Part of a large German corporate group, our customer had extended its international reach and expanded quickly over the years by acquiring many midsized companies as well as by growing organically. These successive takeovers created a largely vertically integrated cor-poration that supplied various industries, including the automotive sector. The group achieved multibillion euros in revenue, reporting figures in the high single-digit range from its smelting, processing, and finishing product manufacturing operations. The goal of the project was to systematically analyze all divisions and international subsidiaries within the framework of a structural reorganization, and optimize all value-adding processes across the board. An-other objective was to tap further potential by concentrating service functions centrally, wher-ever feasible and prudent.

To ensure effective coordination within the project, a mixed team comprised of consultants and the customer’s specialists was installed to assess all functions from development to manufacturing and sales. These function-focused teams met regularly under the auspices of the project manager to identify optimization opportunities across divisional and department lines. A cross-functional consultant/ customer team analyzed all market- and service-oriented functions. The project heads reported directly to the company’s top management and steered all communication and change management efforts. A spirited dialog with the entire work-force employees and our change management and communication experts’ mentoring proved to be key factors in the project’s success.

The project comprised three phases. In the first, the teams swiftly audited the entire organi-zation, taking stock of the situation at hand. These mixed teams composed of consultants and company staff then jointly identified differences, strengths, and weaknesses, and drafted initial optimization plans. In a move aimed to encourage the company’s employees to take responsibility, they – rather than our consultants – presented the results of these efforts to the steering committees. The findings from this focused audit provided the raw data for con-ducting an initial assessment of the potential. It also afforded the teams the insight necessary to work out the details of the next steps.

In the second phase, the expert teams drafted detailed plans for later implementation. Our advisors targeted specific areas, zeroing in those that promised enough optimization poten-tial to ensuring that investments in consulting services would hit the mark. Areas with less potential were delegated straight to the line or left for internal project resources to handle. At this point, the teams’ efforts focused on optimizing value-add processes across the board. They restructured all activities in the course of this process optimization, which in some cas-es created entirely new roles for people to ply. Precise descriptions of these new roles facili-tated the search for suitable candidates within the enterprise. Plans to realign the organiza-tional structure were put on hold until the teams modeled the new processes and designed the new roles. To this end, it was vital to get Human Resources and the Works Committee involved in the project and communicate across all hierarchic levels, which our change man-agement and personnel experts accomplished with great success.

At the end of phase two, the teams devised a roadmap to finalize the rollout strategy and coordinate all activities to be carried out in phase three. In this final phase, our advisors men-tored this roadmap’s rollout, providing vital support at many training and communication events and continuing the cooperation that the mixed consultant/ customer teams sustained throughout the project. The teams also tracked and documented their success in realizing untapped potential.

As a result of this project, the company is ready for and focused on the future with markedly improved internal cooperation and optimized processes. What’s more, it realized substantial potential with a figure in the three-digit million euro range.

Dr.-Ing. Harald A. Wieland

*to remain unnamed for reason of confidentiality