Founded by PMMI in 2011 as the Alliance for Innovation and Operational Excellence (AIOE), the OpX Leadership Network has been working overtime to create new solutions groups tasked with giving CPGs the tools they need to fine-tune and improve their businesses. These groups, comprised of CPG manufacturers and OEM equipment suppliers, have already released several deliverables aimed at helping plant floors and enterprises function at peak performance—solving problems together that include workforce engagement, equipment issues (e.g., TCO and OEE), sustainability, hygienic equipment design, factory acceptance tests and more.
A solutions group is not a casual invention. When an idea for a new group is floated at a PMMI forum, the OpX executive council meets to consider whether it is worth pursuing as a new solutions group. “Generally, the way it works is the OpX executive council will pull together a smaller task force to think through the topics,” says Stephen Perry, OpX Leadership Network managing director. If the task force meets and suggests a specific, proposed solutions group has merit and white space, and the task force wants to proceed with a new group, the executive council will develop a full-fledged solutions group where the OEMs and CPGs work together to produce deliverables. “In general, there may be 25 or 30 people in the solutions group, usually about 80 percent CPGs and 20 percent OEMs,” adds Perry.