scprime®

scprime® is Argon & Co’s powerful improvement approach, combining process and people capabilities to ensure that the right people are in the right jobs, consistently doing the right things.

Based on benchmarking, an objective assessment of capability and a toolkit of implementation techniques, it defines supply chain excellence in terms that are meaningful to each specific organisation and ensures that improvements are sustainable. It is how it is applied that sets scprime® apart, enabling companies to dramatically improve supply chain capabilities and significantly reduce cost.

Get in touch

Sam Maguire

scprime® leader

Get in touch

Sam Maguire

scprime® leader

Phone +44 (0) 845 644 6972

Email scprime.uk@argonandco.com

scprime® benefits

scprime® drives a focused and effective transformation programme, hard-wired to strategy and objectives.   

It is the result of decades of practical experience, achieving long term improvements in companies in over 30 countries on five continents by identifying supply chain excellence in terms that are meaningful to each specific organisation. It has been proven to achieve a step-change in performance, by aligning supply chain strategy with business strategy.

The benefits are significant: operating costs are often reduced by 15-20% and working capital by 10-15%; responsiveness and service levels are improved and are more consistent, allowing more significant innovation and driving increased sales; staff are developed according to the specific needs of the role, focusing on capabilities rather than job descriptions, so they are equipped to carry out what is expected of them.

The focus of scprime® is to drive transformational improvement rather than simply provide scores on a scale of excellence. scprime® impacts a business in two stages:

  • Functional improvement – getting better at making, moving and buying, for example
  • Cross functional improvement – developing more effective planning and other business wide processes

The potential supply chain benefits are considerable, especially in multinational businesses.

Functional
Cross-functional
Balance Sheet
P&L
30%

saving due to load fill optimisation

15%

saving due to 3PL contracts/productivity management

40%

less waste due to lean manufacturing

40%

increase in productivity due to reduced downtime

2%

reduction in packaging price due to implementation of best practice procurement procedures

50%

reduction in finished goods stock

15%

saving due to less crisis management and process chasing

10%

reduction in waste due to less disruption and better run strategies

1%

reduction in packaging price due to VMI and flow optimisation

30-40%

lower working capital (raw materials)

5-10%

higher return on capital employed (ROCE)

30-40%

lower working capital (finished goods)

3-5%

lower raw materials cost

5-10%

lower indirect materials cost

10-15%

lower manufacturing costs

10-15%

lower supply chain costs

10-15%

lower distribution costs

3-5%

increase in sales

process capabilities
people capabilities

scprime® process capabilities

The scprime® process capability framework is based on a set of process definitions which give a comprehensive view of best practice across the supply chain, enabling benchmarking to take place and improvements to be generated.

The structure is modular so that it can be easily applied to different entities. There are a number of profiles within each functional area and a particular organisation or business unit can assemble the appropriate profiles to reflect its own functions.

scprime® people capabilities

The scprime® people capability framework is based around a set of profiles which describe the specific capabilities required to deliver best practice within each functional area of the supply chain.

Whether an organisation’s plans are focused on growth, rationalisation, acquisition, integration or just simply improving business as usual, the framework identifies whether the existing team has the capability to deliver those plans, and if not, where the gaps are. The structure is modular allowing businesses to select appropriate profiles for their specific needs.

scprime® can be used in various ways to support different business needs:

  • A quick assessment of operations against cross-industry best practice. Rapid, one-off improvement actions can then be put in place
  • Customised to a company’s needs to form the basis of a long term improvement programme
  • Where specific problem areas are known, the appropriate profiles can be used to understand the causes of the problems and how to resolve them
  • Where operations are being merged, the profiles can be used to identify differences between ways of working and what is required to standardise and raise both parties to the same level of performance
  • For large systems implementations the profiles can be used to understand how different parts of a business really operate, and to standardise and raise process standards to enable the implementation

The scprime® people capability framework supports a variety of specific business needs

