Specialty chemicals
Implementation plan

Specialty chemicals formulator · 2 sites near Lyon · 160 employeesThis War Map shows how we turn an operational review into an implementation plan. The dates show a possible sequence; the scope and schedule of a real engagement are agreed with you.

Implementation plan

What to fix first, in what order, and who keeps each decision. 7 initiatives across 4 departments. €520-780K illustrative annual gross value, of which €460-685K is direct initiative value.

Priorities at a glance

  • 7 initiatives across 4 departments
  • €520K to €780K in illustrative annual gross value
  • Sample target: standard document requests answered in 1-2 working days by month 2
  • Regulatory sign-off, batch release, ADR signature and price changes stay with named people

Automation Opportunity Map

The goal is not to add AI on top of chaos. The goal is to turn repeated fires into infrastructure: context assembled automatically, decisions routed to the right level, exceptions escalated only when human judgment is actually needed. The figures below show direct value by initiative. Broader operational value is modeled separately.

Matching and updates use deterministic rules. An agent can classify a free-text request, gather records or draft a response. Software-enforced access, validation, duplicate handling and named human approvals govern consequential actions.

The two estimates (direct value by initiative; projected annual value by operational effect) are alternative, overlapping views. Do not add them. Ranges are teaching assumptions without source measurements: volumes, time, loaded cost and error cost require validation. Investment, operation and adoption ramp remain to be deducted.

Low complexity
Med complexity
High complexity
Direct initiative value: €460-685K/yr
Regulatory + Quality3 items
€200-290K
Document Request Desk: SDS and REACH replies prepared for sign-off
€70-100KMed
Current state
About 85 requests a week arrive in three mailboxes. Nadia identifies the product, finds the current SDS version and drafts statements by hand. Average reply: 6.5 working days.
Target state
An agent reads each request, matches customer codes to products, pulls the current SDS in the right language and drafts standard statements from approved templates. Nadia approves standard replies in batches. Every send is logged by customer and version.
€70-100K/yrWeeks 2-6Med
Supplier SDS Triage: change detection and where-used list
€80-120KMed
Current state
32 supplier updates a month and 61 waiting. Each takes about 2 hours to compare versions and find affected formulations in Sage X3 exports.
Target state
The agent compares each new supplier SDS with the previous one, highlights changed hazard statements, limits and composition, and lists affected formulations and customers supplied in the last 12 months. Nadia decides every reclassification. Updated SDS go out from the version log.
€80-120K/yrWeeks 4-10MedDepends on: Document Request Desk: SDS and REACH replies prepared for sign-off
Certificate Assembly: certificates of analysis built from LIMS results
€50-70KLow
Current state
About 120 certificates a week are retyped from the LIMS into 340 customer templates. About 4% are corrected after sending.
Target state
Certificates generated from LIMS results against each customer specification. Missing parameters and out-of-limit values are flagged before release. No certificate can leave for a batch that has no release in Sage X3.
€50-70K/yrWeeks 3-7Low
Operations + Logistics2 items
€105-155K
Release Queue: results checked against limits before sign-off
€60-90KMed
Current state
Batches wait 1.6 days on average between last result and release. Julien compares results by eye with internal and customer limits across two sites.
Target state
Results are pre-checked against both sets of limits as they arrive. Julien gets a ready list twice a day, exceptions first. Release stays his decision in Sage X3.
€60-90K/yrWeeks 5-9MedDepends on: Certificate Assembly: certificates of analysis built from LIMS results
ADR Paperwork: transport documents prepared from master data
€45-65KMed
Current state
About 170 dangerous goods shipments a week. ADR data is missing in Sage X3 for 30% of items, so Karim retypes it from SDS section 14 and calculates exemption points in Excel.
Target state
ADR master data completed in Sage X3 from SDS section 14 and validated by Karim once per product. The agent prepares each transport document and the 1.1.3.6 points calculation and flags segregation conflicts. Karim checks and signs. A second person is trained and certified.
€45-65K/yrWeeks 6-11Med
Technical Service1 item
€60-90K
Technical Answers: drafts with sources from 2,300 trial reports
€60-90KMed
Current state
About 45 questions a week. Mathieu and two application chemists search trial reports filed by year and customer. Average reply: 3.2 working days.
Target state
Trial reports indexed by product, substrate and test method. The agent drafts an answer and lists the reports it used. A chemist validates every answer before it reaches the customer.
€60-90K/yrWeeks 7-12Med
Finance + Purchasing1 item
€95-150K
Cost Watch: raw-material changes and indexation prepared monthly
€95-150KMed
Current state
About 40 price notices a month logged in Excel. 38 indexed contracts recalculated at quarter end. Increases reach invoices nine weeks late.
Target state
Price notices captured as they arrive. Cost impact per formula computed from Sage X3 bills of materials. Indexed contract updates prepared monthly with the calculation attached. Sandrine and Hélène approve every price change before customer letters go out.
€95-150K/yrWeeks 3-8Med

