Performance Improvement in the Private Sector
To support future growth aspirations and aid the recovery of the impact of Covid-19 restrictions across its manufacturing, operations, and consumer sales, Baxters engaged a consultancy delivery partner for the first time in its history and presented Proxima with a clear brief: Reduce costs now and deliver long-term impact by embedding sustainable best practices across the business.
Proxima designed a programme across three phases: “Find the money”, “Deliver the money”, “Retain the money”. The first phase was a rapid Opportunity Assessment to quickly identify the scale of opportunity and how it could be embedded sustainably. The second was to deliver cross-business solutions that saw Proxima unlock over £14 million of annualised savings opportunity across Baxters’ product portfolio in less than 12 months. The third phase, to empower the procurement organisation with the right tools, business processes, and elevation that would leave a lasting impact.
We needed to ensure that Baxters was equipped to deliver lasting change for the business. We achieved this across the following areas:
• Packaging – implemented standardisation of packaging which increased supplier availability, which led to greater competition, enabling cost reductions both immediately and in the longer term
• Facilities Management – delivered a profit boosting, environmentally-friendly solution. Baxters previously paid a supplier to remove their waste, we saw the opportunity to engage suppliers that would pay for the waste and recycle
• Improved manufacturing – Multiple improvements were made to the manufacturing process by identifying produce that would go through the process more efficiently
Baxters engaged this programme with full leadership support, drive, and engagement. Working in close collaboration, Proxima delivered a programme that would transform the procurement function away from the reactive facilitator it had historically been into a cross-business, forward-thinking function.
Collaboration was central to this project’s success, which meant working closely with Baxters’ teams across several business functions and engaging in constructive conversations with the supplier base. This combined approach gave us an overarching view of the supply chain and all the contributing factors to provide the best chance to make a lasting impact.
Overall, the critical part of the programme was the long-term impact Proxima made in opening up dialogue across the business on behalf of Procurement, attaining support to deliver solutions in a bold, innovative, and collaborative way.
View the Proxima Group profile in the MCA Members Directory.