The current COVID-19 pandemic is forcing many companies to make far-reaching changes that they cannot solve at the process level alone. In addition to officially required on-site adjustments in production and logistics, the results of strategic decisions must be implemented. When companies relocate parts of their production from abroad back to Europe and Germany, reorganise supply chains or completely redesign their warehousing to respond to increasing customer requirements or supply chain risks, these far-reaching steps are associated with financial burdens. Expansions of plants, halls, vehicles or their optimisation for more efficient use require a high input of funds at a time when companies are struggling with losses in sales and turnover due to the corona issue. With agiplan, companies have an experienced partner at their side who, in addition to structure and process optimisation, also provides competent support in the form of process costs and investment consulting for investment planning and reduction of process costs.
Extensions in logistics and production turn out to be useful if the aim is to secure supplies due to restricted global supply chains, to introduce automation in logistics or to reduce throughput times in production. As far as financing is concerned, there is already a great potential in the conception phase for minimising the investment to be made and the operating costs.
Expertise in logistics, production and architecture contributes to the optimal design of the required areas, material flows, plants and buildings, taking into account all the client's desired requirements. In case of uncertainties or an unfinished concept, agiplan offers its competences to carry out a proof of concept or a complete concept planning to prove the completeness and feasibility of the project.
The result, including an estimate of investment and operating costs, will be used in the next step for deciding how to finance the realisation of the project and who will operate the new plant - especially in case of emerging processes outside the company's own core competences. An example of this is a manufacturing company planning a new logistics centre, which is now faced with the decision whether to carry out the resulting processes itself or to outsource them to a logistics service provider.
In investment consulting, the first step in deciding whether to make an investment yourself or through a financing partner is the economic assessment. For this purpose, agiplan, in cooperation with the client, carries out a market inquiry of potential financing partners and compares it with the investment estimate of the concept. This is supplemented by a utility value analysis of the qualitative factors. The composition of these two assessments is the basis for a decision model on which the client can base his decision. The client is naturally involved in all steps of the evaluation.
Especially in the current situation, companies must be able to rely on the fact that a planned project will be implemented according to the desired specifications. For this purpose, agiplan's expertise in the area of tendering and implementation as well as our network in terms of financing are a plus for clients. Through cooperation with financing and leasing partners, we offer the full service package from the idea to the ramp-up of a plant.
The steps of an investment consultation
Deciding whether to operate the business yourself or whether an outsourcing model is more cost-effective and attractive is a far-reaching decision. agiplan can also help with questions regarding the operator model, right up to the selection of an outsourcing partner. In order to come to the best possible solution, the operating costs have to be estimated from the concept, compared with offers from a market survey and supplemented by a utility value analysis. With this data, agiplan provides a decision model on which the client can base his decision. The client is involved in all steps of the evaluation.
In addition to possible financial savings, outsourcing is tempting because the client company can focus on its own core competencies, costs are presented transparently and order fluctuations can be cushioned by the flexible deployment of the service provider's personnel. On the other hand, there are risks such as possible quality losses, the disclosure of sensitive data or planning errors. The desired effect of cost savings through external personnel at the service provider, on the other hand, is becoming increasingly rare for companies these days. That is why a holistic approach is necessary here.
Even if the focus should be on the cost effect, soft factors should not be ignored. When selecting a service provider, personal persuasiveness, corporate culture, willingness to perform and general chemistry with the potential partner are just as important for the successful implementation of such a project. In this regard, agiplan supports in the decision-making process as well as in the implementation of the outsourcing.
The corona crisis shows once again how difficult it is to achieve and maintain competitiveness in globalised markets. Already high customer demands, which lead to small batch sizes, faster throughput times and a growing number of variants, are now being tightened by additional requirements from authorities and, in the case of many companies, by sinking order and sales volumes. This demands a high degree of flexibility from many companies, which is often successfully mastered by ad-hoc solutions. As a conclusion, this may lead to the suspension of ongoing projects and to productivity losses.
A positive effect: Many companies currently identify open potentials on the process level. agiplan supports clients in fully exploiting these potentials. With activity-based costing as a proven operational excellence instrument, agiplan makes business processes in production, logistics and the administrative, indirect divisions visible and assessable in all sub-steps. The now established cost transparency identifies clear cost drivers and provides valuable approaches for a lasting cost optimisation.
Activity-based costing can be used for business process optimisation during operation, but also as a supporting tool for planning and allocation of investments. Compared to classic cost accounting, the link to business processes creates real added value. It can be clearly answered which cost potential can be tapped not only at one point, but throughout the entire process.
Activity-based costing has proven itself many times over for optimisation during an ongoing operation. Nevertheless, a process-oriented calculation of different cost centers is still quite rare in planning projects. But especially here, when typically different alternative solutions are worked out during planning, the calculation of cost centers provides valuable decision support. An example of this is the selection of the correct and appropriate transport system for the material supply of an assembly line. From the alternative supply processes (Kanban, comissioning, ...) and alternative means of transport (direct delivery, route train, ...) the most economically viable combination can be determined with the help of activity-based costing. It helps to determine the degree of automation and to plan the investment of such a system.
Comparison of in-house operation and outsourcing by means of activity-based costing
You want to emerge from the crisis stronger and be optimally prepared for future developments? agiplan supports you with process cost and investment consulting, analyses individual processes, assists in the calculation of investments and financing of your company and shows you how to make profit even in times of crisis. We are looking forward to your inquiry!
