From discussions to dashboards: a data-driven transformation

From strategy to practice

For the food producer, the challenge was clear: how do you tackle digitisation in technologically outdated factories, while the pressure on operations is only increasing? In addition to moving away from managing by gut feeling, operational excellence improvements were central. ‘The strategic choice to start working in a data-driven way had to be made concrete,’ says Leendert Mijnders, Consultant Industry at ICT Group. ‘You have an old factory, a new strategy, and then it has to become concrete.’

The objectives were therefore multifaceted. ‘We wanted to move away from managing by gut feeling to working with facts. It's all about operational excellence improvements that are necessary due to legislation on tracking and tracing, better customer service and, above all, reducing waiting costs in the operation itself.’

Identifying bottlenecks

The first step was to identify specific pain points. Some pain points are more visible than others. ‘When you arrive at the factory and see all kinds of lorries waiting, it’s a sign that something is wrong with the operation or planning. We can also convert that directly into euros: how much are you paying in waiting costs for lorries that are waiting too long?’

At the same time, the food producer was faced with both growth and downsizing demands. 'Demand for the products is increasing, while we wanted to reduce the number of locations. This means that each factory has to deliver more. Instead of working harder, we have to work smarter.'

The focus shifted to more efficient planning: the order of orders, deliveries to customers, and stock reduction to prevent warehouses from filling up. “The goal was to avoid standstill in process steps.”

From ping-pong to facts

A concrete example illustrates the power of data-driven working. ‘Suppose you produce a liquid in bulk according to a specific recipe for a large customer. That liquid is then ready in a large bunker, but the lorry doesn't show up. You can't use that bunker space for other products — that's inefficient. The order is waiting for transport.’

Previously, this led to endless discussions between departments, says Mijnders. 'Planning pointed to operations and vice versa, while the carrier had no insight. There were no facts to go on; it was more like a ping-pong game of opinions. When our automation finally went live, those same discussions came back. But now we could measure every step and make it transparent.'

The result was enlightening. ‘We could see exactly which carriers were causing the bottlenecks. Action points emerged that were previously invisible. It resulted in less stress and effort in the operation. It's about mindset: what resources do you have to solve a specific problem? Data makes you more decisive.’

Dashboards bring peace of mind

The impact on the organisation was immediately noticeable. ‘In stressful moments when the factory is not running efficiently or has even come to a standstill, teams across the entire chain have to coordinate. That caused a lot of stress and misunderstanding. Now we have dashboards with facts that we use to steer the process. That data helps enormously — you no longer get caught up in emotional discussions. It becomes much more factual and solution-oriented.’

Support varied depending on the organisational level, Mijnders acknowledges. ‘Department heads and management were very enthusiastic. On the work floor, it varied. You have people who say, “I'm not very digital,” and others who are very happy with it. ICT Group tackled this systematically with a comprehensive training programme, developed in collaboration with HR, to determine what skills people needed and what coaching was appropriate.’

‘These types of projects are often IT-driven, but they have to be accepted by the organisation in order to succeed. So we take the opposite approach: we place the responsibility with the departments themselves. It became an iterative project with extensive testing phases, with the departments themselves carrying out the tests, deliberately not IT.’

Leendert Mijnders

Manager Business Consultancy Industry

People at the heart of change

The project had clear pitfalls. ‘You are dealing with a multidisciplinary process — from machines to customers providing forecasts, with an entire chain in between. You often see islands forming and a lack of cohesion. It is important to actively manage this with a single integrated programme that spans all projects.’

‘The most important thing is people management,’ says Mijnders. ‘Don't assume that everything is obvious to everyone. You have to dig deeper: is there trust? And if not, why not? If you neglect people management, it will come back to haunt you later. You have to constantly gauge how everyone is feeling. Not just commitment, but real trust.’

Widely recognisable pattern

The situation at this food producer is not unique. ‘Waiting times, inefficient planning, daily changes that cause production to come to a standstill or work inefficiently: I see this at many companies,’ says Mijnders. ‘There are many planning departments that struggle to gain control and achieve industrial excellence.’

‘If you see stressed-out managers in departments who have to keep all the balls in the air, look at how you can take steps towards a data-driven organisation. Give them facts and tools. Get them out of that hamster-in-the-wheel mode so they can get a better overview and decide for themselves where the priorities lie. More calm in the organisation means you can better steer towards industrial excellence.’

Industrial excellence is not a project with a fixed end point, but an ongoing journey, says Mijnders. ‘This manufacturer now has a roadmap full of projects between now and 2030. ICT Group plays an important role in this by managing the IT and OT landscape in conjunction with organisational changes. Moving from reactive to proactive management: this can only be achieved by working in a data-driven way.’