Best Wishes!!Our team wishes you health, joy and prosperity throughout the coming year. Thank you for your continued support and partnership. We look forward to working with you in the years to come.

ARV Group celebrates its 20th anniversary!This year ARV is celebrating its 20th anniversary. These past 20 years have been years of continuous development and growth. For the companies that we serve, and for ourselves as well. We feel ourselves enriched by the opportunity to work with such an inspiring group of clients as well as a faithful team of highly skilled professionals who deliver to our clients and are constantly keeping each other on the ball. The result is that we’ve been able to constantly broaden our horizons. For the last 20 years. This year as well. And for the next 20 years.

Finance on board: coordination between operations & supply chain and finance is essentialIf you really want to achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself and realize the very best possible long-term improvements for your firm, then coordination between operations & supply chain on the one hand and your finance department on the other is essential. ARV Associate Pauline Kloeze summarizes it succinctly with a compelling appeal: make sure you have “finance on board”. That coordination across functional lines serves as the foundation for achieving growth ambitions or creating a leaner organization in a responsible manner. The results can be, among other things, optimization of working capital, the right investment decisions, optimal cost controls, and better cash flow management.

Please meet: Maurice HeuvelingWhat really gives me energy and inspiration is giving people at all levels of the organization the feeling that they really matter. Would you like to get to know Maurice? Please click here.

Pauline strengthens ARV Group! Strengthening the ongoing collaboration between operations, supply chain, and finance - that's something that really gives me a lot of energy. Would you like to get to know Pauline better? Please click here.

From Sales versus Operations to Sales & OperationsTension between Sales and Operations is a familiar phenomenon about which much has been said and written. But when it comes to this subject, it’s still worthwhile to share experiences and inspire each other. And so we recently organized an Experience Workshop on the topic. There was plenty of sparring and debate, as well as consideration of where interests clash and how things could be improved. An inspiring gathering for the experienced participants and for us as well.

We would like to introduce to you: Bastiaan BoersTo ensure that companies are able to realize their full potential in the area of Supply Chain & Operations, that is my abiding aim. Would you like to get to know Bastiaan? Click here.

Mola opts for structured growth and 5SMola B.V. delivers hundreds of thousands of products to customers every single day from its modern production facility in the North Brabant town of Beugen. From puff pastry products and croissants to Danish pastries. And demand continues to grow. After management, in cooperation with ARV, had worked out a growth strategy and created the organization to pursue the strategy, it implemented 5S on its production lines. Production manager William Kums and quality officer Renske van de Lockant reflect on the 5S project.

Please meet: Matthijs PlatHelping people to take a few steps in the right direction, and in so doing, improving their processes – that’s what drives me. Would you like to get to know Matthijs? Click here.

It was time..... March was drawing to a close and...

Supply Chain Management: First the common objective, then the team spirit, and then the toolEvery process and every activity in the supply chain is triggered by customer demand. If you are to provide the best possible service to the customer at all times, and still achieve the organizational goals you aspire to, you need an extremely efficiently organized and precisely synchronized series of processes and activities. It only makes sense that businesses working in the process industry — whether they are large or small — will focus on optimizing the supply chain. But where do you begin? Just what approach should you take? And what are the pitfalls? ARV Group partner Stephan Verboom provides some insights in his new blog.

i4o: meeting the demand for interim management in operationsARV Group introduces i4o: interim for operations. As Bartelt Blankenberg explains in his most recent blog, "i4o is a logical step in the expansion of our services for the process industry, based on the most important market trends and developments. It's our way of responding to the growing demand for interim management in operations.

The challenge of fresh food production: applying Formula 1 precision to the food industryKnowing what you are supposed to deliver. Fully focused on unexpected twists and turns along the way. Giving just a little more gas, or tapping on the brakes. Shifting gears in an instant, adjusting your course, and then full speed ahead. In the world of fresh food production, every day is a bit like a Formula 1 race. According to ARV Group Partner Ronald Visser, it's hard to imagine it could be any more hectic or dynamic.

The search for effective relief from growing pains in operationsARV Group recently organized an "Experience Workshop" for a group of twenty participants including operations directors, supply chain directors and plant managers. The theme: Growing pains in the wake of an economic boom. The provocative questions raised during the session: Why do they arise and what are the consequences for operations? And what can you do about them? The participants compared their experiences and shared valuable insights during a collective exploration of the possible approaches and solutions.

The road from unexpected downtime to preventive maintenanceOnce you start down the path towards preventive maintenance, you'll find great opportunities and encouraging prospects for the future. Senior Consultant Ted Abrahamsen of ARV Group explains what you need to do to make the transition from putting out fires to implementing a preventive maintenance system.

Impartial observationImpartial observation: What is it, how do you apply it, and why is it so essential in change processes?

On a lovely summer eveningmid-September...

