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How to achieve operational excellence in indirect areas
Global competition and the economic downturn are forcing companies to optimize their costs. An often overlooked potential lies in the indirect areas. Savings of 15 to 25 percent can be achieved through holistic optimization approaches.
But indirect areas are rarely addressed comprehensively, mostly due to a lack of transparency and measurable performance indicators. A holistic approach requires a unified view of all resources.
This allows areas to be evaluated, benchmarks to be established, and priorities to be set.
![Nicolas Romfeld](https://en.staufen.ag/wp-content/uploads/romfeld_nicolas-300x300.jpg)
Nicolas Romfeld
PrincipalSTAUFEN.AG
Nicolas Romfeld is a Systemic Coach, Professional Scrum Master and Industrial Engineer. As an experienced consultant, coach and sparring partner for managers, employees and teams, he is also a trainer at Staufen Academy. He is an expert in Lean Development and Lean Administration, agile methods and leadership and communication from strategy to implementation. He has a wealth of industry experience in services, mechanical and plant engineering, automotive and electronics.
Nicolas Romfeld has over 10 years of consulting experience in Lean Transformation in R&D and order fulfillment, production and management. For clients, he is responsible for designing and implementing tailor-made training and development programs along with the internal development of several professional and management seminars. He heads consulting projects that focus on strategy development, performance improvement, collaboration, product development, quality management and technical problem-solving.
Amazonas
The „Amazonas“ performance framework from Staufen enables holistic and interlinked optimization of indirect areas.
The framework uses various performance clusters (e.g., service portfolio, processes) to meet performance criteria in a sustainable, flexible, and efficient manner. It provides a structured and holistic approach, addressing pain points and helping companies achieve their goals of operational excellence in indirect areas.
- Structuring knowledge
- Managing data
- Ensuring knowledge availability
- Designing end-to-end
- Making it measurable
- Reducing waste
- Managing portfolio
- Managing deviations
- Proceeding iteratively
- Ensuring agility
- Designing a network
- Shaping change
- Leading effectively
- Promoting team performance
- Developing talents
- Developing a digitization strategy
- Digitizing processes
- Using AI
- Structuring knowledge
- Managing data
- Ensuring knowledge availability
![](https://en.staufen.ag/wp-content/uploads/OPEX-Framework-EN.png)
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Why Amazonas?
The Amazon is not only one of the largest rivers in the world, connecting the most diverse ecosystems, but is also synonymous with constant change, growth and diversity. Just as the river is constantly in motion, bringing life to everything around it, the Amazonas framework is designed to ensure that processes in indirect areas are vital and efficient.
The Staufen Amazonas framework is divided into seven performance clusters, each of which contains specific enablers and thus enables interlinked optimization in the indirect areas.
Typical pain points,
which make it necessary to optimize the indirect areas:
- Shorter product lifecycles and increasing pressure to innovate
- Complex product structures and extensive product portfolios
- Rising costs
- Complicated processes and long lead times
- Low value contribution of indirect areas to the core processes
- Highly dynamic digitalization
- Increasing employee turnover and loss of know-how
- Organization too slow to react to rapidly changing customer requirements
Desired target state
Through the targeted application of performance enablers in the various clusters, companies achieve operational excellence that is characterized by high efficiency, flexibility, and sustainability. These improvements are measurable and result in an optimized cost structure, improved processes, increased employee satisfaction, increased innovation, and ultimately increased customer value.
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Benefits for the entire company
Significant efficiency gains in indirect areas.
Applying the Amazonas framework results in significant improvements in several key performance indicators. By optimizing processes and reducing complexity costs, operating costs can be significantly reduced.
Sustainable business models also increase the rate of innovation. Organizational agility is improved through flexible structures and high-performing teams. Sustainability goals are achieved through optimized processes, products and services. An end-to-end digitalization strategy ensures a seamless data flow and avoids system disruptions. Finally, the use of artificial intelligence can create additional efficiency reserves.
With the Amazonas framework, companies implement a structured and holistic approach to achieving operational excellence in their indirect operations. This leads to sustainable improvements that have a direct impact on the competitiveness and long-term success of companies.
Our project experience shows that when it comes to increasing efficiency, companies tend to focus only on the direct areas. This approach often falls short, as there is usually also potential in indirect processes that can make a significant contribution to improving results by streamlining.
Chrisitan Möllers
Partner, STAUFEN.AG
![Nicolas Romfeld](https://en.staufen.ag/wp-content/uploads/romfeld_nicolas-300x300.jpg)
Nicolas Romfeld
PrincipalSTAUFEN.AG
Nicolas Romfeld is a Systemic Coach, Professional Scrum Master and Industrial Engineer. As an experienced consultant, coach and sparring partner for managers, employees and teams, he is also a trainer at Staufen Academy. He is an expert in Lean Development and Lean Administration, agile methods and leadership and communication from strategy to implementation. He has a wealth of industry experience in services, mechanical and plant engineering, automotive and electronics.
Nicolas Romfeld has over 10 years of consulting experience in Lean Transformation in R&D and order fulfillment, production and management. For clients, he is responsible for designing and implementing tailor-made training and development programs along with the internal development of several professional and management seminars. He heads consulting projects that focus on strategy development, performance improvement, collaboration, product development, quality management and technical problem-solving.
![Michael Metzger](https://en.staufen.ag/wp-content/uploads/metzger_michael-300x300.jpg)
Michael Metzger
PrincipalSTAUFEN.AG
Michael Metzger has a degree in Industrial Engineering and qualified as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Professional Scrum Master. He is a trainer at Staufen Academy, has been a Lean consultant for many years and is an experienced project manager in Lean, agile transformation and cost optimization projects. With his consulting experience, he has worked in the automotive, insurance, transportation, mechanical and plant engineering industries and also in the process and food industries.
A consultant, trainer and coach in the areas of process and leadership excellence and agile transformations, Michael Metzger is also a master trainer for Lean Administration and a trainer for agility at Staufen Academy. He coaches employees and managers at all hierarchical levels and has over 10 years of experience in improving indirect areas and implementing integrated transformation and qualification projects.
Get in touch with us.
If you would like to learn more about Amazonas framework from Staufen and how it can help you achieve operational excellence in indirect areas, give us a call. We look forward to hearing from you.
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