Success factors for footprint optimization

What is your strategic goal in optimizing your footprint? To achieve proximity to future markets? To ensure high-quality production? To be close to suppliers? To secure cost advantages? Or maybe to take advantage of local talent? Clearly defining and aligning your business strategy, production strategy and ultimately your footprint strategy is critical to the success of the overall project.

The footprint strategy cannot be decided by individual stakeholders. Developing a target footprint requires a top-down approach, led by an experienced team with sufficient seniority. Clear roles and responsibilities are vital, both at top management and project team level. At the same time, you need to involve relevant departments in the research and the evaluation process. For example, taking someone from Legal or Logistics along on a visit to the proposed site for a new production plant can provide invaluable insights.

One of the most challenging aspects of optimization projects is assembling and evaluating the necessary data. Transparency about the current footprint and other internal company data is essential, yet often surprisingly difficult to achieve. Securing reliable information about proposed new sites and the conditions affecting them often requires research and expertise that goes beyond the company's regular capabilities. The vast amount of detail needed and the number of uncertain factors that must be taken into consideration call for outstanding skills in analyzing and interpreting data.

At Roland Berger we employ a sophisticated system of data analytics. We set up a basic model as a framework, input the scores for different (actual or potential) production sites based on a thorough analysis, then translate the information into an overall picture. To achieve confidence about the target picture, it is also necessary to vary parameters and check their validity. This procedure, combined with our footprint tool, allows us to develop several different scenarios, verify the data and carry out sensitivity analyses in real time.

Successful footprint optimization requires a clearly defined approach: Analyze the current situation and gather data (customer data, market data, logistics data, and so on); evaluate opportunities for optimization against predefined criteria; develop a clear target footprint and check the accuracy and fit with your strategy via a sensitivity analysis; and finally, prepare for implementation, including calculating the financial impact with the help of a business plan and developing actions. This four-step method ensures that you take all relevant data into consideration.

You need to prepare properly for your final decision about a new footprint. This preparation should include physical visits to proposed plant sites to check that local data is correct and that the required infrastructure – access roads, power supply, and the like – actually exists or can be built. Wherever possible you should consult experts working in the country or region in question, such as local tax advisors.