An owner-managed medical cosmetics company had achieved strong, profitable growth with innovative products for years, with annual sales growth of more than 50 percent in a rapidly growing market. However, this growth and the steadily increasing number of development projects also led to problems. At the time the project was launched, the level of technical progress of current new products was unsatisfactory. Some important projects were far behind the planned launch dates. The interim manager was hired to restructure the research and development department (R&D). The aim was to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes in the development projects and bring the products to market faster.
Many product ideas do not lead to new market-ready products
The company is driven by the creativity and inventive spirit of the entrepreneur. Up to 100 new development projects are initiated every year, although most of them are stopped or abandoned. Nevertheless, there are always a few new product ideas that are successfully developed into marketable products. In view of the large number of new ideas, however, the employees in the R&D department found it difficult to prioritize the projects and bring the main topics to market maturity within defined short development times.
Communicatively creating acceptance for the optimization of the R&D department
When analysing the current situation, it quickly became clear that the company's development department lacked the structures, processes and methods that are common for industry standards. In order to develop a target concept that would be effective for all parties involved, the interim manager first held extensive discussions. In addition to the owner and management, the interview partners included other managers and employees from R&D and related areas. These discussions created the basis for gaining the acceptance of the employees for the necessary changes, irrespective of the solution steps to be developed. The next steps were then worked out together in a series of problem- and solution-oriented workshops.
Kaizen workshops, gate principle and design thinking increase efficiency and effectiveness
The interim manager planned and moderated several kaizen workshops to develop solutions. Here, the roughly existing development processes were further developed and optimized. The interim manager also introduced a structure for regular meetings based on the gate principle. In addition to the gate meetings, the implementation of a development controlling system provided transparency regarding the progress of the development projects. The simultaneous pursuit of design thinking principles in the R&D process supported efficiency and effectiveness without having to wait for the results of previous process steps, such as a complete specification sheet.
Focusing on product groups and new role descriptions
The interim manager created more clarity in the performance of tasks and a greater sense of responsibility for the respective area of influence by revising the role descriptions. He also structured the organization in the R&D department according to product groups and R&D teams with a focus on specific products and development projects.
Product program strategy focuses on selective development projects
As a result, it was possible to focus and intensify development work within the R&D department and the R&D teams. In addition, the conditions for a better coordinated development process with the adjacent areas (in particular Product Management, Purchasing and Production) were successfully created. The development process, which has been optimized according to the gate principle, creates the opportunity to manage the progress of development projects through transparency via clearly defined goals.
The final development of a product range strategy offers the opportunity to prioritize the permanent generation of a large number of new product ideas. As part of the organizational development and process optimizations, the interim manager was also able to find and train a successor.
Employees and clients were very satisfied with the results of the six-month interim mandate. However, the sustainability of the changes that were set in motion depends to a large extent on how the entrepreneur and the interim manager's successor continue the changes.
