Global Grundfos strategy
yields clear results
ARTICLE FROM BØRSEN ONLINE, 14 NOVEMBER 2012
By Mads Gravesen, Børsen
Grundfos is ready for rolling out their
global supply chain in the entire company
after successful tests in the industry
segment.
Consulting Group, has been tested for
about a year in one of the two major
business areas, the industry segment.
Global overview
”We have turned the concept completely
around. Previously, when we established
new Grundfos plants around the world, it
was the responsibility of each individual
plant to ensure sufficient capacity for
servicing that market”, says Ebbe Gubi,
director of demand supply integration at
Grundfos.
However, with 60 different sales companies, we needed a new strategy, ”one set
of numbers”, which completely turns
around things. The strategy, which has
been developed in cooperation with
management consultants from Implement
”Now, we make a complete, global
overview of what we are to deliver in
the individual markets”.
A central coordination is performed
where we establish bottlenecks and look
into how the plants most optimally can
supply each other. We shift from decentralised planning to centralised planning”,
Ebbe Gubi explains.
The global overview enables Grundfos to
identify exactly where idle capacity exists
and how capacity can be moved around
to utilise it in the most optimal manner.
Photo: Grundfos: Grundfos headquarters in Bjerringbro
Implement Consulting Group
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Global Grundfos strategy yields clear results
”We have the same capacity as before,
but we have gained increased flexibility”,
says Ebbe Gubi.
deliver according to incoming orders
within ”the tactical horizon” of 1 to 18
months.
”The positive results are unmistakeable.
Our deliveries have become more stable,
the average time of delivery in Europe
has been reduced from 17 to12 days, and
we have reduced the component stocks
by 20% by eliminating redundant stocks.
And the stocks can be further reduced
when the strategy is rolled out in the
entire company”, Ebbe Gubi states.
Each week, all local plans are now joined
together in three regional plans that
again are made into one global plan
which serves as the basis for production decisions. This has improved risk
management significantly.
”Now, we agree that it works, and top
management has given their ”go” for rollout to all of Grundfos”, says Ebbe Gubi.
”Go” from top management
Grundfos operates with 25 plants from
China over Europe to the USA, and some
of them serve all the world. Previously, it
was the responsibility of each individual
plant to ensure that they were able to
”We roll out to what we are probably
most known for, the red circulator
pumps, and to everything else we do.
Since our organisation is widely ramified,
we did not dare to do it all in one go”.
Copyright© 2012 Dagbladet Børsen A/S
Implement Consulting Group
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