Proudfoot News

There’s no question that big data and artificial intelligence are transforming business processes, and procurement is no exception. In the past, global sourcing was a costly process that was only effective for businesses with a global presence. Thanks to digitization, it is now available to every business at a fraction of the cost of the conventional approach. This allows even a small procurement team with limited resources to discover and evaluate thousands of new suppliers within seconds, giving them a far greater chance to find higher-quality and lower-cost material sources.

Not only is strategic sourcing much faster with digitization, it also requires much less effort. Cloud-based solutions can be developed with no investment in IT infrastructure, and since evaluating candidates and processing each stage of the funnel is highly automated, sourcing initiatives that used to take months can be completed in weeks. Procurement professionals are unburdened to focus more time on their value-adding core tasks.

Whether you want to drive more competition within your existing supplier base or quickly develop suppliers for a new market segment or geography, digital sourcing has become a proven solution.

But how can you ensure the anticipated returns from your digital investment?

Many SG&A improvement initiatives and cost-reduction measures look like a success on paper when in fact tremendous value was left on the table. For some, it was because the strategy lacked a sufficiently granular evaluation of opportunities and trade-offs. This alone is enough to undermine the benefit of hitting a savings target while sacrificing far more than necessary in the process.

But another opportunity often missed is when the strategy doesn’t take into account the value of the interrelationships between people and processes, and the potential of these interrelationships to generate future value within the new organizational design.

Trade tariffs are especially problematic for heavy equipment manufacturers, as many rely heavily on cross-border supply chains.  The tariffs could represent an increase in costs of production by 6% for agriculture and construction equipment and 7% for mining equipment, according to an IHS Markit/AEM report. 

Many equipment manufacturers are not able to pass the rising cost of steel to their customers. But the costs have to be offset somehow, leading many manufacturers to look for fresh approaches to eliminate longstanding supply chain inefficiencies and increase productivity.

Most manufacturers⁠—even successful ones⁠—aren’t seeing anywhere near the levels of productivity that their operations are capable of. It’s not for lack of trying; when embarking on a continuous improvement journey to drive excellence in productivity, manufacturers often experience steady progress in the beginning but eventually run into a wall. After all the quick wins have been exhausted, it can become increasingly difficult to capture substantial productivity gains as the project progresses.

How do you go beyond low-hanging fruit to reach that next level of productivity?

The results from implementing a continuous improvement program can diminish over time for a number of reasons.

It is critical to keep up with your competition’s ability to bring new and innovative products to market, yet many companies suffer from excessively long and costly engineering cycles. Most engineering programs aren’t reaching the levels of productivity possible due to a range of issues. 

How do you enable your engineers to deliver better results at a lower cost?

The first step is to initiate an Engineering Productivity Opportunity Assessment. This two-week analysis shows you your engineering program from all perspectives, giving you a granular view of inefficiencies across all facets. It charts a course to unlock your engineering team's true potential by addressing your pain points at the root of the problem.

Sometimes challenges can stem from engineers spending too much time on admin work or getting involved in unnecessary meetings, but in most cases underperformance is due to the compounded impact of many interrelated problems which requires a holistic solution.

For many businesses, improving contact center performance and efficiency represents one of the fastest ways to achieve significant cost savings and revenue growth. Crucial to the success of every contact center is creating a healthy balance between outstanding customer service, employee satisfaction, and cost efficiency. Accomplishing all three of these goals in the most efficient way possible can seem like a big challenge, but it’s an even bigger opportunity to maximize your return on investment in this critical function.

So how do you enable your contact center to deliver better results at a lower cost?

What is Enterprise Aerial Mapping (EAM)? Proudfoot CEO, Pamela Hackett discusses the importance of implementing the wall-to-wall, bottom-up look at your business, both good and bad, through a people-first-focused lens.

Pamela Hackett, Proudfoot CEO discussing how to create change by choice within your organization. How do you get your transformation programs to succeed? She will be leading a Masterclass on Transformation during an invitation-only Knowledge Exchange at 1 pm, CST on the 29th at the Future of Mining Conference Americas in Denver, CO.

Proudfoot CEO, Pamela Hackett discussing Mining Disruption, one of the major topics that will be addressed at the Future of Mining Americas Conference in Denver on Oct. 29-30. What are you competing on? Is your operating model keeping up? These are just some of the questions that will be discussed at various panels and presentations throughout the two-day conference.

After spending $30 million and four years trying to introduce a major new IT system, this large medical provider was running out of ideas to make it work. Proudfoot helped the insurer get back on track by engaging people in the process of digitization.  

Proudfoot CEO, Pamela Hackett, discussing the Improving Net Present Value presentation that will be done by Jon Wylie, President, Global Natural Resources, at the Future of Mining Conference Americas. The presentation will focus on a case study that shows how your process, people, and systems can ensure huge investments deliver on time, safely, and on budget.

Proudfoot CEO, Pamela Hackett discusses her interest in incorporating agile within mining companies and shares how the topic will be presented at this year's Future of Mining Conference Americas.

Oyu Tolgoi, a $5.5 billion project managed by Rio Tinto, will become one of the largest underground mines in the world with the potential to supply copper for up to 100 years.

The two-day conference will address jurisdictional and governance changes and showcase new developments affecting the mining industry, including two days of editorially curated content and a focus on Exploration, Development, Management, Infrastructure, and leadership. All from the world’s leading experts and the most influential key note speakers, guaranteed to bring fresh new perspectives and challenge conventional thinking.

In June 2018, Angus Maclean, a leader in Proudfoot’s Global Building Materials Practice discussed next-generation Target Operating Models (TOM) with Global Cement Magazine.

Some things take time and that’s the case for the consulting industry icon, Proudfoot, as they announce the next step in the transformation of a 72-year-old consulting brand with the introduction of their all new leadership team line up in the US.

McKinsey’s 2018 transformation survey casts a dark shadow on the odds of your transformation success: They quote a 74% failure rate. They ask if yours is ‘doomed to fail?’.  We’re embarrassed for our industry when we read these results. With statistics like that, I almost want to ask, ‘why bother at all?’ But I know transformation doesn’t have to fail.

SAFETY IS A STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL IMPERATIVE. Traditionally, organizations separated safety from operations and approached it strictly as a standalone issue. However, the concept of safe operations is about changing the way that people approach their jobs to improve the level of safety and productivity within an organization.