Task:

A variety of different instruments and software should increase the throughput of the sample flow though clin.-chem. labs significantly without enhancing the existing amount of cost intens lab analyzers. By this optimization of the utilization rate a significant contribution to the cost reduction in customer’ labs should be achieved. The enhanced automation should not compromise the work safety of the lab staff. Even more the safety should be enhanced e.g. by less contact to contaminated material. On top of that, the reproducibility of the analysis results shall be enhanced by less manual interaction. The task also included the product management responsibility (product strategy, definition of product target groups and product positioning, identification and evaluation of market trends, definition of derived marketable products).

Measures:

The supposed target conflict between mechanical threads by robotic machines running automatically on one side and enhancement of work safety of the lab staff on the other side was addressed at the very beginning. The arguments provided were analysed together with the stakeholders in workshops using moderating and visualization techniques. Realization alternatives were elaborated in several prototypes. Special attention was paid at this early project stage already to the regulations given by the regulatory authorities (e.g. FDA in USA). The derived concepts of lab-consolidation, lab-integration and lab- automation were realized step by step in the form of state-of-the-art hard- and software, consisting of pipetting robots, sample distributors and specific process flow software with configurable distribution schemes, which were then evaluated in practice. After these steps, pre-series instruments and software was successfully supplied to large labs in Germany, Spain and in the USA. Based on these, the series instruments were refined and provided. A special challenge during software development was the smooth and effective coordination of teams on different international sites (USA, Spain, Germany).

Result:

After 10 years 1200 registered labs in 50 countries around the world used this product. 
Staff: 16 direct reports and several more in international context 
Duration: 26 months during 11/1997 and 10/1998 
Budget: ca. 6 Mio Euro

Task:

A development project for the life cycle and application management of the German electronic health card (eGk) was in severe need of project management support. The task was to gain project success during the running project despite the massive delay and the high risk of budget overrun. Beside the product development an additional task was to build a slim, competitive organizational unit for the long term maintenance of the product and to hand this over to the line organization together with the product.

Measures:

When taking over the project it was in a critical state. As a first measure, efficient and clear working- and reporting structures were defined and transparency about the interdependencies of the partial products was established. At the same time basic project management methods were introduced to enable planning and controlling of the project. As a first result of the improved structures, a first test release could be provided to the customers in a very short timeframe. Based on this early prototype the following releases could be defined more precisely in terms of functionality and work packages. Together with the project structure changes mentioned before this enabled a reliable project planning without compromising agile progress methods. This clear and focused approach developed acceptance by the customer and regained the confidence of the project team in project success. On that base a focused quantitative and qualitative staff enhancement was made possible to achieve the second target, the provisioning of a running maintenance organization to the internal line structure. Furthermore, derivative products could be developed, which could then be taken into maintenance. Together with the new line managers a controlled and seamless transfer into the line organization was prepared and accomplished.

Result:

At the time of transfer into the line organization the market share was > 80 % of the total available market. 
Staff: about 50 persons 
Duration: 12 months during 2006 and 2007  
Budget: ca. 8 Mio Euro

Task:

A leading provider for security technologies in payment, telecommunication and ID-Systems wanted to significantly increase the development capacity without drastically increasing its development budget. This requested the evaluation of near-shoring and off-shoring approaches. During the project progress the tasks were expanded to also enhance the company´s presence in the emerging markets of south / southeast Asia.

Measures:

Initially an extensive catalog of criterias was developed to support the decision making for the optional sites. In some cases on-site visits were needed during that phase to gather sufficient information. Further the action model had to be decided (e.g. „BOT“, Joint-Venture, Captive model), which influences the legal model needed during the foundation phase. In addition, the role of the future branch had to be clearly defined (“Extended workbench” vs “Competence Centre”), which would define its role within the company´s internal organizational setup. An adequate location and space for a startup had to be provided, including IT- and security infrastructure. After provisioning all of this, the first 25 staff members could be hired. They received a basic training in Germany to enable them to take over the first projects on their own. Through a specially designed system of sponsorship the long term knowledge enhancement of the new staff even after the training was secured. During the first work assignments, a global “load balancing” and “resource scheduling” system was provided to monitor and organize the utilization rate of the site. It was based on the newly installed revolving R&D planning involving quarterly updates and yearly consolidation. This enabled the moderation of the increase in development costs according to target and was monitored by a global accounting system for R&D. This system was later implemented for all other development sites (including Germany, China, India, Singapore, Spain, USA, Belgium – in total about 560 involved staff members).

