The financial situation of a company in the metal and apparatus engineering sector had slowly but steadily deteriorated significantly. The causes were unknown. In addition, the company was in a transitional phase of family succession. One shareholder and managing director was not quite out yet, the successor was in the process of establishing himself. In this situation, the interim manager came into the company. His task: to support the management, optimize commercial structures and processes and identify loss-makers.
Prepare employees for increased customer requirements and more professional handling
The company had recently embarked on a new course. It aimed to transform itself from a contract manufacturer geared more towards medium-sized companies into a service partner for industry. The employees were not sufficiently prepared for the significantly increased customer requirements associated with this and the more professional interaction with customers. The interim manager sought to be close to the workforce in order to anchor the corresponding mindset in the employees. He listened, asked questions, coached decisions and cooperation. At the same time, he made the workforce responsible for the company's development. This paid off in terms of trust, creative collaboration and a new spirit of optimism.
Operational accounting sheet, time recording and profit and liquidity plan introduced
The company had run into financial difficulties without being able to pinpoint the cause. This was due to the fact that there was no effective controlling or cost accounting system in place. As one of the first measures, the interim manager therefore introduced company accounting sheets. This allowed the hourly costing rates, which had previously only been updated, to be reviewed and adjusted. With an exemplary actual hours recording in production, the interim manager enabled a target/actual deviation analysis including a rudimentary order review for the first time. He also introduced time recording for service orders such as development and design services. The interim manager also drew up an integrated profit and liquidity plan with a forecast for another bank financing project.
Professionalization of monthly financial statements through training
The monthly financial statements were prepared by the tax consultant with a significant time lag. Due to a lack of commercial knowledge and insufficient understanding of processes within the company, as well as isolated errors by the tax consultant, these financial statements were also incorrect. The interim manager trained the company's employees and drew up clear process and audit instructions. In this way, he created the company's prerequisites for a more timely monthly closing.
Production planning and purchasing as well as materials management optimized to reduce costs
In production, the interim manager modelled various processes to improve adherence to delivery dates - and mapped these in the production planning and control system (PPC system). He was also involved in appointing a new production manager and coaching him for his tasks. Ultimately, the interim manager helped to reduce costs by optimizing purchasing and materials management, thus easing the financial situation. The interim manager was also able to initiate the upgrading of the existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. However, the implementation was then no longer part of the assignment.
Successful restructuring - monitoring and control instruments create transparency
After the interim mandate was completed, the management now has significantly more clarity. The new monitoring and management tools create the transparency needed to stabilize and strengthen the company. In addition, there is now a fact-based, reliable basis for further negotiations with the bank.
As the interim manager said goodbye, a rather introverted employee from production approached him, took off his work glove, shook the interim manager's hand and thanked him warmly for the successful restructuring: success and trust can hardly be expressed more beautifully in human terms.
