Spotlight

The need for interim managers in the healthcare sector is continually growing. This is due to various factors, including the increasing demands and changes in the healthcare sector, as well as the shortage of skilled workers and the increasing number of healthcare facilities. Interim managers can be deployed at short notice to bridge bottlenecks, implement projects or support change processes.

The client, a world class automotive performance brand, was a family owned business, recognized as the brand leader for their market space. They had a short-term need for a General Manager, Manufacturing Operations in Multiple locations, for just 16 weeks.

The company was facing accelerating growth and a growing backlog, delivery to customers was suffering despite the efforts of the team. The total backlog was over $9,000,000. Unfortunately, the backlog was accelerating much faster than manufacturing capacity. The drop in customer fill rate led to canceled orders. In addition, the excessive overtime being used to catch up was causing people to burn out.

The client is a 35-bilion Euro automotive supplier with worldwide presence in forty countries focusing on car powertrain technology including dual-clutch transmissions. This business unit has 1300 permanent and 500 temporary employees. Annual turnover is about 360 Million Euros, producing transmissions for all major car producers in Germany. While the business was running well, the local HR department was not well organised, caused by some management changes during the last three years. Additionally, the relationship between the company and the Works Council and the unions were bad.

The situation in HR needed to be addressed quickly. There was no leadership in the HR function and this led to a lack of trust in promises made by the HR team. There was a lack of competent resources and the company was hiring hundreds of temp workers. The Works Council was also frustrated with their collaboration with HR. In general, HR was in bad shape.

Interim management has been around for a long time. Both in economically good times and in recession, skilled interim managers play a crucial role within organisations. With the common thread always being that they can be the difference that takes the company further.

In practice, interim management is generally implemented with a strong focus on restoration. For instance, when departments are in need of streamlining, or when a complete reorganisation is needed. Something that’s less common, is using interim management to achieve growth and development. That’s a shame, because there are many opportunities to be found here.

Our client markets para-pharmaceutical products such as drugs, medical devices, cosmetics and food supplements. Its product portfolio with qualitative and original in-licensed products are sold directly in the Benelux countries and in the world through export partnerships. It is a family-owned company, managed by the second generation, and experiences strong growth.

There was a lack of transparency and trust in local management in the subsidiary of an Austrian group with production in the Czech Republic with over 1000 employees working in multiple shifts on site.

The management of the parent company did not have a clear picture of the situation on site and was accordingly unsettled and dissatisfied. Corporate standards did not appear to be implemented. In the past few years, the Czech plant has always achieved an acceptable positive result every year, but for some time the financial ratios have deteriorated.

Country-specific culture and language obviously formed a barrier between the subsidiaries and the HQ. The position of COO in the Czech Republic had never been filled before and was previously held by the local CEO in personal union. The deployment of a consultant sent by the HQ for several months did not lead to any significant improvements.

The client was a well-known Austrian Tier 1 automotive supplier with several production plants worldwide, one of them in the Czech Republic.

The start of a new key-customer project ran into difficulties. The planned production output and the necessary quality parameters could not be achieved, which could lead to a medium-term production stop for the customer. In general, the production plant had been struggling with difficulties for a long time.

By 2025 a majority of the workforce will be employed in an agile capacity, making it likely that more search firms will come to offer interim talent services. One recruiter, StevenDouglas, saw this coming more than a decade ago. Mark Viner joins Hunt Scanlon Media for this primer on the importance of interim executives.