Results:

The infrastructure, process- and management environment for 170 persons was provided on time and handed over to line management. At the time of inauguration, 70 trained persons were operatively integrated into the development network. More were in training. Focussed analytics gave detailed insight into employee satisfaction and the relation between attrition rate and hiring rate. Through the composition of highly skilled persons on a low cost site the overall target to not increase costs proportional to staff growth was achieved.
Staff: ca 20 (directy involved into the setup-project)
Duration: 08/2002 – 06/2006
Budget: confidential

Task:

In order to consolidate and optimize its European operations, a provider of security technologies wanted to close a location in Belgium. The affected customer base had to be involved to maintain the expected product quality as well as the contractually agreed service level agreements (SLAs) with respect to time and performance during and after the transfer.

Measures:

After analysing the specific production competencies and the respective machine park, alternative locations for the transfer of the tasks were defined. This involved the review of the individual customer contracts to ensure that the respective SLAs are understood and met during and after the transfer. The production tasks were re-distributed throughout existing sites in Europe, specifically in England, Spain, Germany and Slovakia. At these sites, the necessary machine environments and production capacities were created in order to accommodate the new tasks. It was a particular challenge to meet the SLAs even from the distant locations. This was resolved by the introduction of new, lean logistics and stock processes.

The digital ordering and data transmission processes between the individual customers and the new locations were established and tested. In doing so, particular attention was paid to meet the appropriate customer requirements (software conversions at the customer, quarterly accounts, security audits, etc.). The high demands placed on cybersecurity between customers and locations were maintained during the transfer process.

The operational transfer strategy was "soft", meaning that each contract was treated separately to ensure a smooth transfer. This increased the confidence in the success of the measure, both at the company as well as at customer ends, and gave the possibility to immediately provide solutions and to establish the contact between the customer and the supplier in the event of disturbances.

In parallel, an expert team was formed to work on the legal framework of the closure. Together with the respective authorities and works council, a social plan was drawn up and was implemented throughout the progress of the relocation. Thus the employees were enabled to re-orient themselves on the job market with operational support, while the remaining staff fulfilled the tasks on site. This way, personal wishes could be taken into account and the transfer tasks could be carried out with motivated employees.

 Results:

The transfer was completed after 9 months. The receiving sites had an optimized workload at constant shop floor capacity and the overall company group overhead costs were reduced. The existing infrastructure of machines was distributed throughout the Group and was thus was kept available for future increased volumes.

Staff:                   Teamsize 10 persons (incl. legal, logistics, security, etc.)

Duration:           06/2012 – 03/2013

Budget:             confidential

Task:

A complex reorganization of the internal competence centre structure within the R&D sector of a medical technology manufacturer was to be realized. The core topic was the transfer of tasks of one R&D-centre located in the USA to a location in Germany. This was to be done seamlessly without affecting day-to-day business.

Measures:

The project began with a comprehensive analysis of the upcoming product deployment tasks, considering all affected development areas. Specialized product knowledge, which was not yet available at the target location, was built up via technical trainings. In addition, the relevant infrastructure was created at the target location. In a next step, the necessary development processes were implemented and trained (company-internal approach models, release trains, agile procedures, project management and SCRUM methods, release procedures, feedback loops). Immediately afterwards, some employees of the receiving location were sent to the donor site to work on the site on the last tasks of the current release cycle, thus ensuring a smooth transition of tasks.

When that latest release was available, each transition step was carefully planned with the receiving unit for each of the topics to be transferred. It was emphasized that similar tasks also proceed similarly. Thus, flow schedules of the transfer were quickly familiar to all parties involved. Implementation of the planning was already under the full responsibility of the receiving location ("pull principle"). Priority in the transfer process was given to topics that were of key importance for the upcoming release cycle. The employees of the donor site provided continuous support ensuring complete knowledge transfer, so that all releasing dates could be met as agreed with product management. The employees of the new location thus immediately had a task and a goal towards which they could work.

Results:

Through the "pull principle" in the transfer process, the motivation of the employees at the target location was increased and the new tasks could be taken over on their own responsibility. The employees of the donor location were carried over into new tasks by restructuring, so that no "binding effect" became effective.

As a result of this measure, the interaction times of all European development sites increased and thus the development efficiency of the overall organization was increased.

Staff:                   Team size 5 persons (Core Team)

Duration:           10/2014 – 06/2015

Budget:          confidential

 Task:

As part of an acquisition process, three companies were to be integrated into the organization of a medical device manufacturer. In addition to the product portfolio, the staff had to be integrated into the line organization.

Measures:

Since the companies to be integrated were located in different countries and brought their own products and staff, the existing and planned product portfolios were initially aligned and reoriented. The necessities and circumstances in the local markets were taken into account accordingly. In addition, a detailed analysis of the abilities of the employees and organizations has been carried out to integrate new and remaining product topics into the overall context of the development, technology and process strategy. On this basis, the reorientation of all international competence centers took place with appropriate process adaptations for the entire organization.

