Project overview

The aim was to bundle customer complaints from a decentralized organization with direct access to the plants into a central organization at headquarters in order to channel the flow of information and orchestrate quality improvements from Group management.

Customer complaints are recorded by the sales organization in a workflow developed in ConSense FORMS, assessed by the Group and the necessary analyses are initiated. Corrective measures are distributed centrally to the plants or development and implemented there.

Key points

Group Quality and Warranty Report with all important information from a single source
Warranty claims are recorded where they occur
Instead of using emails, the data is recorded in one place and processed in a controlled and standardized workflow
Development and the plants now only receive the measures via one channel instead of email

Thanks to the workflow, new locations can be introduced into the customer complaints process quickly and important information from the new organizations reaches the company promptly.
Initial resistance was quickly overcome when it became clear that the process meant more efficiency and less work overall.

Takeover of the project management, as a gap had opened up. The interior of the new building was completely renovated within around 8 months.

At the same time, employees had to be prepared for the open-space concept from the traditional office with individual to 6-person offices. One of the project objectives was that all employees at all levels, including the HR department, must work in the open space. To complicate matters, the needs of the secondary tenant on the top floor also had to be considered, as increased security conditions were required.

In Addition

Creation of a cafeteria with a self-catering concept, which was set up together with a local bakery.
Integration of laboratory equipment and test & trial duct
Humidification and lighting concept
Indoor locking concept

The new office went into operation on time on August 19, 2019, and the first international meetings were successfully held in the rooms just two hours after the opening.

«I found Adrian to be a responsible, decisive and pragmatic project manager with a strong sense of leadership during the project relocate the headquarters of an international company. As a result, the project objectives were achieved on time and in full, and even exceeded. The cooperation within the project team was always constructive, appreciative and goal-oriented.»

Ingo Schmuckli - Desigon GmbH

The task was to take over plant management and stabilize the plant as quickly as possible. The local management was unsettled and could no longer initiate the necessary improvements themselves.

Facts & Figures

(initial situation, goal, achievement)

On-time delivery from 35% to 85%, achieved 96%
Lead time for two main products reduced from 36/42 to 21 days, achieved 16 days
Order backlogs reduced to 4%, 0.8% achieved
Introduction of the First Pass Yield KPI

Weekly trips to Hamburg, as my family stayed in Switzerland. Original goal: 6 months on site, which then became 12 months.
Today, the plant in Norderstedt is the backbone of an international group and produces the most important units and systems for all continents.

«Adrian Spörri accepted a one-year special assignment as plant manager a.i. at our new plant outside Hamburg when the need arose. Adrian identified strongly with this task. With his proactive attitude, his high level of commitment, his flexibility and his great dedication, he made a decisive contribution to further development in Hamburg. By continuously improving work processes, he managed to increase the efficiency of production and the entire team within a short space of time.»

Oliver Zimmermann · CEO Condair Group

The previous service provider's European data center is being closed and the IT department had taken too long to tackle the move. Accordingly, the deadline set by the previous service provider was very close to the end.

I was therefore allowed to take over the IT department a.i. and had to tackle the relocation of the data center as quickly as possible. The new service provider had already been selected. All services were transferred to the new service provider within four months.

In addition, the employees were at the end of their inner strength and the organization of the IT was chaotic

Establishment of a new departmental structure, separation of Build + Run
Introduction of employee coaching and one-on-one meetings to stabilize and closely manage employees
Introduction of a cost report that provides an overview of global IT costs for the first time
Creation of a basis for preparing the subsequent development of the IT strategy by the new IT manager

The IT controlling was also significantly improved thanks to a new cost report, and the basis for the future IT strategy was created on these foundations.

To support the vertical integration of subsidiaries, it was decided to convert the individual certifications of the various sites into a global ISO 9001 multi-site certificate. The first step was the integration of the three Swiss companies, followed a year later by the integration of sites in Canada and England.

To date, almost all subsidiaries (plant or sales offices) are ISO 9001:2015 certified and under the global MSA certificate. It is an ongoing process to integrate new companies into the process system.

Objectives

Selection of a process management system that can map several languages and process variants. The choice fell on ConSense IMS.
Implementation of ConSense IMS and thus definition of the degree of freedom of the local organizations via policies and the process model with global and local processes.
Definition of new global processes together with all stakeholders

The main obstacle was the integration of local sites and the associated overcoming of resistance, as global processes now apply. This remains a challenge to this day, although it is decreasing.

Milestones and successes

Introduction of a global customer complaints process

Keywords

Relocation of the headquarters of an international company

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Interim plant management in Norderstedt (Hamburg)

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Transfer of the data center and creation of a basis for the IT strategy

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Introduction of ISO 9001 as global MSA certification

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