Otto Bock - Dirty Laundry - 3

Also in December I was accused of sexual harrassment. This coincided with the mobbing issue. Only this time the gossip started on board level as one board director of my company wanted to prove that consultants got sexually harrassed on projects. There is more to it, but I shall keep that non-public.

Well, "my victim" was as shocked as I was when we heard about that. It was a big thing. I cannot even tell anyone how devastated I was in those days. We had an idea - it was Christmas and we had a picture taken of the whole team; we created a special Otto Bock Team Christmas Card which we then sent around to "Proudfoot Worldwide", which means, thousands of recipients within the company got our Christmas wishes showing all of us happily next to each other.

That was such a relief when we sent that card out. And of course, that whole sexual harrassment thing was off the table.

I am wondering if I should delete this story, but then these things happen too and talking openly about it won't hurt.

Otto Bock - Dirty Laundry - 2

My biggest problem was that I, as the most inexperienced PM, had to take on all those experienced ones, since their projects ran out and my company needed a place for them to work. Of course, the whole problem with "status" suddenly appeared. Some did have a huge problem to report into me.

One of them wanted my job and he started to gossip around that I would mob my team and suppress them and that I would not manage my client appropriately. He did not succeed, but his performance was outrageously bad. He was the most unmotivated person I have ever had on any of my projects. I tried to get rid of him, but one would not let me. Thank God, Tilia helped him in his area and she made up for his deficiancies. Tilia was great!!!

He also wanted to move to the US where he had a child. He was depressed about that, too. A short time after the project he was killed in an accident at a petrol station.

I hope his soul will rest in peace. He clearly did not lead a happy and fulfilled life.

Otto Bock - Dirty Laundry - 1

Personally, the worst which happened to me were some of my colleagues. This project at times seemed to be like the cheap version of Dynasty or Dallas with so much backstabbing, intrigues, etc.

I am not mentioning any names, but this happened (Remember Sue Ellen from Dallas?):

One of my consultants turned out to be too interested in staying at the hotel bar in the evenings, and was not able to run his workshops in the morning with participants travelling from all over Germany. He had a good standing with the client and I was sort of relying on him. I covered up for him within my company, but also with the client. I would never ever do this again. Lesson learned!

There were a few more of those in my life to come actually. At least they never cancelled workshops but did their work.

Otto Bock - My Role as PM, Technical Experience

I just described, throughout the month, my technical experience. I learned so much. I especially benefited from supply chain management (production and planning), the balanced scorecard, and OTP with all those processes.

I was extremely lucky that this project was a "wall-to-wall" project, which means we did it all, the whole company. Gaining insight into that was extremely valuable, too.

And I learned a lot from all those other consultants on the project. Some, like Klaus, Edgar or Bernd, were specialists in their areas. I got my personal coaching sessions there.

The balanced scorecard was good since we did it really after the "scorecard bible" and not some Proudfoot-ised version.

It was absolutely great.

Otto Bock - My Role as PM cont'd

Things which don't kill you, only make you stronger!
This saying is so applicable when it comes to that project. I cannot even tell how much I learned - technically, personally, managerially and from a project management point of view.

Let's start with project management. Every week we had 2 TWNW Meetings, one with local directors and one with the 3 Cs (CFO, COO, CRO), who were our "top clients". In the local TWNW I let every area present something from the last few weeks. So, one week it was production, then sales, etc... It was the first time in company history that communication across interfaces was encouraged. I think those meetings were a big successs.

Then, internally with my consultants, I had "daily" reviews, which happened twice a week, and continuous one-to-ones with everyone. This sometimes also included the task forces.

The most important thing one has to do as PM is to communicate, even though it is pretty tough to do so and one needs to be disciplined.

My communication matrix had the following links: my company's headquarter in London, the office in Frankfurt, my director (who came about once or twice a week), my top clients, the directors, the worker's council, my consultants, the task forces, and of course every other one who wanted to talk to me.

Otto Bock - My Birthday

I have a few nice pics of me at my birthday. It was quite a surprise, even with some live music. ;-)

It was my 32nd birthday.

Otto Bock - My Role as PM

If you followed my blog so far, you know that I have only managed a project so far, and that was the Delicatessen producer Beeck, that sales enhancement project which lasted for 12 weeks and comprised of 24 manweeks. Basically, that was nothing compared to Otto Bock. The latter had about 250 manweeks and lasted for about a year.

The savings potential there was huge. I think I have already written about that.

So, there I was, this brandnew PM who had to manage the biggest project at that time. And the reason why it was me, I was the only native German speaker available.

In the aftermath, and even though I am glad I did it, but from a client point of view, this is a but unfair. Such a huge and important has deserved a more experienced PM.

One thing is for sure, in this project I learned to swim!!!

