Very few companies have succeeded in achieving true supply chain value by exploiting the Enterprise Resourcing Planning (ERP) technology they have. In most companies, management theories and supply chain principles are well understood, but few companies are actively and effectively using the standard functionality and information their ERP systems (such as SAP) offer to bridge the gap between theory and action. For this reason, Reveal developed a methodology to help companies overcome this challenge and help them achieve the Return on Investment (ROI) they never received after go-live.
Reveal’s primary focus is to coach and advise companies on how to drive more sales, reduce operational expense and optimize working capital to ultimately ensure better product availability and increased profitability. Reveal does this by focusing on Information Maturity, a key element in helping organizations achieve a high level of Business Maturity. "Business Maturity is an organization's ability to leverage their existing technology investment to meet their business objectives," Martin Rowan, a senior partner at Reveal explains.
Reveal's methodology, called ongoing VALUE optimization (oVo™), enables organizations to manage their information, and in turn allows the companies to trust the information to manage their businesses better. The oVo™ methodology uses the integrated ERP processes to enable companies to become exception focused rather than focusing on everything as an exception. This is very advantageous to organizations because it allows them to “rise above the daily transactions,” freeing up time for employees to utilize their valuable tribal knowledge of the business and apply it to focus more on the strategic aspects of the business.
"oVo™ has been validated over and over again across the world and across industries and takes a unique approach that facilitates the transformation of organizations while they continue to do business. It focuses on raising the understanding of the ERP capabilities, user certification, change management, organizational structural alignment, effective data sharing, discipline, metrics and governance within the integrated supply chain," Martin adds.
The oVo™ methodology has enabled Reveal to solve most of the problems that plague companies, such as scalability, working capital constraints, service level demands, etc. ongoing VALUE optimization can be applied to a range of functional areas within a company’s ERP environment, but it is most effective in achieving business goals when it is applied to the wider framework of the business’ supply chain.
The first step to the methodology is for Reveal to conduct a Wellness Assessment on the organization. As the assessment’s name implies, it is a 5 day review of the organizations current Supply Chain health. With an intense interrogation of the companies ERP information Reveal is able to provide immediate recommendations and a roadmap that includes the tangible value opportunities to be gained. This is a great way for companies to begin their journey of ongoing VALUE optimization.
"Each of our clients have seen tremendous results from employing our oVo™ methodology."Martin adds, from Sulzer, BHP Billiton, LORD, Rust-Oleum, United Sugars, Siemens, Ryerson, Blount, Shure, Tennant, Stihl, to Safety Kleen. Reveal’s clients cover a variety of industries globally have seen significant results from applying the principles of oVo™ and some clients have seen as much as 30% inventory reduction and payback within 12 months. One of Reveal’s major clients, LORD Corporation, underwent a Supply Chain transformation that utilized the oVo™ methodology. This was affirmed in a recent article in the Supply Chain World Magazine on LORD and their Director of Global Supply Chain Planning, Sharon Martin, when Sharon stated "I have championed a number of projects in my 24 years, this transformation was one of the most comprehensive and successful by far, and the work we did with Reveal sets us up for the future."
In this age, when businesses operate in an environment of rapid change, such as increasingly demanding clients and long lead-times, ineffective supply chain planning makes it very hard to manage and control business. Therefore more and more businesses are seeking ways to improve and transform their supply chains to remain competitive. Reveal is bringing the oVo™ methodology to many of the global supply chains of popular brands. Through projects in the US and abroad, each year Reveal further expands their project capabilities into new geographic markets around the globe.
