About Us

John Holton and Bijan Dastmalchi founded Symphony Consulting in 2001, with the idea of helping companies solve fundamental business problems by pairing proven processes and analytical tools with experienced supply-chain professionals.  It was at the edge of the dot-com bust and was a challenging time to start a new company, but there was a silver lining: the severe downturn was placing new focus on supply chain issues as companies, with little understanding of the risks involved, were forced to write off billions of dollars of inventory, much of which was buried deep in their extended supply chain.  Symphony’s early projects centered on helping technology companies recover from the economic crisis and navigate the new business landscape.

Since those early days, Symphony has offered a different consulting approach: scalable services with highly-skilled professionals, unique capabilities, and a compelling ROI.

Why Symphony?

We pride ourselves on the depth and breadth of experience we offer our clients, drawing upon years of industry experience.

Our seasoned, hands-on professionals have worked with companies of various sizes in different industries such as medical, semiconductor, consumer electronics, social networking, and telecom. We know how to work inside companies to uncover information and provide new insights on problems.  Our combination of analytical skills, experience, curiosity, and drive for results leads to measurable improvements for our clients.  We are not tied to any legacy systems or solution providers, and can provide our clients with an objective assessment throughout our engagement.

Symphony also provides flexibility in our approach to working with clients.  Sometimes clients prefer a complete solution, from investigation to solution design, implementation, and project management.  Other times, clients will want to plug Symphony’s experts into an existing project, or to get advice on a specific issue.  We can be nimble and provide our clients with just what they need.  Some larger firms are forced to push multi-year projects in order to support their bloated infrastructure.  We are more interested in delivering results, and are willing to work in a variety of ways to get that done for our clients.

Our Leadership

Bijan Dastmalchi

Bijan Dastmalchi

Co-founder

Bijan has over 25 years of experience in outsourcing, strategic procurement, and supply chain management, with extensive experience in strategic sourcing and contract negotiations. He spent seven years at Hewlett-Packard in procurement and supply chain leadership roles. He has also worked at Trimble Navigation, as well as two start-ups. Prior to starting Symphony Consulting, Bijan was Director of Semiconductor Procurement at Solectron Corporation’s Global Supply Management, overseeing an organization responsible for over $1B in annual purchases.

Bijan holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from Santa Clara University. He regularly speaks at industry events, and has published several articles and whitepapers. He has served as an expert witness in multiple high-profile supply chain, procurement, and contract litigations in the high-tech industry. Bijan has a strong background in negotiations, and helping companies perform their due diligence in sourcing.

John Holton

John Holton

Co-founder

John has more than 25 years of experience in strategic procurement and supplier management. He started his career at Hewlett-Packard, where he spent eight years in a variety of management positions and business units. His responsibilities included key supplier relationships globally. John joined Trimble Navigation Ltd. in 1995, where he held senior roles in supply management, and helped Trimble successfully outsource core functions. John holds a BS in Operations Management and an MBA from the University of Arizona, Tucson. He is a skilled negotiator with a strong background in developing and implementing supplier-based initiatives that bring demonstrated value to a company’s P&L.

Testimonials

“Symphony has helped us streamline our procurement process and brought process discipline into our organization so that it has become the norm. Symphony’s most valuable contribution is that it facilitates disparate companies coming together and working towards a common goal and successful procurement is about merging companies’ efforts.”

– Sachidanand Vrindavanam, Senior Director, KLA-Tencor

“Symphony Consulting was an incredible partner that really stepped into our program and filled a huge void that we had. We engaged with Symphony to help us close out business and legal terms with our CM, and despite stepping in halfway through the project, they were able to quickly understand our needs, limitations, paint points, and key care-abouts. Once that happened, they were able to drive the discussion directly and significantly offload work from our team. I am very pleased and satisfied with the final result—a better result that we could not have achieved on our own, with significantly less pain. We would definitely work with Symphony again and highly recommend them as well!”

– Jack Kang, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience and Sales, SiFive, Inc.

“Symphony hit the targets we’ve set for cost-savings every time. They are a turnkey provider of the procurement process: from vendor selection to contract drafting and redlining; for both Direct and Indirect Procurement. Plus, Symphony can bring in category specialists as negotiators – something we can’t do ourselves.”

– Michael Vedda, VP and CIO, Thermo Fisher Scientific (formerly Affymetrix)

“Symphony helps ensure the right balance between the value we get from our vendors and the price we pay so the agreement is not unprofitable for our vendor and we’re getting the value it’s worth to us.  They have a wealth of experience in IT and direct procurement and have saved us a lot of money.”

– Tim Campos, CIO, Facebook

“Symphony quickly came up to speed on our business issues. Their full spectrum of expertise complemented OCZ’s team and allowed us to continue to focus on running the business. We have been pleased with the professionalism and the thoroughness of the Symphony team.”

– Jason Ruppert, Senior Vice President of Operations, Toshiba Corporation (formerly OCZ Technology Group, Inc.)

“Symphony has been instrumental in helping us achieve the following results: risk reduction, reduced inventory exposure, minimum order quantities, reduction in lead times, and lower prices for parts.”

– Rick Trebing, Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer, Siemens EDA (formerly Mentor Graphics)

“In an outsourcing project that Symphony managed for us, all of the contending contract manufacturers told us they had never been through such a complete and thorough evaluation.”

– Hanan Cohen, Senior Director of Supply Chain, Avid Technology, Inc.

