Nova Reperta launches new maturity quickscan for operational excellence

04 February 2025 Consultancy.eu

To help organizations gain a clear view on the maturity of their operational excellence endeavours, Nova Reperta has launched its new ‘OpEx Maturity Quickscan’ – an approach that takes an integral approach to uncover maturity and pinpoint untapped improvement potential.

Since its inception, operational excellence has evolved into one of the most used concepts across industries for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of processes and ways of working.

“In a market where reducing costs, eliminating inefficiencies, and improving performance are continuous pressures, operational excellence is today more relevant than ever,” said Chris De Witte, Director and Head of Operational Excellence at Nova Reperta, a Benelux-based consulting firm.

Recently, many companies typically place their operational excellence focus on major cost cutting exercises, such as automation or outsourcing activities to third parties. “We see many companies pushing for this next wave of efficiency,” says De Witte, adding that often, they may in practice be acting ahead of themselves.

Before venturing into such wide-ranging initiatives, it is beneficial to first look inwards at existing organisational processes. “There is often internal improvement potential that still can be unlocked.”

What’s more, while automation and outsourcing may seem appealing, De Witte warns that these steps are only effective when foundational ways of working are optimized. “If companies automate or outsource inefficiencies, they’re not solving the root cause – they are simply shifting the problem,” he explains.

The OpEx Maturity Quickscan

That’s where Nova Reperta’s new quickscan comes in. “The approach provides a view from different operational excellence angles to get a holistic insight on improvement potential. This assessment delivers a comprehensive evaluation and actionable insights within just one to two weeks, offering organisations a clear view of their operational excellence maturity and untapped opportunities for improvement.”

Nova Reperta launches new maturity quickscan for operational excellence

Chris De Witte is Director and Head of Operational Excellence at Nova Reperta

According to Nova Reperta, most companies can discover improvement potential of at least 10% to 20% through the quickscan, which analyses three critical dimensions:

“The first question we answer is how time is being utilized and whether the organization is focusing its time on the right things,” says De Witte. The scan evaluates how effectively time is allocated to value-adding activities and how much time is ‘wasted’ on for example rework, (wrong) data input, double checks, and so on.”

The second dimension explores the management practices in place to facilitate operational excellence. De Witte: “Success in operational excellence requires a robust management system. We assess which OpEx management practices are in place to support operations and continuous improvement such as are the right KPIs being used at the right level and how does that lead to concrete improvements.”

And finally, the quickscan examines the company’s continuous improvement culture. “We look at how well Lean principles are ingrained in daily behaviours and practices, such as the practice of daily or weekly white boards to monitor performance, workload and wellbeing.”

From insights to action

What comes out of the quickscan by Nova Reperta is a practical diagnostic report highlighting strengths, areas for improvement, and estimated improvement potential. The report also identifies priority areas for deeper exploration, guiding organizations on whether – and where – a Lean transformation should begin.

“One of the recent quickscans we conducted revealed that a client could achieve a 17% efficiency improvement by optimizing workflows and aligning their Lean Management System with operational goals,” De Witte recalls.

Organisations can choose to act on the findings independently or collaborate with Nova Reperta for support. “We don’t just recommend changes; we work alongside teams to ensure solutions are practical and effective.”