Appleton Greene & Co

Appleton Greene’s Continuous Improvement program taught us that, for our company to continuously improve, we had to continuously improve as individuals. Our key employees all have and require different skills, which meant we all had to improve personally in different ways. Once we recognized this, we sourced better training and ensured we all put at least 10% of our time into self-development. The result was more intuitive human resources and a more innovative company. The process Appleton Greene provided ensured that this became part of our corporate culture.

Like any business, we want to grow; we want to achieve more market share; we want to succeed. However, achieving growth for growth's sake has proven unsustainable. Rapid growth in the past has led to some uncomfortable consequences:

Overheads spiraling out of control
A lack of analytical decision-making
A breakdown of our management structure
Reduced quality of customer service
Communication problems
Data silos and poorly selected technologies
Focus on short-term gains
Poor hiring decisions and employee retention

Appleton Greene's Growth Strategy program provided us with the strength and depth we needed to move forward with confidence. I particularly liked that the program was implemented over three years, which gave us the support necessary to implement these processes. It gave us the confidence that we were covering all bases. We learned that strategic growth is intentional growth. It results from strategic initiatives rather than organic growth or uncontrollable market forces.

It is like losing weight too quickly and then putting the weight back on again, as opposed to losing weight as part of a carefully planned and healthy diet plan. The growth we achieved with Appleton Greene's Growth Strategy program was carefully planned and more sustainable. I would recommend this program to any business that prides itself on the quality of customer service it provides and never wants to achieve growth at the expense of this.

Stakeholders are more likely to support the project when they believe their requirements are satisfied. However, they can attempt to obstruct your initiative if their demands still need to be addressed. Building strong relationships with stakeholders is one of the keystones of a well-running project.

Through Appleton Greene's stakeholder management program, we were able to:

- Prevent or settle disputes amongst stakeholders.
- Obtain the support and buy-in of essential stakeholders.
- Effectively communicate with stakeholders.
- Control the expectations of those involved.
- Track the involvement of stakeholders during the project.

I enthusiastically endorse this affordable and incredibly engaging program. Every stakeholder was an integral part of the development and implementation of the strategy—a great way to achieve buy-in and commitment.

Five fundamental guiding principles were revealed by the Appleton Greene Procurement Optimisation program, which assisted us in determining the most successful procurement strategies. Each offers a portion of the secret to effective procurement: The chain of procurement flow; Risk management for suppliers; Centralized database of suppliers; Developing a Predictive Analytics Capability; Incorporated into the framework of the collective invention of the company.

The procedure and support from Appleton Greene were first-rate and gave us a framework to ensure we helped with the implementation.

In the next six to twelve months, 82% of supply chain leaders expect issues to increase or stay the same, signaling that disruption and unpredictability have become the standard for the global supply chain. More than 80% of organizations faced substantial troubles in 2022, and supply chain leaders forecast that in 2023, the most vulnerable industries will be food, gas, and computer chips. The major obstacles facing supply chain managers are rising costs, geopolitical unpredictability, a lack of transportation capacity, a lack of crucial parts, and volatility in customer demand.

To address these problems, we signed up for Appleton Greene's Digital Supply Chain program. Through this program, developed stronger supplier relationships and put into practice strategies like relying on suppliers who are located nearby, reducing supplier dependence on a single region, and fortifying ties with current suppliers and customers. This was quite effective for us because it provided us with a fresh viewpoint and the tools to make changes as needed. We felt assured that we were not too introverted as a result.

Investing in Appleton Greene's Digital Supply-Chain program was essential for us to become more agile and resilient. Although 79% of executives intend to spend money on such programs in 2023, there is still work to be done because not all tasks have been converted to digital forms. Digitization is a crucial component to guarantee product availability, enhance customer satisfaction, and lower total supply chain risk.

Appleton Greene’s Innovation Ecosystem program provided us with the tools, expertise and support to put innovation at the heart of our corporate culture.

A live, breathing ecosystem in which one strives to innovate is created by a complex web of interacting links between the resources in the market, much like a biological one. This ecosystem comprises people, consumers, company procedures, and strategies. Product leaders must thoroughly understand the range of products a firm offers and its ecosystems to implement an innovation strategy effectively. The following are the five pillars of product innovation:

- evaluating the effectiveness of the product line
- establishing a network of innovative talent internally
- the requirement for creative methods
- coordinating corporate goals and resources
- the corporate structure

I loved that the program was inspiring, motivational and educational, but I was so impressed the program was used to facilitate implementation. This is the real value proposition.

Appleton Greene's sustainable business strategy program helped us to positively impact our sustainable processes, thereby helping address some of the world's most pressing problems and how they might relate to us.

Some of the global issues that the program helped us to address include:

- Climate change
- Income inequality
- Depletion of natural resources
- Human rights issues
- Fair working conditions
- Pollution
- Racial injustice
- Gender inequality

Appleton Greene's sustainable business strategy program helped our company succeed overall in addition to promoting social and environmental improvement. Spending more money on sustainable business practices increased our company's profitability, which may sound counterintuitive, but studies show that the most sustainable businesses are also the most lucrative ones. This certainly turned out to be the situation with us.

