Otto Bock - The Analysis (1)

As usual, before a project starts we were tasked to do an analysis. They told me I was the designated project manager as I was the only one available who was a German native speaker. The project was supposed to be massive. I remember I was thrilled, scared, and excited at the same time.

The analysis was hell on earth. All of the consultants and I just hated it. Every day we slaved away for about 20 hours - DILOs, Brown Papers, interviews, and further studies, studies, studies... It was all not very well organised and we were never asked for our opinion and just had to deliver studies to feed the analyst.

Good news was, it was a strong team building exercise for us consultants. We stuck together and endured. The consultants told me I'd be a good PM running the show and they hoped I'd get it. At that time I was not overly sure if I wanted it anymore....

Otto Bock - The Client

Otto Bock is a company that produces artificial limbs, wheelchairs, orthopaedic tools, etc. It is probably the best company worldwide in their field, especially when it comes to prosthesis. If one sees runners at the Paralympics, one can be assured that those artificial legs were produced by Otto Bock. From that point of view, the company is absolutely top notch.

All the knowledge I have dates back to the early 2000s, hence things might have changed. The company is privately owned and situated in Lower Saxony at the border to former East Germany. It is basically in no man's land.

We hardly ever saw the owner, but he had an executive team running the show and the project as steering committee - first 2 directors and then a further one who was newly hired.

Otto Bock - The Start

Otto Bock is my most interesting project I have ever managed. In that project I got it all, extremely interesting work streams, a big team to manage, a good client, and colleagues who challenged my social and project management skills to the very edge of endurability.

My last project took me already 8 blog entries, be prepared to read throughout most of April about this one.

To start with a picture of the core team of consultants who were on the project from day 1 - Frank, Thomas, Viola and myself.

Selling Wine

This delicatessen project was quite a success, especially within Proudfoot, as we have completely rewritten and remodelled that selling skills manual they had. There was a very small project at the time, it was a vineyard in Germany, that also needed selling skills.

I was assigned to that project for a few weeks and implemented a similar programme there. This project was a very strange project, as it was more like a private coaching project for the son and heir of the vineyard rather than getting some selling skills across and the project manager was not overly happy about it.

I think the son was extremely strange and what he really needed was professional care rather than management coaching. Oh well, not for me to judge. I did my thing and on one day I got a call to move over to my biggest challenge so far - a company called Otto Bock.

Salmon, Shrimps and Krautsalad (8)

And more pics.

Salmon, Shrimps and Krautsalad (7)

On this project we took so many pictures. It was the time when one could burn them on CD-Rom. Well, here you go... something to look at.

Salmon, Shrimps and Krautsalad (6)

And then, finally, after the management system was ready to go and the managers trained and trainers and coaches we needed to tour the country (all 4 sales regions) and train, train, train...

And I must say, the area sales managers did all an extremely good job. I was rather impressed.

Salmon, Shrimps and Krautsalad (5)

So, using skills methodology we would not train the sales representatives ourselves, but we left that for the area managers to do. We trained those area managers though in how to train their employees.

So, staying within the methodology, the TTTs were for us to train the area managers as trainers (Train the Trainer), whereas the area managers trained their staff in TTE sessions (Train the Employee).

After the training we designed coaching sessions where the area sales managers were tasked to go randomly on tour with their staff and give coaching. TTCs were the Train the Coaches sessions in which we trained the area managers in how to coach, and in CTCs we coached them in their coaching effort. This system was waterproof.

Salmon, Shrimps and Krautsalad (4)

Proudfoot had a standardised training programme for selling skills of which I got the manual. We had to adapt it to the client’s needs and that took us ages. We realised that the Proudfoot manual was far too elaborate for the client. So we did lots of work to tweak it and transform it into a “tailor-made” one. Well, no need to reinvent the wheel, but here we really had to sort of reinvent it.

I must say, our training programme which we finally got together was absolutely fabulous and extremely specific to the client’s needs. The role plays were all about selling salad, the language was adapted to their business, and everything was salad!

This was a very skills project. And please refer to an earlier entry where I explained skills programmes. I implemented exactly one of those. We had TTTs, TTEs, TTCs and CTCs. Anyway, something like that anyway. ;-)

Salmon, Shrimps and Krautsalad (3)

We also needed to implement daily/weekly review meetings with the sales force. The 4 area sales managers of Germany needed a single system for managing their sales force and we implemented that. We created agendas of what to talk about, how to link sales to the weekly figures and reports, etc.

