Oliver Wight Help Mölnlycke Health Care Build A Healthy Business

Online, November 22, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Health care company, Mölnlycke Health Care, has been awarded Class A status by business improvement specialists Oliver Wight, after implementing Integrated Business Planning (advanced S&OP) and almost eliminating forecast bias as a result.

Recognised as one of the world's great innovators in the design and manufacture of single-use surgical and wound-care products, Mölnlycke Health Care, has been working closely with Oliver Wight in redesigning its business management flows to achieve integration across the organisation's complex structure.

As well as improved integration, forecast bias was reduced almost overnight, and all financial reports are now generated from a single system, removing the potential for divergence of critical planning data. Prior to the IBP project, the sales team was deliberately creating high forecasts to ensure customer supply, and over-forecasting was leading to significant inventory stocking. "One of the central pillars to our business culture is customer focus," says project director, Don Harding. "I'm immensely proud of that, but it turns out it was driving a significant forecast bias."

Mölnlycke has been awarded the Oliver Wight Class A standard for its Integrated Business Planning (IBP) programme: IBP extends the concepts established by S&OP to all aspects of company planning and execution, so the executive leadership team continuously achieves focus, alignment and synchronisation across all functions of the organisation. To help establish the programme with the workforce, the company named its IBP programme, Mölnlycke Business Management (MBM); this proved a significant move in making it personal to the organisation, says project director, Don Harding. "It's had an impact on a lot of people. It's ours, and it's how we manage our business."

Headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, Mölnlycke Health Care has a global reach. With markets in more than 80 countries around the world, dedicated sales offices in 30 countries and raw materials and parts sourced globally. The manufacturing operations are spread across six European countries, as well as Malaysia, Thailand and the US. Each manufacturing site is equipped to manufacture highly specialised products.

"We have achieved a significant milestone, but the journey continues," says Harding. "We're now looking at other aspects of the MBM, including demand reviews, and integrating the product review financials. It's all about continuous improvement," he concludes.