So, how did Friedrich and his team overcome these challenges? "We did it by defining our vision and developing a clear roadmap for our strategy of how we like to support our vision.

"This theory can be worked out by known methods, and the outcome is the hard facts. Working on the soft facts, on the one hand we have prepared ourselves that in some areas we need to accept and drive a change as fast as possible if required. And on the other hand, we have improved our ability to work in a team. We know that in a true team approach we are dependent on each other and if one of us fails, we all fail."

Off the shopfloor, Friedrich has been interested in understanding the culture, practices and behaviour of the people as fast as possible. "The best way to accomplish that is to be open-minded, let the impressions sink in and to travel and experience this wonderful and multifarious country. That is what I like to do in my free time; to learn and understand as much as I possibly can."

Key milestones
While talking to colleagues about achievements, Friedrich very often hears, ‘we have increased productivity', ‘we have reduced customer claims by so and so percent', ‘we have reduced the scrap numbers by this much', and so on.

"The higher the number, the greater the pride! These are very valid arguments which I do not like to question. There is always room for improvement in every organisation and continuous improvement is a key driver for success."

Friedrich believes that it is not enough to singularly focus on certain areas only. "We always have to consider the picture as a whole and to apply a standardised approach or concept in order to get the requested information and to define the actions for further improvement."    

His philosophy is to focus on planning/frontloading first, ‘failing to prepare is preparing to fail' and to set the goals (P). "Once an accurate plan is developed, we have to execute it accordingly, strictly adhering to the standards and policies (D). The first results are only visible after some time.

"It is critical to evaluate and analyse these results, to have evidence about the achieved performance (C). Based on the results, we have to define actions of improvement (A)."

Strictly following this PDCA cycle, the Plant could visibly improve the transparency of its organisational and operational structure. With a strong focus on frontloading, standardisation and continuous improvement, the Plant always keeps working on enhancing its overall performance.

"The key areas in focus are People, Quality, Processes and Finance. Bringing these four areas into balance was a key achievement for the plant in 2014. For the years to come, we have developed a clear strategy to support our overall plant vision. This strategy is under continuous review and if requested, aligned," says Friedrich.

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