Implementation Timeline

Weeks are relative to implementation start; months represent four four-week blocks. Dependent work can be prepared in parallel with test fixtures, but production release waits for sync acceptance. This is a scenario schedule.

  1. Document Request Desk

    Weeks 2 to 6

  2. Certificate Assembly

    Weeks 3 to 7

  3. Cost Watch

    Weeks 3 to 8

  4. Supplier SDS Triage

    Weeks 4 to 10

  5. Release Queue

    Weeks 5 to 9

  6. ADR Paperwork

    Weeks 6 to 11

  7. Technical Answers

    Weeks 7 to 12

  8. LIMS to Sage X3 Interface

    Weeks 12 to 16

Month 1: Document request desk and certificate assembly go live on standard cases. Nadia and Julien review every output. Cost watch starts capturing price notices.

Month 2: Supplier SDS triage works through the backlog of 61, oldest first. Release queue running on both sites. Sample target: standard document requests answered in 1-2 working days.

Month 3: ADR paperwork prepared from master data, with a second adviser in training. Technical answers start with the most requested product families. First monthly indexation run approved by finance.

Month 4: LIMS to Sage X3 interface started. All 7 initiatives in production. Target: measure released capacity and indexation lag against the War Map baseline. Handover is accepted when a second operator can run each flow.

Projected Annual Value

Released capacity (85.5 h/week × 46 weeks ≈ 3,930 hours; 2,360-2,910 treated as recoverable at €55 loaded hourly cost)€130-160K
Indexation applied on time (38 contracts, ~€11M of annual sales)€95-150K
Orders and customer approvals secured by faster documents and technical answers€160-250K
Fewer missed departures, certificate rejections and re-deliveries€75-110K
Lower compliance and key-person exposure (SDS redistribution, ADR backup)€60-110K
€520-780K
projected annual value

Released capacity means regulatory, lab and logistics specialists spend their hours on classification, testing and safety instead of copying data. No role is removed. Margin recovered on indexed contracts is counted once, in its own line, and depends on contract terms. All figures are illustrative.

Phase 1
War Map
Sample deliverable
Phase 2-3
Implementation
12-16 weeks
Phase 3+
Ongoing
Usage-based

How much time could this free up?

Choose one non-overlapping task category and the people who actually perform it. These inputs are scenario assumptions; replace them with a measured baseline.

180
52,000
40
31
40

2,232

Task hours per week

€2,901,600

Annual cost allocated to this work

892.8

Potentially released hours per week

€1,160,640

Annual gross value of that capacity

Hours = people × weekly hours × task share. Allocated cost = people × annual loaded cost × task share. Potential capacity multiplies each by the releasable share.

This is not net ROI or a payroll saving. Necessary manual work remains. Adoption and quality must be measured; actual uptake may be lower. Implementation investment, model and hosting costs, maintenance and supervision are excluded. Cash savings require a separate spending decision; otherwise the benefit is capacity available for other work.

How We Work

1
War Map Review
We walk through this deliverable together. You challenge the numbers, confirm the priorities, and tell us what we missed. This is your map. We built it, but you own it.
2
Remediation
Before we build anything, we fix what needs fixing. Data quality, missing SOPs, system access. Your team gets briefed on the plan. No surprises.
3
Build + Deploy
We work directly with your operations team. Systems go live one at a time, in priority order. Release gates cover representative cases, permissions, failures and escalation; consequential actions retain the agreed human authorization. This illustrative schedule targets first production results in month 1.
4
Transfer
We train your team. We document everything. We make sure the people who run your operations can run these systems without us. The capability is yours permanently.
5
Exit
Handover is accepted when your team can operate and recover the agreed systems. Any continuing support is separately scoped, with a named owner and a documented exit.

War Map

A real engagement is scoped in the Strategy Session and may begin with a War Map or a bounded Feasibility Sprint.

Request a Strategy Session

Direct accountability. Scope agreed before work begins.