Challenge
When logistics expert Floor Jan Tiemersma was brought in by Welzorg, the company was in a difficult phase. They had completed a substantial centralisation project, moving inventories from the local branches to a centralised distribution centre in Raamsdonksveer. ‘In the past, advisers could just walk into the warehouse and select the right equipment for a client. But now they had to apply for it on a digital form,’ as Floor Jan explains. ‘That took a bit of getting used to. Each wheelchair is unique and tailored to a client’s specific needs. And that also made ordering equipment a pretty complex process. On top of that, the organisation was under a lot of pressure to operate more efficiently and return to profitability.’
Our approach
Floor Jan worked in various roles in the five years and more he spent at Welzorg. ‘Louwman Group is Welzorg’s parent company, but also an importer of Toyota vehicles. The board firmly believes in the Japanese philosophy of lean manufacturing, which means continuously seeking to identify opportunities for incremental improvements. I was in charge of quite some of those projects.’ These included reducing overall process throughput times, automatically allocating resources, implementing the WMS, improving service engineers’ productivity, introducing Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) and KPI reporting and launching a new ERP system. ‘I was also an interim manager in the Planning department for a year, where I had the challenging task of phasing the department out within that period.’
Results
Just some of the results achieved:
- Reduction of several days in overall process throughput times
- Introduction of automatic allocation so that 35% of intakes can proceed automatically without administrative staff intervention (and so faster and with fewer errors)
- Implementation of a WMS system in the centralised DC, resulting in an FTE reduction
- Improvement of some tens of percent in service engineers’ productivity
- Introduction of an S&OP process to give the organisation more control of forecasts and the overall process
- Developing a KPI reporting system with more steering opportunities for the organisation
- Initiating a business-wide ERP system so that Welzorg can operate more efficiently and is assured of a future-proof system
Our solution
During UC Group’s involvement, Welzorg turned its financial position around and returned to profitability. Floor Jan Tiemersma and his UC colleagues were able to contribute to this process substantially. ‘I’ve been an APICS tutor in the past and was able to systematically apply theoretical knowledge of areas such as planning and supply chain management at Welzorg. That way, we could achieve spectacular improvements in various operating processes, even though the rapid pace of change sometimes came at the expense of other things. Maybe UC Group’s most important contribution was our ability to find the right balance between all the initiatives and optimisation projects.’
Welzorg has so far been UC Group’s longest-lasting assignment ever. The nature of the business and its focus on lean management and continuous improvements meant that one project gave rise to the next. The results achieved were impressive and have enabled the organisation to operate more efficiently and, once again, profitably.