The Problem
When Autopartes y Accesorios S.A. merged with Lubril S.A., the expectation was clear: generate economies of scale, integrate operations, and compete more effectively.
But economies of scale do not happen automatically. They have to be designed.
During the assessment of the new organization, we identified several improvement opportunities. One of them seemed insignificant: a failure in the order-processing flow.
Customer orders went through the credit committee and, once approved, a packing list was generated so the distribution center could prepare the shipment.
Occasionally, when that list was printed, a system failure caused the order information to disappear. The approval was no longer visible and the process stopped.
The order did not ship that day.
While the company tried to recover the transaction, a competitor reached the customer, filled the channel, and captured the sale.
The company did not lose only revenue.
It also lost credibility.
“That is friction: a seemingly small point in a process that ends up destroying far more value than it appears to.”
The Solution Scenario
Today, we should not simply fix the failure.
We would first redesign the process to reduce unnecessary steps, eliminate vulnerable points, and ensure end-to-end traceability.
Then we would apply technology:
- Automation can eliminate unnecessary manual tasks.
- Data science can identify where delays, errors, and losses are accumulating.
- Artificial intelligence can anticipate which orders are most likely to become stuck, prioritize them, and trigger alerts before the customer is affected.
It can also help predict what each customer will need, when they will need it, and which products are most likely to create value for both the customer and the company.
The goal is not to automate a bad process.
The goal is to design a better way of working and use technology to make it faster, more visible, and more predictable.
The Lesson
The real battle is outside the company: with the customer, the market, and the competition.
That is why we should not lose internally because of problems we can control.
Many organizations lose sales, margin, and customers because of small friction points nobody is measuring.
The most dangerous cost is the one that happens every day and eventually becomes invisible.
Look at your processes differently. Ask where people are waiting, where work is repeated, where information is lost, and where decisions arrive too late.
There may be much more money leaking out of the organization than you realize.