Case Study - Operations Management
1-March-2005
05-03-001
SIG Combibloc
- Supply Chain Innovations It was July 2002 and Theodore Streng, Head of Supply Chain Management (SCM) of
SIG Combibloc, the second biggest supplier of aseptic packages for food and beverages just tried to prioritize the aspects he was about to present at the meeting of the executive committee on strategic positioning. The key issue of this meeting was the benchmark report which compared SIG Combibloc to its main competitor
Tetra Pak. The results of the study were striking: “Whereas both companies are head to head in all major qualitative aspects, SIG Combibloc lags behind in speed of implementation of new printing designs and customer order lead time”. Senior management was obviously very uncomfortable with these negative benchmarking results and expected him to address this issue and to come up with a solution.
Theodore Streng and his team had identified the key problem and would take the lead in the improvement project. This however would involve a radical change in the supply chain management strategy.
Theodore Streng realized that it would be on him and his team to convince the executive committee to make the change happen and to decide about the “when”,
“where” and “how”. It was clear to them that it would take several months if not years for the effects to materialize. But they were determined that they could turn his vision of an integrated supply chain that linked suppliers and customers to the same platform into reality.
Company Information
In 1853, SIG Swiss Industrial Group was founded in Neuhausen (Switzerland) by 3 partners as a train car manufacturing plant, employing 150 people. The location was deliberately chosen due to the “Rheinfall” where the waterpower could be used to run the factory. To diversify operations, SIG started the production of small arms in 1860, and became the supplier of the Swiss army as well as the manufacturer of choice for high-precision sporting guns at
05-03-001
SIG Combibloc
- Supply Chain Innovations It was July 2002 and Theodore Streng, Head of Supply Chain Management (SCM) of
SIG Combibloc, the second biggest supplier of aseptic packages for food and beverages just tried to prioritize the aspects he was about to present at the meeting of the executive committee on strategic positioning. The key issue of this meeting was the benchmark report which compared SIG Combibloc to its main competitor
Tetra Pak. The results of the study were striking: “Whereas both companies are head to head in all major qualitative aspects, SIG Combibloc lags behind in speed of implementation of new printing designs and customer order lead time”. Senior management was obviously very uncomfortable with these negative benchmarking results and expected him to address this issue and to come up with a solution.
Theodore Streng and his team had identified the key problem and would take the lead in the improvement project. This however would involve a radical change in the supply chain management strategy.
Theodore Streng realized that it would be on him and his team to convince the executive committee to make the change happen and to decide about the “when”,
“where” and “how”. It was clear to them that it would take several months if not years for the effects to materialize. But they were determined that they could turn his vision of an integrated supply chain that linked suppliers and customers to the same platform into reality.
Company Information
In 1853, SIG Swiss Industrial Group was founded in Neuhausen (Switzerland) by 3 partners as a train car manufacturing plant, employing 150 people. The location was deliberately chosen due to the “Rheinfall” where the waterpower could be used to run the factory. To diversify operations, SIG started the production of small arms in 1860, and became the supplier of the Swiss army as well as the manufacturer of choice for high-precision sporting guns at