Strategic Sourcing is the process whereby suppliers are defined and evaluated by their criticality and total cost of ownership. It involves conducting due diligence on current and potential suppliers by measuring them via a myriad of qualitative and quantitative criteria. Our methodology for the selection of those suppliers deemed to be strategic is very rigorous and normally thoroughly reviewed and approved at the most senior levels of the organization.

Xenon Group brings a structured approach to analyzing spend data, applying meaningful market intelligence and developing and implementing rigorous sourcing strategies.

Our Strategic Sourcing offering is designed to answer questions such as:

• Which portfolios, categories and sub-categories offer the most opportunity for savings based on a total cost of ownership analysis?
• Which suppliers are best aligned with the client organization’s category strategy?
• What are the macro-economic drivers for a given category?
• What framework should be deployed to manage the supply base?
• Which suppliers and items should be rationalized?

Services include:

• Spend analytics
• Supplier performance management
• Negotiations strategy, preparation and leadership
• Supplier capability assessment
• TCO model development

Supply Chain Design, often referred to as Distribution Network Design or Network Optimization, can drive fundamental improvements in cost to serve, sustainability and risk, and often unlocks significant aggregate supply chain savings. By employing complex algorithms, sensitivity and scenario-based analysis, our designers build detailed and comprehensive models that become integral components of the overall supply chain strategy.

Our Supply Chain Design offering is designed to answer questions such as:

• At a granular level, what is the flow of product from the supply base to the end customer?
• Where are the systemic constraints and what are their impacts to the overall supply chain?
• How can logistics costs be optimized?
• Which nodes/lanes represent the greatest risk?
• What levers can be deployed to meet corporate sustainability goals?

Services include:

• Supply chain network opportunity assessment
• Network design and optimization
• Transportation route planning
• Product flow path routing
• Continuity and disaster recovery

Xenon Group’s Supply Chain Planning offering combines relevant data with a rigorous operating cadence to develop and deliver an integrated and time-sensitive forecast, the foundation of which is a series of repeatable, cross-functional processes that can be quickly deployed to drive collaboration and improve forecast accuracy. Scenario-based and iterative by design, this service drives continuous process improvement by employing a Plan-Do-Check-Act methodology.

Our Supply Chain Planning offering is designed to answer questions such as:

• What is the optimal balance between inventory positions and service levels?
• What are the components that make up the total cost to serve?
• With respect to forecast generation, how do Finance, Marketing, Sales and Operations align on a common set of processes and definitions?
• What product mix drives optimal margins?
• What supplier collaboration tools and processes should be deployed to improve supplier-driven forecast variability?

Services include:

• Digital sales and operations planning
• Supply planning
• Demand planning
• Collaborative planning forecasting and replenishment
• Demand-driven replenishment
• Inventory optimization

Where appropriate, our Data Scientists will leverage cloud-based machine learning tools to design, develop and deploy self-service data analytics capabilities that client Supply Chain and Procurement teams can quickly adopt and customize.

Our Data Science offering is designed to answer questions such as:

• How should reports be configured to best serve the needs of the Finance function?
• How can item master data be rationalized without impacting business operations?
• What are the appropriate KPIs to measure the performance of distribution operations?
• What visualization tools are the best fit for a given environment?
• Which tool or combination of tools can most dramatically reduce time spent analyzing data?

Services include:

• Artificial intelligence
• Machine learning
• Robotics process automation
• Big data analytics
• Customer analytics
• Dashboard development
• Data blending
• Data preparation and profiling
• Data visualization
• Item master rationalization and maintenance
• Predictive analytics

Xenon Group’s Organizational Performance offering is designed to drive improvement in four critical capabilities: business readiness, ownership/commitment, training and communications.

Our Organizational Performance offering is designed to answer questions such as:

• How can training be deployed to meaningfully reduce the risk associated with systems implementation?
• What are the process and selection criteria for recruiting and hiring high-performing individuals?
• How can business readiness be assessed and improved upon?
• To what extent does a cultural bias exist toward ownership and commitment?
• What are the elements of an effective communication plan and how should one be implemented?

Services include:

• Workforce capability development
• Communication planning and implementation
• Culture assessment and development
• Organizational alignment