Sample War Map
Steel service centre and long products War Map
Steel service centre and long-products processor · 2 sites · 170 employees
Every delivery of structural or stainless steel needs its mill certificate, and every certificate is found by hand in a shared drive. The map shows where heat numbers get lost between the saw, the certificate and the invoice, and what that costs in payments held and claims.
A War Map is an operating map built from real cases and expert interviews. It shows where the business is fragile, what that costs, and what to fix first.
What you receive
- 01Operational Reality
How the work really runs: people, systems, handoffs and exceptions.
- 02Findings
What it costs: quantified problems, process gaps and key-person risks.
- 03Implementation plan
What to fix first: prioritized systems, timeline and value drivers.
30 minutes. We recommend the right starting point.
Steel service centre and long-products processor · 2 sites · 170 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.
Operational Reality
This is what we deliver: a map of where the business is fragile, what it costs, what to automate first, and which systems should exist so leadership can stop carrying the operation by hand.
Illustrative five-week work plan, January 19 to February 20, 2026: ten interview roles across seven departments, seven systems and both sites, with line shadowing on the long-products saws and the final week split between synthesis and handover.
Five-week sample timeline · six work blocks
One row per week. Open a week to see each working day.
- Week 1Jan 19 to Jan 23
Sales, pricing and quality
Scope set. Quoting, surcharge updates and certificate packs shadowed at the desk.
People: Philippe Dumont, Christine Faure, Romain Lacroix, Aurélie Fontaine, Valérie Lemoine, Isabelle Marchand
Daily detail · 5 days
Jan 19Kickoff and scopeAgreed scope: quote to cash for flat and long products, including certificates and claims. Chose the long-products site for line shadowing.
Philippe Dumont · CEODivaltoExcelJan 20Quote desk shadowFollowed 23 quotes over a morning. 9 needed an alloy or energy surcharge check, done in an Excel calculator next to Divalto.
Romain Lacroix · Inside Sales LeadOutlookDivaltoExcelJan 21Surcharge tables and contract rulesThe monthly update of mill surcharges takes about two days. Some contracts follow the order-date surcharge, others the delivery date; the rule sits in Aurélie's notes.
Aurélie Fontaine · Pricing and Purchasing ManagerDivaltoExcelJan 22Certificate packsWatched 14 packs being prepared. About 5 minutes each, longer when a heat number on a cut piece was hard to read.
Valérie Lemoine · Quality ManagerCertificatesDivaltoOutlookJan 23Sales leadership and customer pressureTwo large fabricators now hold payment until certificates arrive. Delivery dates are promised without seeing the saw load.
Isabelle Marchand · Sales DirectorDivaltoOutlook - Week 2Jan 26 to Jan 30
Lines, yard and transport
Saw line, coil yard, line planning, transport booking and claims mapped.
People: Mehdi Haddad, Yannick Le Gall, Stéphane Guérin, Nicolas Brun, Valérie Lemoine, Christine Faure
Daily detail · 5 days
Jan 26Saw line shadowMehdi nests bar lengths by hand on the printed list. Offcuts over 1 metre are stacked by the saw with a chalk mark, outside stock.
Mehdi Haddad · Saw Line Team LeaderLine terminalsDivaltoJan 27Coil yard and partial coilsScanning works at receipt and dispatch. After slitting, partial coil weights are estimated and corrected after spot checks.
Yannick Le Gall · Coil Yard LeadScannersDivaltoJan 28Line planningLine plans are rebuilt each morning from Divalto orders and calls from sales about urgent jobs.
Stéphane Guérin · Operations ManagerDivaltoLine terminalsExcelJan 29Transport bookingThe next-day plan for 6 company trucks and 3 hauliers is built in Excel by 15:00. Sales learn the delivery date afterwards.
Nicolas Brun · Transport CoordinatorHaulier portalExcelOutlookJan 30Claims and credit notesReviewed 6 months of claims: 31 back-claims to mills, 9 of them sent after the mill's deadline.
