Climbing up from 50,000 to 550,000

Back to my target: 1 POP which meant CHF 50,000.

When I looked at the activity lists I saw that there were lots of tasks of which I thought were not really value added. I handed those lists back to the purchasers and asked them to undertake an A-B-C Analysis. A tasks are vital, B tasks not too important but have to be done, and C tasks are of no value. They were stuffed with C activities.

I asked what they would do in case there were no C tasks anymore. And they came up with A tasks like more negotiating, tendering, and what else a purchaser does.

Since they knew I was after their naked lives, well, sort of, I suggested the following and we made a deal: They should write down all the projects which needed re-negotiating and tendering, come up with a nice savings amount, and we all get rid of their C activities.

The result was astonishing: They all could keep their jobs, we got rid of C activities, reserved time for more A activities, henceforth gained CHF 550,000 of savings, half a million more than targeted! Hooray!

Nonetheless, it must be said, I still found half a person in the warehouse (which also belonged to purchasing) and this one had to leave the company.

Grüetzi alle miteinand

I started as junior consultant with a US company based in Florida. Through a strange freelance agreement I had with them, where nothing was clear, they suddenly called up telling me I had to fly to Bern, the Swiss capital, and meet the project team. That was in January 1997. I was nervous. The rules were clear for this company; flying out every Sunday with the latest possible plane (which could well be in the afternoon) and flying home Friday afternoon. If there was no work I would stay at home and not being paid. This was called "being on the beach". But as a junior who has just left university everything was possible. I must admit I was glad I found that job. Little did I know how much it would change my life.

I arrived Sunday night, got picked up at the airport, received a quick briefing, and met the full team for breakfast the day after. I was told I was responsible for purchasing with that client. My goal for the next 3 months was to generate financial annual savings of CHF 50,000, which was 1 "POP" as they called it, 1 Person Off Payroll. And off I went, purchasing was all mine. I had to learn to swim...

The project team was small; there was one project manager, 3 consultants, and a part-time trainer who did the management training.