Situation:

Our client is a premier plastics manufacturer, supplying products like bin bags, cling film and aluminium foil to the supermarket chains and similar retail/consumer businesses. With operations in the UK, Poland, Russia, Vietnam, France, Germany and a recycling plant in the Netherlands.

The recycling plant in the Netherlands has seen little change or investment in some time and given the global view on plastics the company needed to expand its operation in the Netherlands with potential new sites in other countries to grow the recycling business.

The MD of the recycling business was moving to a different role and the client saw an opportunity to analyse the current plant operations.

Challenges:

• Under invested business
• Limited knowledge of daily operations
• Loyalty to the current MD from the workforce
• Largest customer was its own business
• Leadership team focused on manufacturing expansion in other countries
• Conduct an ‘as is’ analysis of the operations
• Get under the skin of the business
• Motivate the workforce and create buy-in to any changes
• Deliver a report on finding while running the daily operations of the site
• Get sign-off on changes and implement them

Action:

We hired an interim that we had presented to the client before and was a known entity. The client wanted a UK based Interim to position on site in the Netherlands in order to have an impartial and outsiders perspective on the situation.

The interim quickly analysed the business and found a number of immediate issues.

• The Health&Safety protocols with severely lacking
• The supplier base was not managed well
• It was not a ‘clean’ and well organised site
• There was significant investment needed
• Staff had become disengaged
• The plant processes were not lean or best practice
• Outcome view was it needed transformation and investment

Results:

Our interim submitted a report to the Board and gained the trust to lead a transformation with €2m investment. They established a leadership presence and introduced best practice by gaining buy-in from key members of the workforce on the plant site. There was a thorough review and re-tendering of the supplier base of equipment and materials and the plant site was invested in with newer equipment.

The processes were modernised and the facility ran more efficiently. They also expanded to look at a wider customer base too.  Once the interim had finished the transformation the client as them to stay on to analyse an additional project back in the UK.