We even got rankings of who were the best sellers with the highest margins for the company. One of the area managers was our task force, Uwe Kossatz, who was responsible for the east German market. Another task force was Michael Gebauer, a Hamburg based marketing manager. The 4 of us were an extremely good team and we were pretty efficient with the programme.

Salmon, Shrimps and Krautsalad (2)

Unfortunately, I have lost all documentation about that project and in fact, about most projects, so I must rely on my brains for details. I remember we did a brown paper session and figured out their main problems in their processes. But apart from those process inefficiencies, which were actually a missing management system for the company, we were tasked with the training programme regarding selling skills. On the picture is my colleague Emmanuel Quentin.

Management system was easy. The client did not have an idea about their margins of their products, just a rough one which were money makers and which were not. The most selling product was “krautsalat”, which is very German and means something like cabbage salad. They sold tons of that stuff, but hardly got any money back. On the other, products like crab salad, which was hardly sold, delivered a very high margin. So, we needed to create a management information system which first highlighted high margin products per area and which second reported on single sales efforts of sales staff so that high margin selling was manageable.

Salmon, Shrimps and Krautsalad (1)

After the Christmas holidays 2000/2001 I got a phone call that there was a project for me which I would have to manage. The project was a little extension of an existing one. The latter was a manufacturing project in Osnabrück and mine would be an extension towards their sales department and that was in Hamburg, also in Germany.

The client produced delicatessen salads and sold them mainly to department stores and gourmet palaces. Their sales force needed “selling techniques” and a common approach to sell salad. I was excited. But as said, it was a very small project, only 24 manweeks, which means 2 people for 12 weeks. The project started mid January till mid April.

I must admit I have forgotten the savings commitment we had with the client. Bearing in mind that the project cost around 300,000 euros, I would expect the savings to be around 900,000 but I don’t know anymore.

Deauville

Deauville was fabulous. It was probably the poshest Christmas company party I have ever attended. Our present was a Hermes tie. Okay, it was an extremely ugly one, but still, I still have it and even wear it once in a while.

Proudfoot did not do very well in those days but they had lots of cash from which they bought IMR. In fact, it was management at Proudfoot which was rather weak; after that company meeting Proudfoot was mainly managed by IMR directors.

What I found very interesting, IMR was a young company with only a few older people working there. Proudfoot on the other was the exact opposite. Proudfoot was a truly international company though. They had strongholds in the US, Australia, and South Africa.

Oh yes, and as one can see from the picture above, we did have lots to drink that evening...

The Merger

One morning after we arrived at the job, the project manager (from that Telekom project) and I downloaded our e-mails. And there it was, the CEO of Proudfoot Consulting sent all of IMR a message that our company was taken over by them. We were now working for Proudfoot, the epitomisation of evil in the consulting industry. Well, at least with IMPAC we were brainwashed that way.

It was December 2000 and there was the company Christmas meeting in Deauville (Normandy, northern France, extremely posh seaside spa) coming up at which we would celebrate "our marriage".

One thing I have not told yet on here. Before I started with IMR I worked for Proudfoot for 2 weeks, did not like it, and left the company again since I got the offer from Paris which I much preferred.

IMR

IMR, the company I worked for, was a pretty small niche consultancy based in France with a few main markets for which they had regional offices and consultants. There was obviously the Parisian Headquarters, but there were also offices in Manchester, Frankfurt and Madrid.

The company belonged to 2 owners in the US, but the US part of the business was very small and neglectable. There were 4 German project managers working for them, lots of French ones (as this was the core market), and a handful of Brits, plus some Spaniards.

It was then that I decided to step up as project manager and ask the European Head of Operations what his thoughts on my ideas were. I did not have to sell myself a lot, he only replied "Yes, of course. The next available project will be yours..."

I did not have to wait for a long time.

Building Management

After that disastrous automotive supplier I was assigned to a project in east Germany, in Leipzig. It was for Deutsche Telekom's Building and Asset Management company. It was a very small project, and my assignment was only to help out the project manager with some training input he needed.

As far as I rememer the project was in the company's sales department. I drove around with the area managers and coached them in their selling and customer relations skills.

