The client was the owner of a group of companies involved in toolmaking and the manufacture of components for machine tools. The company had two active and one inactive site in the Allgäu region. The interim manager, who was contracted in December 2016, took over the management of the company as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO).
Staffing adjusted to the scope of business
One of the main tasks was to adjust the staffing levels to the scope of business, which had been declining for years and had also led to a dangerous dependency on a few major customers. Essentially, the aim was to significantly reduce the number of employees from over 125. On the one hand, the foil stamping division was facing increasing competition. At the same time, more than half of the employees were approaching retirement age. The components for machine tools and the tool changers consolidated the company's dependence on a local manufacturer of machine tools, which had been significantly reducing the achievable margins for years due to strong price pressure. The production of individual parts for mechanical engineering and the automotive industry in particular grew strongly and required significantly more resources.
Insolvency proceedings under self-administration instead of severance payments and a rescue company
Negotiations with the works council and trade union led to the conclusion that an amount of around two million euros would have been required for severance payments and an employment and qualification company. As this amount, in addition to outstanding liabilities, could not be raised from reserves or current business, there was no alternative but to apply for the opening of insolvency proceedings under self-administration with a protective shield.
Neither social plan nor dismissal protection processes
The headcount reduction in 2017 amounted to 38 employees. Thanks to early and targeted communication and assistance in finding a new job (all redundancies were voluntary redundancies), both a social plan and the involvement of an employment and training company were avoided. No dismissal protection proceedings had to be conducted.
Divisions closed
During the insolvency, the divisions were tailored to the expected scope of business. The foil stamping division was closed, as was the stamped and bent parts division for a large DAX-listed company, which transferred production back to its own production facilities and bought the single-purpose machines used for this purpose from the company at the same time. At the same time, the "Automotive" division was able to grow in line with increasing customer demand.
Successful spin-off
These changes allowed the company to give up two locations and concentrate on one remaining site. The relocation required for this could only be carried out with the company's own resources. The disposal of both abandoned sites was made more difficult by complicated heritable building rights, but was ultimately successfully completed with the involvement of the respective local authorities.
A warehouse and production hall was converted into a fully-fledged production hall with minor modifications - this was made available to an operating department for its spin-off. This newly founded company has been working as a subcontractor ever since, but is developing its own customer base at the same time.
The company was sold to two investors following the restructuring and strategic repositioning. This complex process ended around 24 months after the start of the project.
