MARKEN
SUPPLY CHAIN DIGITAL / HEALTHCARE GLOBAL
Marken has its own operational excellence program that is based on LEAN and Six Sigma principles . Towards the end of 2014 , key charters , quality control issues and interactions between global functions were evaluated to determine what could be improved . The result was the creation of a welldefined program that could monitor and measure targeted areas on specific accounts .
“ I believe in the principles of applying very stringent tools on how you measure your business , how you can streamline activities by leaning them out and reducing the number of steps ,” Wheeler said . “ We are applying that in a very rigorous way here that extends all the way into new IT systems and how we can reduce certain staff and steps by integrating systems across the company . There are multiple projects and Dan [ Bell ] is at the center of that , measuring them every month .”
“ The industry itself has done a very good job of identifying what key performance indicators should be ,” explained Bell , “ but I believe we lead in developing those .”
In addition to looking internally , Marken has also developed a key account management program to build client satisfaction .
“ We meet with [ our clients ] on a very regular basis in order to understand the strategy they need , align our goals and develop services ,” said Van Strien . “ We make it easy for our clients to work with us .”
Maintaining the quality of staff and recruiting fast enough to support the company ’ s growth has been a challenge for Marken — but not one that couldn ’ t be overcome .
After almost doubling their staff from 375 employees four years ago to 600 employees now , Marken realized there are key valuable attributes shared amongst their employees .
“ We realized that there was a willingness to create and a drive to take ownership ,” explained van Strien . “ Those are the kind of people we are attracting and who are very successful within our company . When it comes down to it , we are the ones who will be called for any of the complicated supply chain challenges that happen every day
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