Food and beverage
Implementation plan

Chilled ready-meal and salad producer · 2 plants in Brittany · 260 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 we fix first, how long it takes and what stops leaking. 8 initiatives across 3 departments. €480-645K illustrative annual gross value.

Priorities at a glance

  • 8 initiatives across 3 departments
  • €480K to €645K in illustrative annual gross value
  • Sample target: hold sync and EDI order repair in production in month 1
  • Target: every retailer penalty checked against evidence, every held lot blocked in Sage X3

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: €430-615K/yr
Customer service and finance3 items
€135-195K
Penalty Recovery: an evidence pack for every penalty
€80-110KMed
Current state
Karine contests 9% of €412K of penalties. Each dispute takes about 50 minutes of searching across portals, Sage X3, EDI history and paper delivery notes.
Target state
Penalties collected from the four portals daily and matched to the order, its EDI changes, the scanned delivery note and the carrier arrival time. Karine reviews a prepared pack and decides. Nothing is filed without her approval.
€80-110K/yrWeeks 3-8Med
EDI Order Repair: rejected lines fixed before the window closes
€30-45KLow
Current state
About 15% of EDI orders need a manual fix in Sage X3, mostly promotion codes and prices loaded late.
Target state
Rejected lines arrive with a proposed fix taken from the article mapping and the agreed promotion file. Customer service confirms each fix; price differences above an agreed threshold go to the key account manager.
€30-45K/yrWeeks 2-4Low
Complaint Files: records assembled from the lot number
€25-40KLow
Current state
About 45 complaints a month. Each file takes 2 h 15, of which about 1 hour is spent finding the lot, production record and lab results.
Target state
From a lot number or product photo, the file is assembled with production, lab and dispatch records. Quality writes the analysis and the answer.
€25-40K/yrWeeks 4-7Low
Supply chain2 items
€175-245K
Promo-to-Plan: promotions feed the production plan
€130-180KMed
Current state
Promotion volumes reach planning by email. The plan is rebuilt twice a day. 38% of 2025 write-off value is linked to promotion misses.
Target state
Agreed promotions held in one calendar linked to Sage X3, with a proposed uplift from past promotions. The planner validates every volume. A post-promotion comparison is produced automatically.
€130-180K/yrWeeks 5-11Med
Shelf-Life Picking Rules: retailer minimums checked before loading
€45-65KLow
Current state
Retailer minimum remaining-life rules are on a laminated sheet. Three loads were refused in December.
Target state
Retailer rules held as data. Picking proposals respect minimum remaining life; conflicts go to the shipping manager before the truck is loaded.
€45-65K/yrWeeks 6-9Low
Quality and regulatory3 items
€120-175K
Hold Sync: a QMS hold blocks the lot in Sage X3
€60-85KMed
Current state
Holds exist in the QMS only. Shipping works from a list printed twice a day. Release is changed by hand in two systems.
Target state
A hold recorded in the QMS blocks the lot in Sage X3 within minutes. Release remains the quality manager's decision; the agent propagates status and alerts planning when remaining shelf life runs short.
€60-85K/yrWeeks 2-5Med
Recall Readiness: lot genealogy and a trace report in minutes
€35-50KHigh
Current state
The mock recall took 6 h 40. Mixed pallets carry no lot scan, and production declarations reach Sage X3 hours late.
Target state
Lot scans required on mixed pallets and genealogy kept from goods receipt to dispatch. The quality team gets a trace report in minutes and keeps the recall decision and every notification to authorities and customers.
€35-50K/yrWeeks 9-14HighDepends on: Hold Sync: a QMS hold blocks the lot in Sage X3
Label Change Workflow: one proof, one approval trail
€25-40KMed
Current state
A recipe change takes 19 days to reach the label. Five approvers comment by email. Allergen text is typed twice.
Target state
Recipe changes in Sage X3 open a label change with the allergen text pre-filled and a list of affected templates. Approvers sign off in one place; the regulatory officer gives final approval.
€25-40K/yrWeeks 7-11Med

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. EDI Order Repair

    Weeks 2 to 4

  2. Hold Sync

    Weeks 2 to 5

  3. Penalty Recovery

    Weeks 3 to 8

  4. Complaint Files

    Weeks 4 to 7

  5. Promo-to-Plan

    Weeks 5 to 11

  6. Shelf-Life Picking Rules

    Weeks 6 to 9

  7. Label Change Workflow

    Weeks 7 to 11

  8. Recall Readiness

    Weeks 9 to 14

  9. Plant 2 rollout and full portal coverage

    Weeks 13 to 16

Month 1: EDI order repair and hold sync go live. Penalty recovery starts on the largest retailer. Every proposed fix and every status change is checked by a person during this phase.

Month 2: Penalty packs cover all four portals. Complaint files and promotion calendar in progress. First disputes filed from prepared packs, each approved by Karine.

Month 3: Promo-to-Plan used for the spring promotions. Shelf-life rules active at the dock. Label workflow live. Target: measure hours and refusals against the January baseline.

Month 4: Recall readiness tested with a new mock recall. Plant 2 rollout complete. A second planner and a second quality technician run each workflow before handover is accepted.

Projected Annual Value

Lower write-offs (promotion and hold share of €1.1M, 30-40% reduced)€200-265K
Penalties no longer paid (34% contestable, 60-80% recovered)€85-115K
Released capacity (51 person-hours/week × 46 weeks × €38-45 loaded hourly cost)€90-105K
Fewer shelf-life refusals and promotion price disputes€60-90K
Faster complaint, trace and audit work; lower key-person dependence€45-70K
€480-645K
projected annual value

Direct initiative value counts each build on its own. Projected value adds shared effects, such as fewer refusals once holds, picking rules and promotion data line up. Released capacity means hours moved from re-keying and chasing to planning, quality and customer work; no headcount reduction is assumed. Write-off and penalty effects are estimated on 2025 data and must be measured after go-live.

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.