Valérie Lemoine · Quality ManagerExcelDivalto - Week 3Feb 2 to Feb 6
Samples and evidence
Certificate, surcharge and cut-list samples measured. Friction register built.
People: Romain Lacroix, Mehdi Haddad, Stéphane Guérin
Daily detail · 5 days
Feb 2Cut-list intake timingTimed 12 cut-to-length orders typed from customer PDFs and spreadsheets: 6 minutes on average, up to 25 for a 60-line list.
Romain Lacroix · Inside Sales LeadOutlookDivaltoFeb 3Second saw shadow, afternoon shiftOffcut handling differs between shifts. Without Mehdi, the afternoon shift cut more new bars for comparable orders.
Mehdi Haddad · Saw Line Team LeaderLine terminalsFeb 4Certificate pack sampleChecked 400 shipments from 3 months against their packs. 11% had a certificate missing, sent late or for the wrong heat.
CertificatesDivaltoFeb 5Surcharge auditCompared 6 months of stainless and alloy invoice lines with published surcharges. About 8% of stainless tonnage carried the previous month's value.
DivaltoExcelFeb 6Time allocation and friction registerBuilt the time allocation for the 10 roles and the friction register, keeping certificate and claim time apart.
- Week 4Feb 9 to Feb 13
Internal analysis
8 initiatives scored, decision owners named, roadmap and value model drafted.
People: No interviews this week
Daily detail · 5 days
Feb 9Opportunity scoringScored 8 initiatives by effort, value and dependency. Remnant stock needs line feedback first.
Feb 10Human decision pointsPricing rules approved by the pricing manager, uncertain certificate matches released by the quality manager, credit notes decided by the sales director.
Feb 11Roadmap designStarted with surcharges and certificates, where results are visible within weeks and the risk is low.
Feb 12Value modelKept staff time, steel yield, surcharge recovery and cash timing in separate lines.
Feb 13Internal QAChecked every figure against interview notes and the three samples.
- Week 5Feb 16 to Feb 17
Synthesis
Deliverable assembled and checked.
People: No interviews this week
Daily detail · 2 days
Feb 16Deliverable assemblyAssembled the three chapters: operational reality, findings, implementation plan.
Feb 17Final QAFinal pass on numbers, dependencies and the order of work.
- Week 5 · HandoverFeb 18 to Feb 20
Validation and handover
Findings validated with the people who run pricing, quality and the saw. War Map delivered.
People: Valérie Lemoine, Aurélie Fontaine, Mehdi Haddad, Philippe Dumont, Isabelle Marchand, Christine Faure, Stéphane Guérin
Daily detail · 3 days
Feb 18Validation with team leadsReviewed process maps and the register line by line. One change: cut-to-length orders average 35 a day, against 38 first estimated.
Valérie Lemoine · Quality ManagerFeb 19Pre-handover reviewWalked through findings and value assumptions. Agreed to start with surcharges and certificate packs.
Philippe Dumont · CEOFeb 20War Map handoverDelivered the War Map and the 16-week plan, with a named owner for each initiative.
Philippe Dumont · CEO
What We Heard
“The customer wants the certificate for that exact heat. Once the bar is cut, the heat number is my handwriting on a tag.”
“Nickel moved again this month. Until I update the tables, stainless quotes go out on last month's surcharge unless someone thinks to ask me.”
“I nest the cuts in my head. A good offcut goes on the rack by the saw, and after a week nobody remembers it's there.”
“Two of our biggest fabricators won't pay until the certificates arrive. We're financing their steel because we can't find a PDF.”
“Sales promise Thursday, then I find out on Wednesday at three that no haulier has room.”
Team Members Interviewed
Systems Accessed
Strategy Session · 30 min
A real engagement is scoped in the Strategy Session and may begin with a War Map or a bounded Feasibility Sprint.