The digital transformation of ISTOBAL’s operations, together with the coordination of its departments and the continuous improvement of its processes, is enabling the vehicle wash and care solutions provider to meet its delivery deadlines, despite the tensions in the supply chain. In November and December 2021, they even broke production records. As international sales account for 75% of ISTOBAL’s production, this was no small feat.
“Thanks to the actions carried out with our teams, we achieved production records in November and December of last year and broke container export records, despite the difficult situation of the ports and the crisis of lack of components and containers,” said José Ramón, director of operations at ISTOBAL.
The company sped up its service times, as well, by monitoring the supplies and data management in real time, and using logistics alternatives and transversal communication throughout the value chain. Located in Spain and exporting products to more than 80 countries, with 10 subsidiaries and four manufacturing and final assembly plants in Europe, America and Asia, the global supply chain factors into much of ISTOBAL’s strategic planning.
Ramón said the adoption of new strategies such as the implementation of crisis rooms, has enabled the company to face the crisis in the supply chain. The crisis and monitoring rooms focus on the visualization and management of real-time supply data and supplier management, and are made up of a multidisciplinary work team for quick, coordinated decision-making.
Also, the deployment of a S&OP (sales and operations planning) process and the promotion of a single operational model for its subsidiaries is being used. Plus, specialized logistics teams are managing transport and external warehouses were eliminated to reduce manufacturing lead time and improve internal logistics.
These improvements have enabled ISTOBAL to exceed its best results in the main operational management indicators; internal efficiency indicators of the production chain have been increased by up to 30%, reducing by more than 50% the quality incidents detected in regular controls.