I was surprised that Appleton Greene already had a Machine Learning program. The program is primarily used to help process large amounts of data quickly. These types of AIs are algorithms that appear to "learn" over time.

With the aid of the Appleton Greene Machine Learning program, we can quickly examine the data as it is received and spot trends and abnormalities. Let's say a machine in the production facility operates at a lower rate. In that situation, a machine-learning algorithm can detect it and alert decision-makers that a preventive maintenance crew needs to be sent out.

Their program is constantly being improved through implementation and feedback from hundreds of clients like us, making it cutting-edge.

Appleton Greene’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) program proved invaluable to the cultural improvement within our HR department. It is more than policies, processes, or headcounts. We can outpace our competitors by respecting our team member's unique needs, perspectives, and potential. As a result, a diverse and inclusive workplace earns our employees deeper trust and more commitment. It also sends a positive message to our customers.

At its core, Appleton Greene's Customer Value Management (CVM) program is an approach to managing all aspects of the "value journey" that a customer takes, from initial contact with potential customers—whether that contact occurs through a web calculator, SDR outreach, a targeted marketing campaign, or through a focused marketing effort or the active sales cycle, to ongoing customer relationship management after solution implementation.

We started engaging in this program four years ago and are still recycling it. The benefits are holistic, and new employees must be fully involved. The program makes setting boundaries, managing expectations, and delivering time after time easier.

When launching our new products or bringing our existing products into a new niche market, we felt that we needed a plan to help us to penetrate the market and grab the attention of our target audience.

This is where Appleton Greene’s SaaS go-to-market strategy program helped us. It helped to plan, develop, implement, manage, and review a detailed strategic plan that enabled us to figure out the right way to launch and generate more significant paybacks in the long term.

It helped us to:

- Identify the right audience.
- Create value proposition and messaging.
- Decide on your sales and pricing strategy.
- Choose a marketing distribution strategy.
- Choose a customer experience strategy and customer funnel.
- Decide on the right metrics to track.

Outstanding programs, excellent service, and easy to measure. This was a worthwhile experience for us.

Lean manufacturing was initially designed to reduce waste and maximize resource usage. Later, lean was developed in response to the competitive and ever-changing business environment. Businesses nowadays must contend with problems and complexity due to the fast-changing business environment. Whether focused on manufacturing or providing services, any company may ultimately rely on its ability to respond to these changes systematically and consistently to raise the output's value and ensure its survival.

Implementing Appleton Greene’s lean manufacturing system is thus a critical skill for any company to maintain, as value-adding activities are necessary to achieve this perfection. Few services focus on more than one lean factor, while the majority are solely concerned with one lean element.

However, Appleton Greene’s lean manufacturing program concentrates on all of the elements, including Value Stream Mapping (VSM), Cellular Manufacturing (CM), U-line system, Line Balancing, Inventory control, Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED), Pull System, Kanban, Production Levelling, etc.

This enabled us to implement a more holistic lean manufacturing system. This enabled us to create a coherent theory for the implementation of lean elements. The support we received from Appleton Greene far exceeded our expectations.

A very well thought-out program, well designed and implemented to the highest standards. We did not have to engage participants, the program does this naturally. An absolute must for any manufacturing company.

Because the business environment is constantly shifting, businesses must frequently reinvent themselves. One method businesses might get an advantage over rival companies is through innovation. It makes sure you have something valuable and novel to offer customers.

But innovation can take many different forms, each with a specific function to perform in a business. Process innovation is one of the components you can use to create observable change in an organization's operations.

This kind of innovation might apply to a company's technology, equipment, and systems, among other elements. You need to understand what PI is, how it works, and what it means for your company.

Before putting Appleton Greene's Process Innovation initiative into action, we took the time to accomplish this. We couldn't find anything else to enable our employees to be more creative. The procedures put in place are ongoing. We no longer care about employee retention statistics since the

Appleton Greene Process Innovation method is what our workers utilize to perform their jobs. Therefore, innovation is now part of our culture and is facilitated and supported externally by Appleton Greene. We never have to be concerned about getting outdated or complacent. Nowadays, innovation is ingrained in our DNA.

We were so focused on improving our talent management process, that we tended to ignore the employees we already had. Appleton Greene’s Employee Engagement program gave us the tools and the knowledge to create incredible new employees from within!

Gone are the days of finance leaders supporting the business, driving activities around tightly crafted responsibilities. The digital economy's demands and the need for companies to accelerate their transformation have led to a more strategic role for the finance organization. Appleton Greene's economic transformation program helped us elevate finance to a more dynamic capability that rapidly adopts new tools and competencies while fueling the firm's digital transformation.

We recently finished implementing one of Appleton Greene’s Quality Management programs after two years. There were many benefits, but " integration " was the overwhelming advantage.

Integrating project and quality principles led to a more integrated approach to knowledge.

By integrating knowledge, each part of the business contributed to the success of the whole – marketing, sales, IT, and project management were no longer separated as distinct parts but work together to pursue the same goals.

Every job function and activity within every department is accountable for quality objectives, and Appleton Greene’s Quality Management program implements them into every task, project, and learning opportunity.

