How it works
Four types of services included in membership
Online exchange
sessions
A topic planned at the start of the cycle, open to any employee of the member company, featuring feedback from a leading company, structured exchanges, and a summary.
On-Demand
Sessions
At a member’s request, an in-depth discussion between practitioners on a specific topic.
Resources available
anytime
Session replays, speaker presentations, topic summaries, and state-of-the-art insights — all available anytime to every employee of member companies.
In-person
meetings
For the relevant Communities, site visits - factories or warehouses - are organized, along with events that bring Community members together to discover innovative solutions and to network.
TOLSON Communities: collective intelligence at the service of everyone
TOLSON Communities were born from a simple observation: operational teams collectively hold a considerable body of knowledge that can be highly valuable to their peers, yet exchanges between companies are not organized as effectively as they could be. Visiting trade fairs or attending solution-provider webinars takes time and does not guarantee unbiased information. Organizing a benchmark with another company is also time-consuming and often depends heavily on personal networks.
TOLSON Communities make these exchanges time-efficient and independent of any commercial bias.
TOLSON’s objective: to enable participants from a member company to find answers to their function-specific questions by drawing on the collective experience of all other Community participants – and even beyond, as TOLSON teams seek answers outside the Community when needed.
Each TOLSON Community focuses on a Company Function to be as relevant as possible: Procurement, Supply Chain, Industrial, Sustainable Development, HR, etc.
Discover all our communities
TOLSON VDA
Procurement Performance, Transformation, Category Benchmarking, Tools
TOLSON SC
End-to-end Performance, Digital Transformation, Network Design, Planning, Execution, Customer Service
TOLSON 4.co
Industry 4.0, MES, Connected Operators, AI, Robotics
TOLSON SBC
Sustainable Transition, Regulatory Compliance, Sustainable Performance
TOLSON HR
Transformation, Performance, Tools, Data, Skills management, Operations, Compensation
member companies
practitioners
Benefits
Save time and resources immediately
Joining a TOLSON Community means gaining access to a unique base of operational experience that helps you avoid errors and save valuable time.
It also means learning from others when selecting and deploying solutions. It means answering very operational questions quickly thanks to dedicated sessions or simply by accessing the knowledge base – saving hours of research
Finally, it means having access to TOLSON teams, enabling you to organize targeted exchanges on specific topics.
Benefits
Transform the function and its teams
Joining a TOLSON Community means finding inspiration through the sharing of experiences and best practices from leading companies. It means broadening your long-term perspective, enabling all relevant team members to benchmark themselves against best-in-class organizations, and expanding their professional networks. In short, it is an innovative way to foster continuous improvement across teams.
Because all sessions are delivered online and in English, teams can participate regardless of their location. By hearing the same experience shared by a third-party organization, employees from different business units find it easier to align around a common direction and shared priorities.
They share their stories
F.A.Q
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a TOLSON Community?
- A program that enables employees of a specific Function of a company to learn from their peers from other companies in a structured way.
- To date, there are five TOLSON Communities dedicated to the Procurement, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, ESG, and Human Resources functions.
Who are the TOLSON Communities for?
- For large organizations with a strong culture of performance and continuous improvement.
- Within these companies, each Community is geared toward a specific Function, and within that Function, all employees can participate in Community sessions depending on the topic being discussed.
The Community sessions
What do the sessions consist of?
- A typical session includes one or more companies experience feedbacks on a given topic.
- Occasionally, an expert may intervene on specific topics or if participants don’t have experience or feedback yet.
How are session’s topics chosen?
- An initial planning of topics is defined based on discussions with the Function Managers and validated by all members during the Community Day which kicks off the new cycle.
- During the year, topics can be added to the schedule at the request of members when they are of interest to many.
Are the sessions online or in person?
- Mostly online. They can be in person for site visits.
How much time does it take for participants?
- Sessions last two hours. Preparation is mostly handled by TOLSON. Only the company presenting feedback may spend time preparing.
- For a given domain, and therefore for a given participant profile, there are 5 sessions per year, i.e., 10 hours over 12 months.
What is the language of the Community?
- Deliverables and sessions are in English.
The other services of a TOLSON Community
What is the Resource Hub?
- The sessions result in operational summaries.
- They are available on the platform along with company presentations, benchmark, studies, replays of sessions, tools developed following sessions, etc.
What are TOLSON Community events?
- In-person events to showcase innovative solutions implemented by other companies
- Community meetings
- Site visits for the SC and 4.co communities
- Learning expeditions
What is the on-demand service?
- A member company can request TOLSON for a connection, specific information, a study, or to organize a benchmarking session.
What distinguishes an on-demand service from a consulting assignment?
- A request for a connection or information already existing in the knowledge base will always be fulfilled.
- The subject of a study or benchmark requested within the Community must interest several members and be shareable with the whole Community.
- Otherwise, the request would typically lead to a consulting engagement falling outside the scope of the TOLSON Community.
Can as many requests as desired be made?
- Yes, within reason. There is no limited number of “credits” as in other systems.
Rights and obligations of Community members :
What obligations do member companies have?
- Select and engage the most relevant people across the company for the topic at hand.
Autres variantes selon le contexte : - Do not disclose any information or best practices shared within the community to organizations outside the member companies.
- Inform TOLSON as soon as any opportunities to improve the Community are identified.
Can there be competitors in the Community?
- Yes.
What are the confidentiality rules?
- The general principle is that everything said within the Community remains within the Community. However, it is difficult to guarantee confidentiality with a significant number of participants. Any information considered sensitive should not be shared.
What is a Community cycle?
- A Community cycle is annual. It begins with the validation of the initial session schedule and ends with the presentation of the main lessons learned.
How is it ensured that a Community meets the expectations of member companies?
- Before the start of each cycle, a company’s priorities and expectations are defined during a face-to-face meeting.
- For each new member, a meeting is also held to present the overall program and identify the people within the company to involve for each topic.
- A 30-minute monthly call is scheduled with the company’s designated primary point of contact to review participation in past and upcoming sessions.
- During the same call, topics of interest to the company may also be identified and incorporated into the program.
What is the link between TOLSON and KPMG?
- TOLSON is now an integral part of KPMG and relies on its resources and expertise.
- However, TOLSON operates very differently from a consulting firm, and its activities are carried out independently of KPMG.