“The quality and timely delivery of our products was one of our top priority items when we engaged with Symphony. This added significantly to our total cost of ownership, which was a key focus and went beyond just the purchase price. Thanks to our collaboration with the Symphony team, we partnered with the right contract manufacturer and within a few months, have mitigated most of the supply chain challenges that impacted our business. Their ability to integrate into our organization and work seamlessly with our team was a key differentiator in comparison to other consulting firms.”

– Kai Wundke, CEO, Sun Radon, Inc.

“The process of outsourcing would have been nearly impossible for us to complete without Symphony’s assistance. As we bring the project to a close, we will be meeting or exceeding all of our original operational and financial targets. They proved to be an invaluable partner in this process, bringing the necessary technical and business background plus the negotiation and interpersonal skills to work closely with our team and close on all of the major points of the agreement with our chosen EMS partner. Without a doubt I will recommend Symphony Consulting to anyone considering this type of project.”

– Jose Sendra, VP of Operations, Nuance Communications, Inc. (formerly Equitrac Corporation)

Standards of Business Conduct

Symphony conducts business with uncompromising integrity and ethics. The following standards will be observed at all times in our engagement with clients. We will:

  • Place the interests of our clients first by offering them objectivity and competence.
  • Establish realistic expectations of benefits and the results to the best of our ability.
  • Treat all client information that is not public knowledge as confidential, and prevent access by unauthorized individuals.
  • Avoid conflicts of interest, and disclose to a client any circumstances or interests that might influence our judgment or objectivity.
  • Refrain from inviting an employee of an active or inactive client to consider alternative employment without prior discussion and approval from the client.
  • Accept assignments for which we possess the expertise and knowledge to perform, and will only assign staff with the requisite experience.
  • Agree in advance with a client on the basis for fees and expenses, and will charge fees and expenses that are reasonable, legitimate, and commensurate with the services delivered and responsibility accepted.
  • Refrain from accepting any commissions, remuneration, or in-kind benefits from a third party related to recommendations to a client. Our recommendations will always be objective.

*Adopted from the International Management Consultants standard of ethics.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I use Symphony Consulting instead of the big name consulting companies?
  1. Symphony is a niche consulting firm focused on its core competencies: supply chain, manufacturing, and Information Technology. Our expertise helps us to create a richer set of solutions for our clients in these areas.
  2. We have years of experience in solving industry-specific problems at some of the most respected technology companies. We have implemented proven solutions at small, medium, and large OEM companies, as well as their contract manufacturers and key suppliers.
  3. We are focused on achieving financial results that matter to your business success. We understand the speed at which you need to run your business, and we know how to make effective trade-offs to achieve both short-term and long-term success.
  4. Unlike some big-name consulting firms, the consultants that we assign to you are all experienced industry practitioners with domain expertise in the specific areas of our practice. At Symphony, you will have ongoing personal support from a seasoned professional who knows your business well. Our goal is to grow our business, one referenceable client at a time.
Why should I use Symphony Consulting instead of an internal resource?

There are several reasons for utilizing our services:

  1. Expertise: We offer expertise that draws upon years of professional experience in manufacturing outsourcing, supply chain management, procurement, and IT. Our vast experience in providing solutions at technology companies gives us the breadth and knowledge that can contribute significantly to devising a solution which leverages the “best practices” implemented in Fortune 500 companies.
  2. Focus: In most companies today, people have to juggle their time to manage multiple priorities. Progress on long-term initiatives is often preempted by unexpected operational crises. Since supplier-centric issues have a direct impact on the bottom line, every passing day leads to lost opportunities in realizing the benefits of a program or project. Symphony can provide dedicated resources to help drive a project to completion within the agreed-upon timeframe.
  3. Perspective: There are no legacy systems or “existing” solutions to which we are tied, and can therefore provide you with an objective assessment of the problem and propose solutions. We are more interested in giving our client a solution that will meet the outlined objectives, rather than maintaining the status-quo. We have no financial interests in any of the solutions we recommend to our clients, and we are fully objective in our recommendations.
  4. Limited Obligation: Many times, companies need experienced resources to help with the peaks in workload that comes with managing a business change.They will often under-staff critical projects because they cannot afford to take talented individuals out of their current role within the company. It is impractical to hire and train a new employee to help with a short-or-medium-term project. Symphony can provide the resources necessary to meet the project timeline, without an extended obligation on the company’s part.
How do we begin working with Symphony?

Once a need for our services is identified, we begin dialogue to make sure that we clearly understand the deliverables and expectations from our client. In some cases, the problem complexity necessitates going through a brief investigation phase before we can fully understand the scope, timeline, and resources that are required.

After understanding these parameters, we submit a proposal, outlining a clear set of deliverables, milestones, and an estimated cost for our services.

Upon mutual agreement, we will begin the project and review progress on a regular basis.
Once the project has been completed, a closure meeting is set up to make sure that all expectations are met and that there are no loose ends.
Ongoing “maintenance” support can be provided to our clients as needed.

How much do your services cost?

Generally, it depends on the project. We will give you an estimate of project cost based upon a mutually determined outline of deliverables. We strive to produce exceptional value for the client, and our fees are small in comparison to this value.  Our clients often refer to us as “self-funding,” since the annual savings that we generate far outweigh our fees.  Our fee structure can be time and materials, fixed, gain-share, or a hybrid model.

Are you a supply chain software company?

No, we do not sell any software and are not software systems integrators. We are in the business of helping companies deliver better results by solving their supply chain, manufacturing outsourcing, and procurement problems. In the course of our work, we interface with a variety of software solutions as required.  We do not have any financial relationships with any software company.

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