The problem
The company is part of a multinational group operating in the medical device sector, it is market leader and present in several countries around the world. The company, medium – small, has to manage a significant “breakthrough” related to the introduction of a new range of products: this will have, in the medium term (three years), a very important impact not only on production volumes – which will be quintupled -, but also on the workforce, which will increase by 50-60%. During this phase of growth, the figure of the Plant Director has disappeared, resulting in an “organizational vacuum”.
The solution
Contract Manager has sent a Temporary Plant Manager to the company, with responsibilities for the entire Operations Area and with the following objectives:
- Supervise the Operations function.
- Coordinate staff in the following areas: Production, Supply chain, Purchasing and Quality.
- Create an organizational base to grow the company, allowing the expected dimensional jump.
The Temporary Plant Manager quickly entered into the business context and was quickly accepted by the plant staff, thanks to the achievement of significant results relative to the mission targets.
The results
The results can be summarised as follows:
- Creation of a team spirit, essential for the achievement of short-term objectives: tests for the industrialization of new products and organizational changes in production structures.
- Daily monitoring of production and improvement of production performances.
- Testing of new products for industrialization, necessary to unlock the investments for the new automatic packaging lines and for the expansion of the building.
- Introduction of continuous cycle shift, both on direct staff and on indirect, closely related to production (necessary both to recover the backlog of current orders – due to tests -, and to cope with the increase in commercial requests).
- Analysed the new organisational structure of Manufacturing, which will be implemented by the new Plant Manager.
- Improvement of the production flow, with particular reference to the raw materials and finished products warehouse.
Conclusions
The mission was short-lived, but it helped to improve the business climate significantly, also thanks to the introduction of new resources and the stabilization of the organizational structure. The Client appreciated the professionalism and dedication shown by the Interim Plant Manager in taking charge of a delicate situation, which proved to be extremely critical in relation to the continuity and development of the business. In summary, the foundations have been laid for overcoming a difficult transition period, with full satisfaction of the customer.