Project examples: Operations

The following examples have been selected from the partners’ portfolios. They illustrate the range of services provided by the European Partner Group in the area of Operations.

Network optimisation

The project involved optimisation of the network of a Pan-European freight-railway operator, which increased its return on sales by nearly 20 percent. The approach involved a complex evaluation of the economic value of service on different lines and resulted in a concentration of the network that not only improved profitability but also reduced average transport time for customers.

Overhead Value Analysis

An overhead value analysis was carried out to identify the cost savings potential in the headquarters of a leading telecoms operator. The project resulted in headcount savings of around 20%.

Acquisition and operational improvement

In the context of an acquisition, the consulting team undertook a review of the two companies’ operations, and identified cost savings from the merger, including improvements from applying best practices from one company to another, and from industry-leaders. We worked with 12 teams from the two companies to cover the different operational areas.

Intermodal operations

We have worked for several large shipping lines active in Europe to improve their landside operations. We helped reduce empty running by optimizing modal choice and improving the match factor/match quality in trucking. We enhanced the coordination between commercial & operational functions and supported targeted sales efforts to reduce inland ‘trade imbalances’. We helped evaluate support tools and streamlined processes and organization.

Hub and spoke economics

Many of our assignments included modeling of transport options. This has included evaluating direct calls versus feeder services in container shipping, direct shuttles versus wagon load operations in rail intermodal, and the economics of central hub operations and road/air feeder operations in the express freight sector.