  • It can be used to identify the target capabilities needed to deliver the strategy (or implement improvement programmes) and determine any gaps that currently exist
  • It can be used to drive consistency of skills across a number of global regions and improve role profiles
  • It can be used as part of an annual assessment process to determine individual development needs and training requirements

Also to:

  • Identify the right people for the right jobs
  • Ensure there is a sustainable balance of skills across teams/functions
  • Benchmark skill levels against industry standards and/or internal improvement metrics
  • Tightly specify capabilities & skillsets required in new recruits

Client testimonials

“The scprime® approach was highly effective in providing us with a deep and wide assessment of our supply chain process, identifying substantial benefits, and underpinning our supply chain transformation strategy development and implementation.”

Andrew Hopkins
Group Packaging & Supply Chair Director
William Grant & Sons Distillers Ltd

“The principles behind scprime® are simple - getting step-change improvement in your supply chain to support your business strategy. This book is a starting point on this journey.”

Professor Jan Godsell
Operations & Supply Chain Strategy
University of Warwick

“Argon & Co’s framework was invaluable in helping to identify the strengths and weaknesses of supply chain processes across the group for our global and regional brands. scprime® enabled a rapid assessment of process maturity, action planning prioritisation and redefinition of the commerical and supply functions around our new business operating model.”

John Burdett
VP Global Operations Planning
TATA Global Beverages

scprime® case studies

Supply chain assessment: sports nutrition

Supply chain assessment: sports nutrition

The client sells sports nutrition, nutritional supplements and dietary products, mainly through their website. The company develops and sells their own range of products as well as other branded products. Growing from their home-market in the Netherlands the client also distributes in France, Germany and Belgium. It was acquired in 2017.

The client’s recent growth and the planned ERP implementation required an assessment of supply chain operations and capabilities to identify opportunities to maintain and improve supply chain performance.

Our role

Assess the supply chain using the Argon & Co scprime® benchmarking approach

Carry out multiple interviews with key stakeholders, warehouse and operations assessment and detailed data analysis

Evaluate supply chain maturity across 17 scprime® supply profiles and determine target maturities for the next two years

Results

Identified 82 individual actions enabling the client to improve planning, reduce inventory and enable business growth

Prioritised opportunities and developed a wave plan for site implementation

Developed a catalogue of 450 specific requirements to include in the ERP solution blue printing process

New product initiative process assessment: global FMCG

New product initiative process assessment: global FMCG

The client is a global tobacco company selling more than 200 brands globally. It is the market leader in more than 60 countries.

The business was struggling to cope with the volume of product and packaging changes demanded by local markets, and was unable to get new products to market quickly enough. Argon & Co was asked to assess the current end to end NPI processes across all regions and identify actions to standardise the processes whilst making them leaner and more efficient.

Our Role

Understand current categories, processes and scale of NPI activity in each region

Assess the current and desired end to end NPI processes maturity levels using the scprime® benchmarking approach for five pilot markets

Create action plans for each market to close the gaps between the “As-Is” and “To-Be” maturity levels

Develop a process maturity assessment tool to enable global roll out to all end markets

Results

Common NPI categorisation framework for all regions

Maturity assessment tool developed, which includes seven NPI excellence profiles with thirty three elements and which can be used to support a quick rollout of the processes globally

Five end market assessments completed identifying the gaps between the “As-Is” and desired “To-Be”

Detailed action plans and fully trained teams able to roll out the process across all regions

Site closure assessment: global packaging company

Site closure assessment: global packaging company

The client manufactures and distributes packaging, plastics and hardware for a range of industries including beauty, consumer goods, healthcare and transport. Revenue in 2016 exceeded £990m.

There was a significant decline in revenue and operating profit for the health & personal care packaging business in 2016 which led to a strategic review. Based on this, the company decided to focus on the core business of healthcare packaging. One site primarily produced consumer packaging and was underperforming. The client wanted to review options for this site.

