implemented into procurement practices. For example, professionals and suppliers are closely examining packaging and logistics materials and process for identification of what can be eliminated, reused, or recycled.

Risk Mitigation

Helped a pharmaceutical company design the ideal supply risk mitigation process. This led to the development of a system that made it easy for procurement, manufacturing, and contract manufacturing personnel to create and also locate risk mitigation action plans globally. This system was initially rolled out to protect assurance of supply so that crises would neither disrupt patient access to life-critical medications nor key revenue streams to the company. To date, the system and process have mitigated two crises such that neither patient care nor revenues were affected. In fact, one of the crises increased revenues because the company sold some of its extra raw materials to other companies whose products were threatened.

Systems – Logistics Cost Savings

Helped a global logistics department develop a system that made it easy for sites to find and pay only the correct, negotiated prices for point-to-point shipping of freight by sea, land, and air. This system has saved the company millions of dollars.

Systems – Human Resources

Helped a human resources department define requirements for several key HR systems, resulting in implementations that improved workforce productivity. These systems included: contingent and permanent recruiting; talent management and leadership development; sales staff evaluation and development; sales compensation.

Customer & Employee Response Center

Worked with 42 employees and users of a Fortune 100 company's response center to design the ideal problem resolution/Q&A function serving employees, retirees, customers, and others. Generated breakthrough design that enables quicker resolution through a highly usable self-service system. Enabled department to serve clients more effectively even though resources were being cut substantially.

Ideal Research Laboratory

Helped engineers and scientists design the ideal research lab, which could be built up to 75% more quickly while meeting more of the scientists' work needs. For example, the modular design allowed for quick reconfiguration of space and equipment to handle changing project needs and staffing groupings. The increased productivity of the scientists working in this environment drops to the bottom line through accelerated product development. The company also ties up less investment capital in the construction of facilities.

Opera School

Worked with 48 stakeholders of an opera school to design the ideal school. Results included increasing the endowment by more than $10 million, doubling the facility size, offering full scholarships for all students, and broadcasting performances. more ...

Supplier Diversity Program

Engaged procurement professionals and diverse suppliers in designing their ideal supplier diversity program. This led to several highly effective changes to the program that drove achievement of performance targets and increased satisfaction of suppliers and procurement professionals. Achievement of targets has helped ensure that multi-billion-dollar government contracts are not at risk.

Ideal Corporate Travel Program

Helped employees, corporate travel service providers, and suppliers (e.g., Amex, British Airways, and National) design the ideal corporate travel process. Systems that were rolled out and enhanced as a result led to significant savings through better transparency of airfare, hotel, and auto rates. This also improved employee productivity by making it quicker to not only book trips but also to further automate expense reporting.

Ideal Events Management Program

Led employees and events management suppliers in designing the ideal events management process for sales and scientific meetings and conferences. This led to process efficiencies that enabled the events management team to provide improved service despite resource cutbacks and to save hundreds of thousands of dollars through better and earlier event planning.

Employee Empowerment

Currently working with 45 employees at an Ivy League university to design an empowered work environment in the context of 2009’s difficult economic environment and accompanying budgetary challenges.

Ideal Aircraft Interior

Helped Boeing design the ideal aircraft interiors. Engaged key users (e.g., business travelers, pilots, flight attendants) and professionals (interior designers, architects) in generating ideas and design options. Many of the features they designed have been built into the new 787 Dreamliner and/or are available as options to the airline companies that purchase the planes. Design features include: largers windows; individual arm rests; personal storage space; head and neck rests; climate control; entertainment options; bar.

IKEA – Ideal Shopping Experience

Ideal Aircraft Interior