An OEM car rental company was faced with the challenge of relocating. Following the relocation, the car rental business of the car rental company and the truck rental business of another brand were to be merged. New office space for up to 100 employees had to be developed for the company. It was also necessary to develop a standardized IT system for the rental of cars and trucks. The investment volume for the site expansion amounted to 2.5 million euros. The interim manager was engaged as transformation manager for this project. His tasks included the following sub-projects:
- Transferring the long-term rental division with around 50 employees from the old office in Braunschweig to the new location in Sittensen.
- Training new employees, who made up around 80% of the workforce.
- Establish and stabilize the business and processes at the new location - from HR management to IT.
- In the end, the merger had to be well prepared and finally implemented.
Training new employees and exchanging information with the specialist departments
After a comprehensive inventory, the interim manager recruited new employees and temporary workers as a first step. The use of external trainers ensured a structured and practice-oriented transfer of knowledge. The recruitment of new employees in turn made the establishment of a hierarchy the next necessary step. The interim manager drew up an organization chart and ensured that all processes were set up and reviewed with and by a lean management trainer. In consultation with the specialist departments, he finally developed joint processes and brought the employees from both companies together. Parts of the merger of the business units are still pending.
Detailed process documentation and closing "gaps"
The interim manager created detailed process documentation for the long-term rental division. He involved employees who had to leave the department due to the relocation. Due to the lack of transparency and the different corporate cultures, the interim manager could not easily derive the building, IT and personnel planning from the existing organization. As many tasks were taken over as services by other departments in Braunschweig, short-term "gaps" arose. For example, there were no new printers at the new location; there were no defined process plans for vehicle letters and vehicle invoices. The responsibilities of the employee representatives were also unclear. With day-to-day operations running at the same time, this kind of resistance "clumped together" and things became hectic.
New competence regulations and application of a professional pool of methods
The interim manager had to make decisions at short notice and coordinate with the management as well as with IT and purchasing regarding competence regulations. To this end, he chose established project management methods (Scrum, Confluence / Jira) and well-founded CRM systems (Microsoft Dynamics).
Successful relocation much faster than planned
The transfer from Braunschweig to Sittensen was successfully completed after just four weeks. Both the implementation and the optimization and stabilization of the new structures and processes took place much faster than planned. The fact that the interim manager dissolved the "back-up team" ahead of schedule meant that costs could be reduced considerably. By assigning areas of responsibility, the interim manager created a clear personnel hierarchy that made the entire workforce more confident in their actions.
Basis created for successful car rental
This relocation and subsequent merger created the basis for a successful car rental business. The next hurdle is the still outstanding task of networking the company with the Group brands (cars, trucks) in order to generate synergies in sales and rental. The car rental products are scalable and can also be mapped digitally.
