Services
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Transformation workshops
Flagstone is the most suitable partner to make your company future proof. Together with our clients we put together a plan of approach that suits both parties.
As external partner we can provide a fresh and renewed look on the current infrastructure and objectives of you company.
Projectmanagement
Outsource the management of your digital projects while you can continue to focus on your business.s.
We co-create with the internal and external stakeholders and supplement the sessions with our professional advice.
Advice Reports
When a company decides to take the step to a digital work environment and therefore wants to be future proof, it is sometimes not immediately clear to this company what the possibilities are today.
Therefore Flagstone prepares a report about the current infrastructure and production processes. The current infrastructure and processes are then checked against the business objectives of the company.
The report that follows from the analyses of the current situation is the ideal basis for determining priorities and budgets for the future investments.
IOT driven solutions
IOT (“Internet of things”), where everyday objects are connected by a cloud. A production machine will be included in the decision flow thanks to adding sensors and integrating PLC information.
Integrating return information, machine settings and quality are key points for more digital and automatic work.
This information is the start to:
- Deploy machines and operators more efficiently
- Achieve more qualitative production
- Accomplish better follow-up and decisions
We provide both the software, the link with existing systems (PLC and/or ERP) as the installation of the sensors. In other words, Flagstone takes care of the whole project from A to Z.
Integration services
We go one step further than our competitors.
A missing link between different software systems often creates a lot of problems, errors and inefficiency.
When a good link is missing between the different systems, discrepancies often occur because manual data input results in an error margin that is too high. We can create the link or rather ‘middleware’ to connect the systems with each other.
The known ERP systems such as SAP or Axapta usually contain all master data and therefore a large part of your processes are already digital. Integrating the production data or other peripheral systems gives you a closed circuit with a much more efficient operation.
Custom software solutions
Based on custom-made software we can digitise specific business processes when ‘ready-made’ applications are no longer sufficient.
In most cases this concerns satellite applications around the ERP system (in many cases Axapta or SAP). When creating the applications we always focus on an aesthetic, easy-to-use application so the change process for your employees is as easy as possible.
Roadbook
DETERMINING BUSINESS OBJECTIVE
We discuss the challenges that you want to address within the company:
Based on co-creation session(s) we look for tangible business objectives to approach the transformation project truthfully. This can result in workshops with people from various departments of the company.
- Do you want to become more efficient (operation excellence) by addressing one or more specific digitisation issues?
- We eliminate as many silos as is possible within your organisation: this ensures a smaller error margin and more efficient deployment of both people as machines.
- Do you want to clone a factory or processes on other organisations?
- When setting up a pilot project we consider the fact that it can be applied on other sites with different software and machines.
- Do you want to develop a new business model based on digitisation and innovation?
- In this case new ways must be sought to reach customers with products/services. This results in another mindset when running your factory with numerous challenges that must be addressed.
MAKING AN INVENTORY OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE
Making an inventory of:
- Business processes: how is the organisation currently operating? In how many and which steps do you go from stock to delivery?
This helicopter view can be a discussion platform for how something can be done more efficient, for example a part of the production process. - Current technology architecture: Which software is used as basis? Which other applications are currently not identified within your company?
Sometimes employees themselves try to support their work better, these tools can be a risk for the continuity within your factory.
- Automation architecture: Which PLCs are available and which data can already be used, where are the blind spots?
- Machine infrastructure: making an inventory of your machine park and the current connectivity is important to evaluate how quickly you can upgrade certain department to a digital department.
- Manual actions: within the organisation a few actions are still performed manually: making phone calls or sending emails to discuss business, making notes on paper, excel forms that are supplemented manually based on observations. This inventory will give a picture of which processes can be improved.
Finally, we draw up an advice report: what is the outcome and what can we recommend to achieve the predefined business objectives.
DISCUSSING APPROACH WITH STAKEHOLDERS
We discuss the plan of approach with the stakeholders based on Transformation Workshops
STARTING A PILOT PROJECT
We select a pilot project to be evaluated. Flagstone uses tangible business objectives to create a picture of the situation before and after the project.
EVALUATION PILOT PROJECT AND ADJUSTMENT
Evaluation of the project and adjustment.
APPLING THE PILOT PROJECT ON OTHER PARTS OF THE ORGANISATION
After agreement with the stakeholders we apply the project on the other parts of your organisation.
EVALUATING RESULTS
Flagstone and the stakeholders evaluate the results and the cooperation. Together we also assess whether there are other opportunities within the company and whether changes can still take place during the cooperation.
Tangible measurement results
The added value of Flagstone’s solution are calculated separately per business case, as this added value is not always financially but can also be related to the quality.
In most cases our clients have objectives in mine of which they know themselves which target they want to achieve and which evolution they want to cause within their company.
The high level formula of Flagstone can ensure that the number of units produced per hour increases, the number of waste units reduces, …
We give two examples to make your success ratio at high level tangible for the management:
- Activating a new or additional production line: Activating a new production line means a significant increase of turnover for a company, given the success of selling a niche product for example.
When the aforementioned methodology means a success for the company in question, it is the intention to clone this best practice across all other factories.
The success ratio focuses on increasing the production figures and can for example be measured via the profit and loss account of the company.
- Replacing the process with conveyor belts by a system with AGVs and containers: With respect to quality improvement around allergens, the process with conveyor belts must be replaced by a system with AGVs (“automated guided vehicles”) and containers.
The success ratio was to keep this complex process with lots of external parties and legacy software up and running before the next raw material contracts became active again after the breaktime that was planned for the conversion.
We can perform in-depth low level business value calculation by setting up KPIs together with the client. In principle these KPIs vary per customer depending on the issue that must be solved.
A few examples of low level KPIs are the following:
- Days of stock (=stocks/turnover X 365 days) from the balance sheet of the previous year and the new year. This time period should be shorter after implementing an optimisation where this is the only change.
- Return on assets (=EBIT/assets) illustrates the profitability of your assets. It reviews the return on your assets.
- Return on equity (=Profit before tax/own capital) Optimising the shareholders’ value can be important as they will eventually invest further in your company if you can increase the returnsn.
- Full costing/Activity based costing corrections by real-time information that is included in the calculation instead of an assumption.
Interested in Flagstone services?
Do not hesitate to contact us for a free consultation