Challenge
The customer suffered from a sales loss of 35% within one year. Productivity was declining over years. The company had negative equity due to the long-term losses. There was also a liquidity gap. The material quota was too high.
Approach
We replaced the two managing directors with immediate effect. Short-term liquidity was insured by removing the backlog and cancelling / converting special salary payments. At the same time, a cold call acquisition program was launched because as the revenues would not have allowed the company to survive.
Measures
We applied overtime and Sunday work to reduce the backlog and generate cash. Holiday and Christmas money was contractually fixed, we linked it to profitability. Office workers were doing cold calls; the sales organization was rebuilt. A new management team promoted from internal resources was established.
Results
We achieved break-even after 3 months and significant profitability after 6 months. The service business was extended and customer share at important OEMs was increased. After one year the profitability was higher than the industry average.
DE: http://www.buehlmann-partner.com/projekte/maschinenbau-deutschland/