A large German mechanical and plant engineering group had taken over a company in the sector following insolvency. The acquired company was a site for special systems for final assembly in the automotive industry (gluing final assembly) with 100 employees. Attempts to put the site back on the road to success by managers from Group headquarters were unsuccessful. Turnover was far below expectations. The interim manager was tasked with aligning the site for the future, achieving positive sales growth and stabilizing the site economically.
Product and personnel do not meet market requirements
In order to create a sustainable sales and site strategy, the interim manager held detailed individual and group discussions in the site's departments. It emerged that the processes in the areas of sales, engineering, control technology and project management in particular did not meet the requirements.
The biggest shortcoming was that the product and personnel did not meet the requirements of the market. In final assembly, there is a particular demand for special machine construction products that can be individually adapted to the customer's needs. This was initially not the case, as the parent company wanted to focus the division on standard products. In order to be able to act in line with the market, employees must have the necessary know-how and flexibility. This was also not the case at the beginning of the realignment.
In addition, the sales concepts were not coherent, the calculations were incomplete and the evaluation of expenses showed major deviations from the actual situation. Furthermore, the project management lacked awareness of the need to bring the plant to the finish line in terms of deadlines and costs.
Competence funnel: processes reviewed and improved with all parties involved
In order to improve processes, particularly in sales and project management, the interim manager used a method he calls the "competence funnel". To this end, the key personnel from the relevant departments (sales, design, control technology, purchasing, assembly and project management) came together during the quotation phase and the first phase of implementation. The first step was to reflect on past projects with questions such as: Where were there recurring errors with additional costs? Where can we work better together as a team? Is the design suitable for production? The current project request was then evaluated and approved in terms of execution, feasibility, expenses and deadlines.
It is crucial for the success of the competence funnel that hierarchies do not play a role in the meetings: Sales, managing director, interim manager or fitter: every suggestion or objection is initially given equal weighting. This approach makes a significant contribution to creating appropriate concepts and offers in the specifications without any "loopholes" with the risk of increased costs or delays.
Sales team restructured and staffing reorganized
In the next step, the interim manager restructured and staffed the sales team. Among other things, this included proactively presenting products to customers in future. The review and adjustment of preliminary and final costing as well as the development of lean modular and competitive system concepts (standard, modular and special machine construction) formed further pillars of the sales modernization. The purchasing department was required to renegotiate offers and keep an eye on the supplier's compliance with delivery times and intervene if necessary.
Lean management and team building improve efficiency and morale
In production, the interim manager established 5S and lean management methods to ensure compliance with specifications and throughput times and to increase the quality of execution. This was supported by a new inventory-managed warehouse system and an improvement in work preparation.
In order to ensure that employees could respond flexibly to customer requirements in line with the market in future, the interim manager arranged training and post-qualification courses. Team-building measures strengthened employee cohesion and motivation. Monthly facts and figures briefings ensured that all employees had the same level of information and improved the corporate culture and team spirit.
Turnover increased fivefold within five years of realignment
The company's realignment paid off. Within five years, turnover increased from five to 25 million euros. The company's products were also significantly more competitive. The current interim manager also managed various successful special projects. In the area of human-collaboration robots, he was in charge of developing concepts for an OEM that were used at nine locations worldwide. For another OEM, he developed concepts to increase automation in final assembly, which were manifested in a cooperation agreement. As a result, the division became a single-source supplier for three years.
The Gluing Final Assembly division is still a comparatively small division within the Group. The challenge is to strengthen the division in the long term and position it within the corporate strategy in order to exploit synergy effects within the Group.