Otto Bock - R&D

R&D is the last area we developed. We basically streamlined the processes and implemented the gate management methodology.

This was mainly done by Klaus G. who used to work for Bayer many years ago in R&D and knew those processes pretty well. As far as I remember R&D went very well. Maybe one reason was that the R&D director, Dr H, was part of the executive team who wanted IMR (Proudfoot) to do the project.

There is nothing more to add. Unfortunately, I have no photo stored for that.

In the next few blog entries, I want to write a bit more about myself and how I managed the project, etc.

Otto Bock - Sales (Front End, Sales)

In the Sales department we implemented a management system comprising meeting structure, KPIs, etc. There was also a re-organisation in that department and a new director took over. We worked on the sales process, selling techniques, but did not roll out something like my project before. Again, main focus was order entry as this was the most vital issue for the new director.

Otto Bock - Sales (Front End, Pics)

I have some nice pics of Tilia working on those Brown Papers and the sales process.

Otto Bock - Sales (Front End)

Another big work stream was the Front End, which is basically Sales and Order Entry.

Responsible for this workstream were mainly Peter and Tilia. Peter was a project manager and Tilia a senior consultant.

I remember we pinned down all the processes there, especially the order entry one. This one was vital, as it gave the input for production and the rest of the supply chain.

We had difficulties with the manager of order entry. She was somewhat stubborn and even her superiors had problems dealing with her. She was very convinced that her processes were pretty perfect. One day, we took her to another company which is also in the healthcare sector and produces similar products (the Sales director knew the CEO there) and showed her a different way of how order entry can be done, in fact more effectively and efficiently.

Order entry is extremely crucial, as prosthetics and wheelchairs are "tailor-made" items and each patient has own personal requirements. There are millions of ways a wheelchair can be composed.

Otto Bock - Subsidiaries

I already mentioned that Viola was responsible for one subsidiary. The company had another one though, in Rhineland-Palatinate. This was the responsibility of Michaela who was also heavily involved in production and R&D.

She implemented the management system we developed for the headquarter - action corners, shop-floor controls, etc.

Proudfoot in those days went through another merger and bought an Austrian company called Czipin & Partner. Michaela and Tilia were from there. Our project was the only one in the world which combined people from all 3 companies - (original) Proudfoot, IMR and Czipin.

Otto Bock - Suggestion Box, Pictures

I found a few more and in fact nicer pictures from that prize draw and thought I just have to show them.

Otto Bock - Suggestion Box

I have forgotten what we called the programme, but we also implemented a suggestion box where employees could unload their problems with or without suggestions for improvement.

We had a specific team among the task force to deal with the entries. The best ones got prizes. On the picture left is the prize draw.

I think we were pretty successful. We got lots of entries, and some of them with good potential for improvement.

From the consultants it was Tilia who dealt with the programme. She did an excellent job.

Otto Bock - Balanced Scorecard (2)

I must congratulate Frank for his BSC implementation and development. He did an extremely good job thinking about that he did not have any experience with BSC. Neither of us really had. We had to get the original Kaplan & Norton book and implemented it the way it has been suggested there.

Implementing a measurement system was our daily business and we all knew how to do it, but linking those indicators to strategic targets was something we have never done. We and the client did not even know in those days what the short-, medium-, and long-term targets were. Those had to be defined first.

Implementing a BSC takes quite a while if doing it right and with the methodology suggested. But once it is done, it is amazing what a fabulous tool it actually is.

Anyone who wants to know how to implement it, please get in touch. Going into detail here on my blog would be too much.

On the photo is Frank again.

Otto Bock - Balanced Scorecard (1)

One other area for us was the Balanced Scorecard which we installed. A balanced scorecard is defined as this (Wikipedia):

"The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a performance management tool which began as a concept for measuring whether the smaller-scale operational activities of a company are aligned with its larger-scale objectives in terms of vision and strategy.
By focusing not only on financial outcomes but also on the operational, marketing and developmental inputs to these, the Balanced Scorecard helps provide a more comprehensive view of a business, which in turn helps organizations act in their best long-term interests."

We used the original approach as developed by Norton and Kaplan in 1992.

On the picture one can see Frank and myself (and no, I did not train to enter the army). Frank was responsible for the balanced scorecard implementation.

Otto Bock - OTP Installation again

I have one more picture of Viola and thought I can write one more entry about OTP.

Her main fields, apart from the overall OTP process, were logistics and one of the subsidiaries (the location in Thuringia in which they produced wheel chairs).

In logistics, which was mainly warehousing, Viola managed to cut down throughput time and work with an extremely difficult manager who was not easy to deal with. It was an effective combination of charm and professionalism.

In the production subsidiary she implemented the management control system we also installed in the headquarters.

