A medium-sized packaging company was experiencing delivery problems, complaints and order cancellations. Added to this was the change of managing director. The situation jeopardized the company's continued existence. The interim manager was tasked with developing a restructuring concept in a timely manner and supporting its implementation.
Weak point analysis revealed a comprehensive lack of clear structures
The interim manager began her work with a comprehensive weak point analysis. She examined the processes in production, warehousing, purchasing, customs, export control, supplier and customer management as well as sales and marketing. This revealed obvious shortcomings. Structures with clear responsibilities were lacking everywhere. Communication channels between departments and managers were barely defined. And if there were guidelines, they were generally not adhered to.
The managers also had no common understanding of how project management should be structured overall. This disagreement meant that overarching thinking and action in the interests of the projects and the company remained the exception. Instead, uncoordinated coexistence and duplication of work were the rule. The lack of coordination caused disruptions and quality losses and wasted resources.
Leadership problems cause demotivation and internal resignation
In addition, staff shortages and poor performance in key positions hindered processes. This resulted in a considerable additional workload for colleagues, who tried to compensate for these weaknesses. As a result, there were already several cases of burnout.
The friction and the worsening emergency situation caused increasing dissatisfaction among the workforce. In view of the unresolved management problems, which had persisted for some time, resignation and "inner resignation" became widespread. Disputes arose among managers and in individual teams. Some of the employees who had been classified as competent and high-performing had already begun to reorient themselves professionally.
Hardly any information available on cost structure and business utilization
In addition to the management problems, there were other reasons for the negative development. For example, Sales & Distribution tended to acquire customers intuitively and based on experience instead of approaching them with suitable offers based on concrete figures. There was insufficient cooperation with marketing and controlling.
The shortcomings in controlling and materials management were also fundamental. The management only had rudimentary information about the cost structure and economically sensible utilization of the machines. The costs for warehousing or material stocks were also not fully known. In addition, the purchasing department often ordered on demand without consistently adhering to compliance rules.
Scrum introduced and trained as a method of agile organizational development
In order to solve the problems in the organization, the interim manager formed several task forces for individual areas of responsibility. Before doing so, however, she standardized the project management and introduced Scrum as a method of agile organizational development. To this end, she trained the employees in workshops and on the job. As a result, project teams were formed, which quickly organized themselves independently after an introductory phase under the leadership of the interim manager.
In the sub-projects, the teams worked with the interim manager to identify the causes and causal chains as well as important interfaces in detail - and derived departmental and overarching project plans. In cooperation with the interface partners, they developed solutions that were gradually implemented in scrum sprints. Among other things, the teams identified unprofitable orders, established the prerequisites for a clear cost structure and transparency of figures and optimized the inventory of stock levels.
Cross-departmental collaboration improves communication
Scrum as a method of agile project management offers another advantage in addition to the structured way of working: the method forces teamwork - and specifies communication rules. The interim manager used the structured meetings, the exchange of best practices and cross-departmental collaboration to resolve the communication breakdown between departments and individual stakeholders. This gradually improved the working atmosphere, which gave the restructuring work further momentum.
Successfully mediating a conflict over the replacement of management positions
However, agile project management and better communication alone were not enough. From the perspective of the interim manager and the project team, it was essential to fill a number of management positions. The interim manager and the respective project teams agreed that these managers were not professionally suitable and/or not sufficiently willing to perform. The negotiations between the management and the works council regarding the new appointments soon led to disputes. The interim manager was able to mediate between the parties. After tough negotiations, an agreement was finally reached. This included outplacement measures and compensation payments within a reasonable framework.
New hires bring a breath of fresh air - successful coaching in sales
The hiring of a new production manager and a quality manager brought a breath of fresh air to the company. The professional training of the machine operators had a direct impact in the form of higher quality in production. The reorganization of purchasing and materials management ensured that the machines were always sufficiently supplied with supplies on time.
In another sub-project, the interim manager optimized the sales department. She coached the sales manager in business and number-oriented customer acquisition. Together with a newly hired sales representative, the team continuously built up a diversified and profitable customer base. This was achieved through a consistent analysis of the customer master data, which was created in collaboration with accounting, customs, export control and marketing.
Company back in the black after 3 months
The most important sub-projects were completed within 6 months. The company was back in the black after just 3 months. The successes have significantly improved the mood and work motivation as well as the loyalty of managers and staff to the company. With the results of the agile project teams and the new managers, the company has a solid basis for further successful development in the future.
