SEEING THINGS CLEARLY

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SEEING

THINGS

CLEARLY

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STAUFEN. | BARBERINI 2 STAUFEN. | BARBERINISTAUFEN. | BARBERINI 2

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STAUFEN. | BARBERINI 3

Consulting contracts with a single client for several years

are rare, but they are extremely interesting. Staufen AG

was there for Barberini GmbH the entire way: from a

company in crisis generating a loss to its rise to success.

Barberini GmbH‘s success story can be summed up briefly: While the company was still reporting substantial losses in 2015, the company has undergone a significant restructuring since 2018, and has been showing a steady profit since its re-alignment. But, let‘s start from the beginning. The German subsidiary of the Italian eyeglasses specialist manufactures lens blanks for sunglasses and other special eyeglasses at its Grünenplan plant, which is between Hanover and Göttingen in Germany. The story, which ends happily, started as a crisis in 2015: The German company was not meeting the expectations of its parent company. The Italian parent Barberini S.p.A. had acquired the manufactu-ring operating from Schott AG in 2010. It planned to expand its production depth, ensure its own supply and get control of the quality in general.

The manufacturer‘s situation had already taken a hit during pre-vious years, however the problems became quite glaring in 2016. Too many changes in management caused quite a bit of nervous-ness in the company. Poor delivery performance, low quality and a lack of transparency brought their share of problems, putting the higher-ups in Italy on edge.

INITIAL

SITUATION

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4 STAUFEN. | BARBERINI

APPROACH

AND

SOLUTION

The Italian management contracted Staufen AG as an experi-enced consultant in the manufacturing industry. Staufen was asked to take a close look at the company as a whole, identify the reasons why it was in such economic crisis and draw up a busi-ness plan to successfully re-align the company.

The combined top-down/bottom-up approach was applied to provide an integrated look at the company. A process view (bot-tom-up) combined with a management perspective (top-down) allow potentials to be determined with a variety of different ana-lyses approaches tailored to each customer, which then feed into the company‘s restructuring concept.

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With the help of Staufen, we were able to

signifi-cantly improve transparency and are now able to

trace all of the effects in production on costs, both

in positive as well as in negative terms.

Laura Frattaroli, Managing Director

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ANALYSIS CONCEPT

Holistic restructuring with the top-down/bottom-up approach

Results of operation successfully realigned and stabilized long-term within 24 months

Creation of transparency with respect to Company and business structure Structuring of the product portfolio

Analysis of the organization and cost structures Identification of cost drivers Result, Targets Potential Measures Increase PERFORMANCE Reduction COSTS Improvement QUALITY TARGET IMAGE TOP-DOWN BOTTOM-UP Performance management Evaluation of the current

management system Mapping of processes and interfaces

Consolidation of optimization levers

Validation of strategic targets Derivation of scenarios Definition and adoption of a uniform/holistic target image Investigation of the workplaces, activity

structures and machines and plants

+ 7 %

Total performance EBIT

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The first thing that theStaufen AG analysts noticed in 2015 was that the percentage of material costs compared to overall sales had dramatically increased and that they were clearly too high for a company structured in this manner. Production resulted in a disproportionate amount of rejects, the yield of eyeglass lenses that were in fact high quality was too low. Off hand, no one was really able to provide a specific reason why this was happening, because the production processes were not at all transparent. At second glance, quite a few inefficient processes were revealed within the company. Employees were more likely to improvise that to systematically search for the reasons behind the quality problems. The result of this was that technical problems such as machine settings and deviating process parameters remained hidden. No integrated and structured problem-solving process had been implemented.

Staufen AG quickly found that structured problem solving, con-sistent adaptation and implementation of parameters combined with clear leadership and responsibility structures contributed significantly to remedying the crisis. Shop Floor Management was introduced to improve and simplify communication. It played a major role in understanding changes in production in a transpa-rent and timely manner and to take appropriate countermeasu-res quickly and successfully.

A view from the outside

reveals problems

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With Shop Floor Management, our staff has the

tools they need to quickly recognize changes

and to introduce appropriate countermeasures.

Andre Bujak, Head of Technics

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In addition, Shop Floor Management improved communication among employees. Com-bined with the technical measures and the steps taken to stabilize processes, rejects were considerably reduced within just a short amount of time. The ratio material costs to sales dropped significantly by 2018. With the involvement of staff, additional improvement pro-jects were implemented that helped to structure staffing more efficiently. A consistent cost reduction strategy further improved the overall results. The operational improvements also resulted in a noticeable reduction in the staffing ratio without having to simply accept a loss in production performance.

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Thanks to our improved process control

and integrated communication, in the

meantime we have developed the

capabi-lity to offer our customers a high degree of

flexibility and short waiting times.

Ottmar Bartels, Head of Supply Chain

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The Italian partner took a change in management as an oppor-tunity to try something entirely unorthodox. It did not send a delegate to Germany, nor did it attempt to control operational business from Italy. The Italian manager was only legally respon-sible, but left the operational responsibility to the management team in Germany.

The reasons for the unusual decision: The personnel changes at the top that the company had implemented in the past had brought about any significant improvement. So, in consequence, all operational tasks were assigned to the experienced experts in their field - what had in the past been deemed the „second rank“. They had the expertise required and could therefore optimally prepare the decision-making basis for management.

What this meant for Staufen AG was that its mandate was expan-ded to include coaching a new team, which now assumed vari-ous tasks in preparation for the managing director. This allowed the team of managers, supported by Staufen experts, to prepare collective bargaining agreements and recommend investments, which were then approved by the management board at short notice. The latter related primarily to production automation and digitization of production. Here, because of its many year of ex-perience, Staufen was able to provide valuable assistance in the areas mentioned as well as offer an analysis of what would most likely be feasible.

Seeing things from the right

angle makes the difference

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All measures showed the desired effect, allowing the Barberini GmbH team to turn the company around. Staufen not only sup-ported Barberini with analyses and recommendations, but also in day-to-day operations with training and coaching. For Staufen AG, the cooperation with Barberini GmbH was an interesting ex-perience, especially due to the length of time and the intensity of the contract that lasted several years. A consulting company rarely has the opportunity to accompany the change process of one of their clients over such a long period of time and respond to the dynamic development of the company and the market en-vironment.

In addition, Barberini S.p.A. in Italy benefited from the huge lear-ning effects: An integrated transformation of processes, a change in the leadership culture with the introduction of Shop Floor Ma-nagement and greater degree of responsibility for maMa-nagement combined with „classic“ top-down restructuring approaches can rapidly improve a company‘s earnings and make it competitive for the future.

The parent company now intends to implement these findings at its own site and seize the opportunity for even further growth - with Staufen AG as its consultant.

RESULTS

A consistently clear view

going forward – the change

made it possible

Payroll costs and material expenses were reduced significantly

– 20 %

Material ratio Staffing ratio EBIT

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By bringing all staff members together in

Shop Floor Meeting, the sense of team spirit

is now much better. The team now strives to

reach optimal results daily.

Gianni Vetrini, Managing Partner

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PUBLISHER STAUFEN.AG Consulting.Academy.Investment Blumenstraße 5 D-73257 Köngen +49 7024 8056 0 [email protected] www.staufen.ag

ABOUT STAUFEN

Inside every company there is an even better one.

With this conviction, Staufen AG has been advising and qualifying companies and employees for more than 25 years.

340

employees

69

Mio. € revenue

17

languages

> 90

BestPractice Partner

7.000

seminar participants every year

CONTACT PERSON Christoph Heine Director Sales +49 7024 8056 169 [email protected]