I need to say, Viola was one of my best consultants on the job. She lives in London now, and I should get back in touch at some stage.

Otto Bock - OTP Installation

OTP is an interesting workstream as it comprises all other areas of the project, apart from R&D which we also looked at.

Viola's interfaces were mainly with the workstreams sales, order entry, production, logistics, payment control, whereas the latter 2 were her own areas.

OTP basically works like this: All major processes should be mapped and critiqued. Times of sub-proceses should be taken to understand how long "the average" process takes.

And then, after those critique sessions, improvement plans have to be developed and implemented. Best would be to do this with the 6 Sigma methodology, but in those days we decided not to.

After the improvements have been implemented, new standard times have to be taken and financial savings calculated.

On the pictures is Viola and her task force, who luckily was also responsible for ISO.

Otto Bock - OTP

The other big workstream was OTP (Order to Payment) which covered the whole value chain throughout the company, starting with the incoming customer order, ending with the customer payment.

Poor Viola was responsible for that one. Her task was to do a hell of a lot of process mapping. Brown Papers must have grown out of her ears.

But she has done an extremely good job. With all those processes in mind, she probably knew the company the best.

Otto Bock - Layout

It was the biggest project Proudfoot at that time. We sold €9m of financial savings, the project cost €3m, which, I think, equalled up to about 200-something manweeks. It was a HUGE project. In our peak period we were up to 12 consultants and 15 task forces.

I'll talk more about each workstream in the following entries.

ON the photo one can see our "birdroom", the project room.

Otto Bock - Production (3)

In the end, and as far as I remember, we managed to split planning from production, and also got the disciplines installed. Bernd was hired as production manager and the old one sent into his pension.

What we did not manage was to lay off the surplus workers. But this was due to political reasons.

With the management system we implemented they finally could talk about real issues and take actions accordingly.

On the photo is Edgar and myself. In those days we got a web-cam as the latest thing to have. We were supposed to talk to headquarters with it from then on. We installed it, but in fact, never used it.

Otto Bock - Production (2)

The production director was not overly cooperative, especially when it came to segregating planning from production. He saw that would be a loss of power. I always had the feeling he was "sitting it out", hence waiting till the project was over and then go back to the old ways.

The Otto Bock production process was extremely difficult and I have never ever seen anything like that again. In the usual scenario there are 2 or so production steps (imagine, food and chemical industry with mixing and filling as those 2 steps), but talking artificial limbs, those steps are enormous. There were workshops for wood, metal, and when talking metal, there was a smith, welding, etc, then there was a rubber part (the the fake skin), etc. So, the logistics within production alone was a nightmare for planning. Bear in mind, standards were not defined.

We implemented a management control system, supervisory shop-floor tours, action corners in order to display and discuss daily results and action variances, etc.

On the photo one can see our consultant Bernd who was responsible for production after Thomas left the team.

Otto Bock - Production (1)

The main 2 problems production had were:
i) the production department was also responsible for planning,
ii) SAP standard hours were missing or wrong.

These 2 are the main 2 production problems which I have found in my career so far. Production is like a monster, it is always hungry and wants big portions, hence the batch sizes tend to get bigger and bigger and measurement is only done in kg, as this shows a good productivity. Productivity is a measure of volume/hours.

And talking about SAP standards, whenever SAP is being introduced, standard hours seem to be estimated rather than thoroughly measured. Of course, once one puts estimates in it, the planning function of SAP and any other production planning tool is completely out of order.

On the photo is Edgar. He was part of the production team and dealt with the master schedule and trained consultants and task forces.

Otto Bock - The PLUS Team

We called the project PLUS, which stands for (in German) "Prozesse, Logistik und Systeme".

Since we needed to make sure that key staff and management could take over once the project has finished we selected and trained several task forces. The main task force was a guy called Hubert. He was a very good person, very open, but a bit nervous. At peak times we had up to 15 task forces, whereas the main and full-time ones were 7 I think.

On this photo are Thomas, myself, Viola, Thomas, Emmanuel, Edgar and Hubert. Apart from Hubert the rest was from Proudfoot.

I think this photo was taken for a company publication in the very beginning before we selected the task force team.

Otto Bock - The Analysis (2)

This company never went through any consulting projects and it showed in their processes and studies. It was an unmarked landscape so to speak.

Their main processes were inefficient, long-winded and not harmonised with each other, people lacked training, they did not produce what the market needed, not in time anyway, stocks were high, we detected silo mentality between departments, there were no real KPIs to steer the company, R&D processes were not managed well, new products developed, old ones never deleted, and so on and on and on... Not to talk about that they had far too many people work for them.

We presented those findings and a project plan and it got accepted. The biggest project Proudfoot-worldwide in those days was sold.