Regardless of your industry, logistics is the foundation of every organization. Since the movement or transportation of commodities determines cash flow, logistics management facilitates this transportation, which is a primary corporate emphasis, necessity, and worry. For better or worse, logistics management affects a company's bottom line. It's imperative to avoid leaving that effect to chance.


So, What did we learn from Appleton Greene's 4-year Logistic Management program?


1. Visibility: Logistics management increases your team's understanding of the supply chain, enabling you to make data-driven decisions. Businesses can use this to manage expenses better, identify operational inefficiencies, identify issues with the supply chain, carry out demand planning, and identify future business possibilities.


2. Lower Overhead: By improving efficiency and having a more excellent grasp of the operation, logistics management enables businesses to lower overhead. These efficiencies, which include lowering shipping costs and reducing the amount of warehouse space required by actively managing inventory levels, can add up to millions with the appropriate changes.


3. Better Customer Experience: A great customer experience must be recognized. A positive client experience is a crucial motivator for recurring business. You can enhance the customer experience and increase brand loyalty and future sales by delivering orders precisely, swiftly, and with a streamlined procedure.


4. Loss Prevention: Logistics management assists in loss prevention in a number of ways. Accurate inventory accounting ensures your business always knows how many goods it has on hand and is one of the main ways logistics management reduces loss. Companies can also track movement and the current location to prevent products from being lost or redirected without warning. In addition, effective logistics avoids potential product spoiling and damage in transit by maintaining ideal storage and transport conditions, such as temperature and moisture management.


5. Demand Forecasting: Demand forecasting helps firms assess inventory requirements, sales trends, and transporting and stocking following those findings. Best practices for logistics management also assist businesses in scaling up to complete more client orders timely.


6. Competitive Advantage: On-time and accurate order delivery is a fundamental component of the customer experience, and positive CX is essential for generating repeat business, a strong brand reputation, and high net promoter scores. A company can improve its competitive edge and reliably deliver on promises with the help of logistics management.


But Appleton Greene did much more than teach us things, many of which we already knew. It gave us the critical ingredients for succeeding: knowledge; application; planning; development; implementation; management, and review. This is why it took four years; the support was excellent. The results were enlightening. I highly recommend them.

We were informed at an industry conference that took place last year that 75% of CPOs expect to implement a digital procurement strategy in the next five years. The procurement community's top notion of interest is "procurement strategy." However, developing a solid and pertinent procurement strategy is more complex.

The majority of manufacturing businesses are currently experiencing sudden uncertainty. Global geopolitics and supply chains are continuously shifting, so we all need methods to anticipate change rather than respond after everyone else has.

With Appleton Greene's Procurement Strategy program, we moved one giant step closer to achieving this. It's that good!

At its foundation, market intelligence draws data from several sources to build a comprehensive picture of the current market for our organization. It evaluates the market, issues, rivals, and potential for developing new goods and services for our company. We gather market insight by looking at survey results, customer information, sales logs, and social media indicators.

Our market intelligence procedures were excellent. We felt better at gathering and using market intelligence than our competitors. This was one of our significant strengths and opportunities.

But we wanted things to stay that way!

That is why we implemented Appleton Greene’s market intelligence program. We took something we were good at and made it better to stay ahead of the game.

The AGC (MI) process gave us the tools and support to do that. We were able to determine the following:

* Where should our organization focus its resources more?
* Which markets ought to be our following targets?
* What purchasing habits do our best clients have?
* What goods could be promoted to current customers in many ways?
* What demographic groups can our business target with new and existing products?

Boy, did we get better! Not because of anything that Appleton Greene did for us but because of what they enabled us to do better ourselves. This program will consistently be implemented on a cyclical basis within our organization for the foreseeable future because it will help us remain proactive and sustain and improve our market share as a result.

We all negotiate. We bargain with relatives over how to spend time off; we deal with friends over who will pay for supper; and we negotiate with contractors over when to arrive at the house for a delivery or repairs.

So, within our company, it is not just sales or marketing people who need to be able to negotiate; any employee working in an executive capacity or middle management needs to learn to negotiate on behalf of their department and their work colleagues, to promote themselves and their ideas, but most importantly on behalf of our customers.

We needed to implement a multi-departmental process that would eventually become part of our corporate culture. If our key employees need to learn how to negotiate, how could we grow and thrive in the face of better competition?

Appleton Greene's negotiation strategy program provided us with the answer. It enabled us to decentralize the process throughout the organization, resulting in buy-in and commitment from key employees and stakeholders. It helped us build our negotiation structure from the organization's grassroots upwards. It enabled us not only to negotiate better ourselves as individuals but to be open-minded about encouraging our colleagues to negotiate and to support them in winning.

We have become much better at:

- engaging in systematic planning and preparation;
- having high expectations;
- maintaining a reputation for reliability and integrity;
- exhibiting strong listening skills, knowledge of the subject matter, verbal skills, and self-confidence.

The result is that we now have an organization driven by a culture and a will to negotiate. Appleton Greene provided the process, trained us on how to use it, supported us while we were using it, and encouraged us to see how much progress we were making. We could never have achieved this level without Appleton Greene's help.