Apart from that I do not know a lot anymore. One thing is interesting though with writing this blog. The more I am thinking about my past as consultant it is absolutely amazing how many sales projects I have taken part at so far. And there are a few to come still. The really interesting thing is, that nowadays I "sell" myself as supply chain expert, but in fact, I could easily add "sales systems."

British Pappe

Now there is a mistake somewhere in the blog. I wrote that my first analysis with IMR got me into operations as opposed to training. That is still right, but it was the wrong analysis I was writing about. I forgot one. And this one was my first ever assignment in the UK. In fact, in Essex and the company produced cartons and carton boxes.

The reason why I liked it, it was an easy process, the analysis was interesting, room for improvement found easily, and the project was promising to be successful. And there I thought, "Yeah, that's me!".

That was in 1999 and little did I know that my next UK assignment would take another 5 years or so to happen. Once one speaks another language but English, and works for a British consultancy company, likelihood will have it that one would not spend a lot of time in the UK...

Automotive Supplier (3)

So, what did we do on that project and what did I learn?

1st: We tried to implement an SOS programme, which is similar to 5S, but basically only 3S. That did not work out, but I learned that cleanliness in a factory is a must. One cannot even imagine how dirty that factory was. Nearly every machine leaked and oil was everywhere. The ground was as slippery as Lake Constance in winter.

2nd: I learned all about Gate Management in R&D. We did not implement a new process in that department but left a very detailed document of how their development process should be running.

3rd: Efficient and effective daily review meeting. Also not implemented, but we left a detailed paper of what should be done, said, actioned.

4th: Logistics. We streamlined the process and gave advise on organisational development.

One can see, there was a huge barrier to implement our suggestions which we developed with the staff there. So, we left at least all those documents for times when they got their quality issues sorted out.

5th: I learned to write reports and how to "cover up my arse" in front of clients. Those were said to be the basic talents a consultant must have.

Automotive Supplier (2)

This client produced pumps for motors. The project was about to sort out their efficiencies in production. To give out the result of the project in advance, it was a nightmare and we did not achieve the savings. The problem was, they were squeezed by the car manufacturers so much, that they wroked overtime like mad; their biggest problem was quality. They just could not produce the right quality for those pumps and henceforth did not manage the right quantities in time for their customers.

So, efficiency came second, in fact, efficiency did not come at all.

And the other problem was, the project was stipulated by the headoffice and the local plant manager did not care at all. And once staff knows that, they don't care either. The project manager on the project was brandnew in that role, and I was not overly good then either. All of those factors were not in our favour.

Then, the client told us, our project director, who visited once a week or so, smelled strongly of alcohol all the time. And he did. And since he bullied us, we did not know whether we can tell the headoffice in Paris.

From my today's point of view, we were just ovely stupid and made all the basic mistakes one can make. But then, afterwards one is always better.

Automotive Supplier (1)

The next analysis was in a little town in west Germany, about 75 mins away from Düsseldorf airport and I think in the middle of the "Bergisches Land". The town, the factory, the hotel, to name it with one word, it was a dump, a major dump. And the company was a mess, a super major mess.

This was the worst of the 3 business reviews we took part in. I think within that 1st week I probably got about 10 hours of sleep all together. There were not enough consultants on the job, hence the few of us had to do it all.

So yes, the analysis took 2 weeks, and it was converted into a project. I was one of the consultants and responsible for production and logistics. Needless to say, I did not really have any experience in production at all, neither did I in logistics. And all I learned a few years in my ice-cream project was sort of forgotten by then.

I think we have reached the year 2000 now and the project lasted from February/March till late summer.

Little Japan

Ever heard about the fact that Düsseldorf is the biggest Japanese conclave outside Japan? It is actually true and my next analysis gets me right into the middle of that town and to a company that produces carrier systems. These are tracks or little platforms on which robots in factories operate.

The analysis was in the sales ares of that company and we had to follow sales representatives on their daily tours to their clients. We were set up with them in the morning, and then drove around all day long writing down every minute what they did.

And afterwards we wrote down their day, minute by minute and classified them: classifications were things like driving, active selling, preparation, etc...

I was somewhere in west Germany. I liked it, but it was a very tough analysis. Long hours indeed.

missing details

So far, I have not really talked about project contents and disclosed details of findings in those business reviews. It is simply too long ago that I can remember any of them.

