Streamlining is a word I hear bandied about a lot in business.

As a huge F1 fan, it’s also a term I regularly use myself when discussing the latest Ferrari, Red Bull or Mercedes innovations! But it is true in other sports too. It’s been fantastic watching our sprint cyclists add to Britain’s impressive medal haul at the 2024 Olympics this week. The speed with which they tear through the velodrome is astonishing. Years of gruelling training, sweat and sheer determination have clearly paid off. But that’s only part of the story…

When you’re trying to be the best in the world, in whatever sport, you need to exploit every opportunity for performance gain that you can. And often that means being as streamlined as possible.

The GB cycling team has turned heads with their futuristic frame design, which features unique front forks that are spaced much farther apart than traditional models. According to Lotus Engineering, the brains behind the frame and fork, this design reduces the effective wind speed experienced by the rider and cuts overall system drag. In other words, it makes them go faster!

And it’s not just the cyclists going the extra mile to achieve that bullet-like sleekness…

The swimsuits worn at this year’s Games use a water repellent that’s engineered from the same technology that protects satellites from cosmic radiation. Tech suits, as they’re known, are designed to reduce friction in the water and improve hydrodynamics. Maybe that’s where I’ve been going wrong all these years! I recently looked up the term ‘streamline’ in the dictionary (okay, so I asked Google). These were the results:

Streamline verb

1. Design or provide with a form that presents very little resistance to a flow of air or water, increasing speed and ease of movement.

2. Make an organisation or system more efficient and effective by employing faster or simpler working methods.

As you can probably guess, number two grabbed my attention immediately. Because whilst I might not possess the aerodynamics of an athlete or the speed of Lewis Hamilton, I do understand what it takes to run a business as efficiently as possible.

When I took over as Managing Director of All-Tag^® Europe, the company was primarily a distribution business. We sold our products to other companies who were reselling them to the end retailer.

This resulted in added complexity and extra layers of red tape. Not to mention additional costs for the customer. We soon realised there must be a simpler, more streamlined way of operating.

And so we stripped away the unnecessary layers and began selling directly to our customers. We now have a clear flat structure within the business that ensures we can add value for everyone in the supply chain.

This straightforward approach allows us to have direct conversations with our customers and better understand their requirements. Plus, it means we’re able to cut out needless costs from the process, which, of course, is great news for retailers!

So just as athletes trim every ounce of drag to reach peak performance, we’ve also shed unnecessary complexity to ensure we deliver the best service for our customers – both now and in the future.