To meet the many challenges of a changing sector, the Cérèsia agricultural cooperative group has launched an extensive operational excellence programme focusing on performance management and subsidiarity. A pioneering initiative supported by TNP Consultants.

Headquartered in Reims, Cérèsia is a cooperative group uniting 4,300 farmers across eight departments in northeastern France. With 730 employees stationed at nearly 160 sites (including collection points, silos, and shops), Cérèsia boasts sales nearing €750 million. Divided into three divisions—field crops, viticulture, and livestock—its operations span a broad spectrum, catering to all member needs from input supply and grain collection (1.8 million tonnes) to industrial production (seeds, organic soil enhancers, etc.) and advisory services.

Operational Excellence, the Bedrock of Our Strategy

Confronting the profound shifts in agriculture, Cérèsia has charted a strategic roadmap, Horizon 2027, aimed at fortifying its operations and regional presence, bolstering farmers’ incomes, and preparing them for future challenges. Alongside innovation, operational excellence stands as one of the pillars on which the Group aims to erect ambitious goals concerning economic performance enhancement and environmental transition.

Recognizing that collective performance stems from individual dedication and that employees are best positioned to effect pertinent improvements, Cérèsia has embarked on a broad-reaching program to enhance safety and operational efficiency in the field. This initiative revolves around fostering a culture among teams that embodies key values—responsibility, transparency, autonomy, subsidiarity, initiative, etc.—and furnishing them with tools, methodologies, and a safer, more enriching, and motivating work environment.

« By instigating changes that foster well-being and commitment, we aim to ignite a positive momentum that propels our performance across all fronts: sales, cost management, quality, customer satisfaction, environmental impact, etc. This transformation places individuals at the forefront and entrusts in each person’s inclination to contribute and take pride in their endeavors », elucidates Caroline Jeanniot, Performance & Innovation Director at Cérèsia.

An Innovative Approach, Inspired by Industry

For this approach, drawing inspiration from industrial best practices yet pioneering in the agricultural realm, Cérèsia opted to collaborate with TNP, leveraging its methodological expertise and intimate understanding of the group and its operations. The initial collaboration phase entailed designing the program, its strategy, roadmap, and tools (actions, methodologies, training, coaching, etc.). Despite the Group’s heterogeneity, the mandate was to create a unified system—with slight differentiations between operational activities and support functions—to foster a sense of belonging and a shared language.

To validate the program’s robustness, it underwent testing with four representative and complementary pilot entities. Concluded in summer 2023, this second phase, also facilitated by TNP, identified areas for improvement, refining certain aspects to prioritize essentials or reworking specific performance indicators.

The resounding success of introducing performance management routines anchored in visual management underscores the teams’ receptivity and interest when provided with pertinent information and indicators germane to their daily tasks.

In the pilot entities, the wheels of change have begun to turn. However, as Arnaud Domas, Associate Director at TNP and project lead, emphasizes, “It’s imperative to recognize that such a transformation program is inherently a long-term endeavor. Careful consideration of pacing is essential to sustain momentum.”

The final phase, extending the program to the entire Group, will span until 2025 and will predominantly be steered by Cérèsia’s internal teams. “Leveraging its expertise and attentive approach, TNP crafted a system tailored to our diverse operations—sufficiently accessible for autonomous deployment and, most importantly, effective, as evidenced by the pilots fostering emulation, cohesion, and burgeoning interest ” enthuses Caroline Jeanniot. At Cérèsia, the performance-centric culture bodes well for Horizon 2027.