But this is also indicative that as someone in his early years as consultant does not actually "quite get it". First of all, consultants are focused on their own area and hardly ever on the project/analysis as a whole, second, one does not have an understanding of the other areas anyway and does not listen when it is being reported, and third, many project managers and analysts simply don't give any feedback or information.

I think people only go as far as their responsibility reaches. And since this is normally a lot one hardly looks over one's plate anymore.

But hey, a few more projects to come and I will have got promoted to Project Manager... and then I do know the details indeed...

Recycling (2)

Back to recycling: That company had 3 sites; 2 in Germany and 1 in France. Headquarter was Germany. Those sites were the dirtiest places I have seen so far in my life. There was not even any concrete to walk on, but only mud and even more mud. I know now what it must have been like in the middle ages when there was nothing like that existing. Obviously, as it was February or March, it was bucketing it down in all those 2 weeks. My black suit was to be thrown.

First week was in Germany, second one in France. In both I did a brown paper with the plant manager and supervisor about their processes. The German one was easy, the French one was quite a challenge. I will never ever forget Monsieur Bréton when he explained that process to me. My first ever Frenchman I spoke to more than the usual holiday “bonjour, ca va?”-conversation. He whisteled and threw his hand up all the time when he tried to transmit a “Whatever! Does this face look bovvered?”-message. It took me years to figure out that this is quite a French feature. An adorable one though.

This analysis went on for a while, but I was called off and sent to another one.

Recycling (1)

So, there I was, the training expert on my first ever analysis. I knew they were tough. Little did I know that I had to do 3 in a row, which means 6 to 8 weeks of sleepless nights, up-tight analysts, new colleagues, and a desire to actually leave training and get into operations. It was clear, my training days were counted, I started to like operations.

The first analysis was a multiple site one in the recycling business. The company recycled industrial waste. In those sites were huge “Waelz Ovens” (from the German word "Wälzofen"), sort of 20 to 30 metres long revolving tubes into which one throws all the scurry (metal waste) on one side and after that waste has travelled through the oven, as the oven is reclining a little, exits as recycled iron (I think) on the other. That was in the year 2000, so my memory for details is sort of lost.

During the analysis they asked who spoke any French. Well, I did, but only very marginal in those days. But together with another German who lived in Italy we were sent to the client’s French site in Fouquiers-sur-Lens, which is in the toilet of France, in its very north, the old mining area, the perfect site for a “Four Waelz” as they called that big revolving thing there. Little did I know in those days that many years later I would spend many months there. In fact, I am there right now when this blog is appearing online.

Machine Utilisation

A last study which I want to share (I have to stop at some stage as there are endless ones to talk about) is a machine utilisation study. This is especially interesting in a manufacturing environment where clients normally want to make sure that machines are running non-stop so that they get a higher return on investment.

The consultant, normally whilst observing a production supervisor on the shopfloor, also has a look at a selected set of machines. He checks every 5 minutes whether those machines are running, not running, broke down, or being repaired. On a pie chart afterwards one can see the utilisation degree on that very day.

Supervisory Behaviour Profiles

In case you run around with a supervisor for a day, you would normally do your DILO with him and then fill in a Supervisory Behaviour Profile in which you rate the supervisor according to the "8 Supervisory Behaviours".

I always forget some. Let's see if I manage by heart:

Gives negative feedback
Gives positive feedback
Reports
Gives help
Solves problems
Follows up
Makes assignments
Gives directions

Errr, I got 3... (slightly blushing now). The rest I had to look up. But hey, it has been years...

Each behaviour must be ranked on a scale from 1 to 5, against some classifications. It shows nicely the level of supervision, that there is a training need, and that only "active supervisors" can ensure an efficient operation.

That's an easy study and does not take too much time. A consultant likes them, hardly anybody knows them though.

Interviews

Those are the easiest studies, but watch out, they need to be done by an experienced consultant.

Whatever the client says in those interviews it is only an experienced consultant who can then drill deeply enough to get to the core of any problem arising. Those interviews feed the analyst with verbal evidence to prove his story which he will come up with when selling a project.

Interviews are normally standardised and can be found in any Business Review tool kit. Interview questions in a sales environment are different from ones in production for example.

Of course, interviews must be typed in afterwards and printed nicely so that they can be used as study and evidence.

An interview would last about 45 mins, typing, printing, sticking together another 45 mins.

Brown Papers

Brown Papers are another study undertaken by the consultants.

