An internationally active family business, specializing in the development, production, packaging and distribution of vegetarian meal components, recently undertook a professionalization exercise at their headquarters. This organization, which supplies various channels such as retail, foodservice and QSR, faced the challenge of making their processes and collaboration more efficient. Activities: We started by mapping the waste within critical key processes. This revealed several areas for improvement, which we addressed by designing and implementing a new consultation structure. Roles and responsibilities were also revised, and a focus was placed on efficient standards and processes. Using program and change management, we implemented the improvements and established a continuous improvement structure. A Continuous Improvement Coordinator was appointed to support and secure this culture change. Results: The results speak for themselves: waste within the main processes has been significantly reduced, thanks in part to digitization and uniform working methods. The consultation structures, such as S&OP, have also been optimized, making cooperation and decision-making within the organization more efficient. The NPD process and project management have been further professionalized, and performance management and the first kaizen project have been successfully launched. These steps laid the foundation for a future-oriented, more efficient organization, ready to grow further in the rapidly developing market of vegetarian meal components.