Our Role

Identify options for the site including closure, sale, re-focus on healthcare or maintain and improve performance

Model the options and apply a risk/benefit analysis to recommend the most appropriate course of action

Support the financial analysis by performing scprime® operational benchmark assessments across the UK sites to understand the specific site’s performance

Write a board paper incorporating financial analysis, an implementation plan, key risks and a mitigation plan

Results

A clear understanding of the impact of each of the options on the division’s financial performance

The decision to close the site and focus on healthcare and beauty products whilst exiting consumer packaging

Identified operational issues on which to base a broader improvement plan

A detailed implementation plan for closure

Capability development: global pharma company

Capability development: global pharma company

The client is a major global pharmaceutical and healthcare provider, with particular strength in the biotech industry. It operates in over 100 countries worldwide and is a significant investor in drug innovation and development.

In an increasingly competitive market, the client was seeking to drive operational efficiencies in production and distribution across its complex supply chain. As part of this, it had a number of initiatives to improve inventory management, including improving inventory management capability.

Our Role

Define capabilities for all roles involved in inventory management using our scprime® people capabilities benchmark framework

Prioritise key capability areas to support step change improvement in inventory management performance

Recommend capability improvement actions to drive step change improvements

Define an implementation roadmap to improved capabilities

Results

Identified competency gaps across all inventory management processes

Buy-in across the business of the competency development priorities

Learning formats defined for each capability development intervention

Implementation plan for the next 18 months

scprime®: global manufacturer

Global leader in imaging technologies

scprime®: global manufacturer

In April 2019, a large private equity company completed the acquisition of a division of a large global operating film and printing company. With sales of circa $150 million, the division is one of the world’s leading providers of imaging technologies for the graphics customisation of printed packaging materials.

The client needed our help to carry out an assessment of their global and regional supply chain functional capabilities, current systems and people capabilities in preparation for the future operating model as a stand-alone company and an upcoming ERP implementation.

Our Role

Identify the relevant stakeholders, arrange site visits and conduct +30 interviews in order to complete the assessments of the as-is systems and people capabilities using our scprime® capability framework

Validate assessment outcomes and define targets to develop initiative plan to achieve sustainable improvements within the organisation and step-change in performance

Determine key functional requirements towards an upcoming ERP implementation

Results

Delivered a prioritised initiative plan covering +25 initiatives to improve planning and logistics (deliver)

Identified opportunities to adapt the operating model including organisational structure and processes to move to above market planning

Determined set of business and functional requirements for an ERP system to enable operating model changes and performance improvements

Supply planning assessment: global brewer

Supply planning assessment: global brewer

The client is the fourth largest brewer in the world. It has a large portfolio of beer and other drinks brands. The group employs more than 45,000 people and its products are sold in over 150 countries.

Its Western European regional wanted to assess its supply planning processes, systems and people capabilities with a view to taking a more centralised approach to supply planning.

Argon & Co were asked to conduct a diagnostic within nine of its core Western European markets to identify gaps, opportunities and internal best practice.

Our Role

Assess supply planning processes, systems and people capabilities using the scprime® framework and compare against industry ‘best practice’

Conducted interviews and workshops with market and regional planning teams to understand ways of working

Attended key supply chain forums to see how different functions interfaced in the planning process

Documented processes for each market to ascertain potential for process synchronisation across markets

Results

Identified over 70 specific initiatives for improvement at both a tactical and strategic level

Improvement initiatives were targeted at a local market level and a regional level

Devised centralised planning structural options that balanced the need for regional materials and manufacturing optimisation with local market responsiveness

Developed a roadmap and business case to implement the initiatives over a two year transformation programme

Get in touch

Sam Maguire

scprime® leader

Get in touch

Sam Maguire

scprime® leader

Phone +44 (0) 845 644 6972

Email scprime.uk@argonandco.com

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