Brown Papers during the analysis phase are different ones from the ones during a project. The ones from an analysis are not that detailed (unless it is done by a very inexperienced consultant who wants to kill himself by overdetailing it when time is precious).

The name comes from the brown packing and wrapping paper which is used as "wallpaper" to depict the main processes and stick all the paperwork on it which is being used in that process.

The client's people from all sorts of departments are commenting in special brown paper sessions and stick critique notes on it. The consultants also critique it. Another study is done where the weaknesses of a company are shown and potential for improvement is being made visible.

(For an example, a training brown paper (during a project though) can be seen in an older entry, around mid-February sometime). This photo on this entry is not from an analysis, but my first project. It shows what I am talking about.

DILO

A couple of studies now so that one sees what I am talking about.

A must on every analysis is a DILO (Day In Life Of). The consultant is going to spend a whole working day with someone. This could be a sales representative, a clerk in an office, a factory supervisor, any manager, a customer service representative, a book-keeper, anyone.

What a consultant does is the following: During that day he records EVERY SINGLE MINUTE what this person does. The consultant writes down something like that: "09.35 - 09.37, received phone call. It was about a customer complaint which could not be resolved. 09.37 - 09.41, went online and checked personal e-mail and cleared spam filter.... In the background another colleague smokes a cigarette and hides behind a big plant"

Basically, everything must be recorded; what the observed person does, what is happening in the background, anything.

After the observation the consultants types everything into a template, minute by minute and classifies the activities. In the above example the first one would be productive work, the second one non-productive. Everything is colour coded and the result is a pie-chart of how much time is spent productive and how much is non-productive.

For supervisors are other classifications possible, also for sales people.

Those studies are printed, stuck together that a whole day can be seen on one huge document. The cigarette comment will be used by the analyst to tell the story how much time was wasted during the day and how much time can be saved in case of a project...

Business Reviews (3)

Now what is so stressful during those 2 weeks?

In week 1 the workload is up to 20 hours per day nonstop. Every day a consultant probably does 3 or 4 studies. They can be done simultaneously sometimes. But every study taken during a day must be finished on that very day, too. So, say, you accompany someone for a day (8 hours) you need to invest further 4 or 5 hours of typing in your findings into a template. Then you have to type in all those other studies, too, the analyst wants a meeting with you and discuss your findings.

In case the client works in shifts, the consultants have to do studies during night shifts, too, and probably be present during the day for further studies.

On the other, the analyst is constantly under pressure. The client on the one side, but his own boss on the other who probably bombards him with phone calls. I have seen quite some analyst who sniffed his nose suspiciously during those business reviews and client meetings...

The worst is sleep deprivation. Normally on a Thursday most consultants are so sick and tired of it that they fake results just to get some sleep. The team spirit can be down the drain, too. Just imagine the worst case scenario - the analyst on a little snow trip, consultants on alcohol and deprived from their sleep, fattening food like pizza or something with fries for comforting reasons, etc... F U N !!!

Week 2 is generally better. The amount of studies goes down. It is now the analyst who gets the worst stress attacks since he has to sell, and the project director who has to come up with a project plan.

Business Reviews (2)

So what is the concept of an analysis which would last ideally for 2 weeks?

Week 1, Sunday: Consultants arrive, briefing in the hotel about the client and the sales effort so far.
Week 1, Monday: Kick-off meeting with the client, plant tour, consultants get introduced to client's managers, consultants make appointments with them.
Week 1, Tuesday: Consultants undertake studies.
Week 1, Wednesday: Consultants undertake studies.
Week 1, Thursday: Consultants undertake studies, the analyst pre-presents first findings.
Week 1, Friday: Consultants undertake studies and are about to die and curse the analyst....

Week 2, Sunday: Travelling to client's site, briefing in the hotel.
Week 2, Monday: Consultants undertake studies, project director and analyst work on project themes according to the weaknesses found.
Week 2, Tuesday: Consultants undertake final studies, tentative project plan is being developed. Analyst has another pre-present meeting with the top client.
Week 2, Wednesday: Analyst concludes with savings potential, calculations are being made how many consultants can be applied and how long the project should last.
Week 2, Thursday: Final presentation to the client.
Week 2, Friday: Hopefully a go-ahead and the project can start on Monday next...

Throughout week 2 the project manager and director must be very vigilant that the analyst does not over-sell and savings cannot be reached. Ooooops, yes, we have all been there!!!