Organizational development: Putting together the entire puzzleWhen we recently conducted our Experience Workshop, there was little disagreement among the participants on the do's and don'ts of organizational development. So if it seems so obvious, why is it that change and improvement processes in organizations do not always lead to the hoped for success? It was an afternoon with lively discussions and familiar dilemmas. Arianne van Tongeren of Ontwikkelingspartners and Bartelt Blankenberg recall the workshop in their most recent blog.

ARV Group outingThe annual ARV outing with the whole team was held this year on Friday, June 29, 2018. This year we took part in a clinic and duel fending course, held in the gardens of mediaeval Doddendael Castle in the eastern Netherlands. Click here for a photographic impression of our fanatical team of fencers!

ARV Golf EventAnnual ARV Group Golf event

We are pleased to introduce to you: Erik Petter"When a company is faced with an enormous challenge, that gives me energy. Making good use of an organization's potential is one of the things I do best: developing people and teams and working together in such a way that durable results are achieved." Click here and meet Erik.

New at ARV Group, we're pleased to introduce: Stephan Verboom "Implementing change and thereby improvement within the supply chain, by means of a people-focused approach, is what I enjoy doing." Click here and get to know Stephan.

CI-Community workshopCI-facilitators from a number of food companies meet regularly at ARV Group’s invitation, to share their knowledge and experiences in the field of Change Management and Continuous Improvement. On Thursday, March 8, 2018, the members of this CI-Community applied themselves to the question: “How and when does one apply interactive working formats in the course of change processes?” Here you can read about how they inspired each other in their exploration of this fascinating and challenging theme.

Operations and private equity: from prejudice to nuance and shared interestsWhat changes are in store for operations when a private equity party takes over the organization? Individuals from both sides talked about this during one of ARV Group's Experience Workshops. In his blog, Roelant van Herwaarden looks back on a successful workshop, during which prejudices made way for nuance and mutual understanding: investor, owner or manager, the interests are virtually always the same.

Smart MES is the basis for better performance and continuous improvementA Manufacturing Execution System (MES) usually serves only as the bridge between planning (the ERP system) and process-control. Even though an MES can also act as the sole, “pure” information platform. Companies that see to the careful and well-thought-out development and implementation of their MES, Frank Bekkers says, are therefore laying the foundation for better performance and continuous improvement. Read about it in his blog.

Direct personnel planning every bit as important as OEEThe goal of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is to achieve optimal productivity on a production line. But aren’t we focusing too exclusively on the process, the technology and the machines alone? Erik Haks (Associate Partner ARV Group) is convinced that productivity and quality will receive a much bigger boost when direct personnel planning is applied. Read his blog about establishing systematic planning for in-house personnel and flexi-workers and their capabilities. Allotting enough capacity to production lines. And mobilizing and developing all of the required know-how and skills.

The hidden power of usefulness, necessity and pleasureMartijn Cazemier is convinced of it: entrepreneurial targets and personal ambitions reinforce each other when a sense of usefulness is the common drive. Because both companies and individuals want to do things that make a difference. His premise is that as long as change, improvement and growth are worth doing, everyone will feel like making them happen. And, with that, the door is open to success, growth and satisfied customers. Read his blog about the hidden power of usefulness, necessity and pleasure.

Consultancy across bordersWant to get the shop floor involved in programs for change and improvement? Outside the Netherlands, the bottom-up approach is not always the gospel truth. In his blog, Edgar Scheffrahn shares years of practical experience in working abroad. As a consultant, studying the culture and establishing relationships in the right way is the key to success abroad.

A sense of urgency as fertile ground for improvement and resultsHow can the foodstuffs and food-processing industry go about reaping what they sow? Read about it in the blog by Jan Donkers, Associate Partner at ARV Group.

Working together with OntwikkelingspartnersOccasionally, our contacts ask us about the cooperative ties between ARV Group and Ontwikkelingspartners. What reason is there for the two to work together? And what are the fields of expertise that go with each organization?

Look, talk and listenIn today’s world, data is sacred. That goes for the food-processing industry as well. From data we can obtain a great deal of information that proves useful in making plans for improvement

ARV Group partner in FoodPro NetworkARV Group has now become one of the partners in FoodPro Network. ARV Group has broad expertise and years of experience in the field of operations and supply chain.

Good resolutions?Accomplish more than you thought possible!

A tool is only as good as the hands that wield itDo follow us on LinkedIn!!

We're looking for new colleaguesAt ARV Group, we're always on the lookout for new, inspiring colleagues. Are you an experienced consultant or (interim) manager? Then we'd love to hear from you!

ARV Interim ServicesFirms in the process industry come to us more and more often with the request to supply interim managers to assist in change-implementation projects. ARV Interim Services offers you the right manager in the right place, on a temporary basis.