Comprehensive training measures were implemented and the development environments was geared to the overall corporate strategy. At the same time, the reorganization and filling of the relevant management positions took place. These were designed according to the professional requirements.

In parallel, the HR and legal departments worked intensively on the contractual framework conditions for the companies and employees concerned.

Results:

After a short phase of the technical alignment of the new organizational units, new products were introduced to the market. The product range was updated and some unprofitable products were discontinued. The liberated capacities were concentrated on new, productive tasks from other locations. The reorganization of the centers of excellence resulted in a drastic increase in efficiency and a significant cost reduction for the organization as a whole.

Staff:                   Teamsize ca. 25 persons

Duration:           08/2014 – 03/2015

Budget:             confidential

Task:                  Optimization of processes in product management and development and preparation for a new company structure

Sector:               Medical technology / high-tech in surgical navigation

Company:         Medium-sized companies / 75 employees

Implementation:

1.     Preparatory work and process development

During a series of interviews the subjectively perceived problems were identified with managers and employees. Furthermore, existing operational problems were identified via extensive analyzes of open work packages. This generated a complete overview  of tasks to be addressed. The strategic options for re-organization were discussed intensively in the management circle, solutions were agreed upon and followed up over the course of the implementation phase.

2.     Applying new processes to known work content

As an immediate reaction to the problems in day-to-day business ("Quick Fix"), an overview of all upcoming tasks was created. This overview was used for clustering in subject groups and thus became the basis for the following change from line-oriented to agile development teams. These teams were equipped in an interdisciplinary manner (e.g. mechanics, electronics, software, design quality assurance, QM, product management, purchasing). Thus, the maximum available knowledge of the company for the topic group was available in each team, enabling them to make competent decisions swiftly and on the spot. These teams were then assigned the work packages in their respective topic group as a "backlog".

A special feature of this backlog was, that there was no "prioritization" of the work packages in the classic sense, but instead, a "sequencing" approach was adopted, based on the business relevance of the task package. In this way, the teams and their members were able to pull out one or more work packages that were best suited for available staff from the various disciplines. Prior to re-structuring, this task had tied up extensive management resources in line management. In addition, there was previously the need to detail the individual task of each employee - a job, that is now discussed bilaterally in the team and implemented immediately. The own overview of all upcoming tasks and the personal contributions of the individual to their implementation has significantly promoted the acceptance of the new model.

3.     Applying the newly implemeted processes to new topics

By freeing the management from day-to-day business tasks, they became able to develop the future direction of the company and sculpt its expansion. The constant (fortnightly) communication of the results enabled the teams to act more precisely in their decisions and thus to support the strategic direction.

A specially assembled research team was formed to develop solutions for new strategic challenges. After dealing with the legacy issues, opportunities arose early on to develop innovative product ideas for various markets. Due to the security in the process flow achieved in the previous process step, combined with the increased motivation of the employees, new technical subject areas could be developed confidently and new solutions were found.

Result:

The analyzes at the beginning of the mandate resulted in tasks based on the old work processes and a workload of around one year for the entire R&D and product management staff. After the introduction of the new management structure, the first reports of free capacity were made after four months. This increase in efficiency was invested in new, innovative products using the strategy process described earlier.

In addition, it became possible to acquire a larger number of R&D and product management personnel. An additional 8 positions were created for this (approx. 30% growth in these areas).

The increased motivation was already evident during the transition phase through positive feedback from the organization.

Example statement of an internal employee: “I would not have thought that and have great respect for the fact that we are creating such substantial, noticeable changes within our company. There have been too many failures before. I would also not have expected it to be an external manager, who had no idea about our company, who got this job done. ”

The willingness of employees to help each other has grown. But not in the sense of "I will do it immediately", but in the sense of "I will do it immediately if it fits into my current commitment to the team". This promotes commitment, openness and understanding.

Following the optimization project described here, the manager was commissioned to take over the organization in an interim-manager-role and to manage further growth until the appointment of a new R&D manager / managing director.

Outlook:

The first steps of this new assignment will be to anchor the new system of values ​​and commitment, openness and understanding even more deeply, thereby giving the organization more resilience in a volatile market environment.

Technologically, a new, market-oriented product roadmap will be on the agenda, which essentially supplements a “technology push” strategy with a “market pull approach”. There is great confidence that this change can successfully be mastered promptly with a motivated team.

The challenge remains to find a suitable manager who has mastered the topic of "Servant Leadership". This new, high-performance, resilient organization can then be handed over to the new management with confidence.