Proactive Discover™ Business Process Re-Engineering and Optimisation for a Large British Food Manufacturer
A large food manufacturer, operating as a global subsidiary, is active across diverse sectors including life sciences, industrial biotech, fermentation, pharmaceutical research, and food derivatives. With significant revenue generation and a portfolio of well-known brands, this organisation comprises multiple companies across 16 locations worldwide. The manufacturer aimed to implement a global ERP system as part of its digital transformation strategy, leveraging Microsoft Dynamics to complement existing technological initiatives.
The Challenge – ERP Template & Standardisation
Recognising the importance of standardisation and harmonisation in business operations, the manufacturer posed the following questions to Mint Group:
- How can Microsoft Dynamics enable our business transformation objectives?
- Given our diverse operations, what is the feasibility and scope of ERP standardisation?
- What are the potential returns on investment with a new ERP system, specifically Dynamics, for a business like ours?
- What are the core 80% of business processes across Finance and Operations that we can standardise to ensure consistent job roles, a lean supply chain process, and a global mindset?
- What constitutes our Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and what digitalisation gains can we achieve by implementing a foundational solution?
The autonomous nature of each subsidiary, combined with cultural differences and varying levels of ERP readiness, underscored the need for robust change management before designing and implementing a unified ERP system across multiple countries.
The main drivers for this transformation were:
- Excessive licensing costs caused by disparate ERP systems and technologies across the group. A lack of automated and consolidated reporting, resulting in significant overheads for structuring and presenting data to HQ each month.
- Inability to leverage data and analytics to enhance the organisation’s competitive edge.
- The need to define a common support model across the business.
- Undefined roles and responsibilities were hampering business growth, with unclear authority lines for decision approvals and fragmented workflows and role descriptions.
The Solution – Proactive Discover™ Business Process Re-Engineering and Optimisation
Mint Group addressed these challenges using its Proactive Discover™ methodology.
Proactive Discover™ integrates the Microsoft Catalyst approach of Design Thinking and Envisioning with Mint Group’s manufacturing expertise. This ensures that any technology implementation is grounded in best-practice business processes and standardised Microsoft Dynamics frameworks. Proactive Discover™ is particularly suited for companies operating under multiple legal entities with diverse operations and technology landscapes, as it focuses on the fundamental question: What is the objective we are trying to achieve?
Through a series of workshops, Mint Group collaborated with senior stakeholders from each business unit to:
- Explore the possibilities and potential solutions.
- Understand and empathise with external and internal challenges unique to each business.
- Conduct a Solution Assessment, where Mint Group consultants presented the ‘new way’ of standard operations across the businesses with all key decision-makers in attendance.
Process nuances and exceptions to standardisation were captured and highlighted. Mint Group also showcased the proposed technologies to bridge gaps where process changes were insufficient. These technologies included Finance and Supply Chain Management (F&SCM), the Power Platform, One Lake, data strategies, and recommendations for strategic ISVs.
The Outcome – Rapid Delivery in Core Capability
Over an intensive eight-week engagement, Mint Group transformed the organisation from low engagement and autonomy to a state of readiness for ERP standardisation, with senior sponsors confident in pursuing harmonisation across functions.
The Proactive Discover™ process equipped the manufacturer with qualitative and quantitative insights for presentation to the board, facilitating executive buy-in and supporting detailed budgetary analyses.
As a result, the organisation was positioned to create and issue an RFP document to prospective partners. The deployment outputs provided a solid foundation for evaluating partner responses and commercial proposals.
Mint Group’s ongoing collaboration with the organisation focuses on mitigating risks related to ERP implementation, prioritising pre-project readiness, and establishing a robust framework for post-implementation operations.
