Seeing Things Clearly: A Success Story by STAUFEN.AG

SEEING
THINGS
CLEARLY

2
STAUFEN. | BARBERINI

Consulting contracts with a single client for several years
are rare, but they are extremely interesting. Staufen AG
was there for Barberini GmbH the entire way: from a
company in crisis generating a loss to its rise to success.
INITIAL
SITUATION
Barberini GmbH‘s success story can be summed up briefly: While
the company was still reporting substantial losses in 2015, the
company has undergone a significant restructuring since 2018,
and has been showing a steady profit since its re-alignment. But,
let‘s start from the beginning. The German subsidiary of the Italian
eyeglasses specialist manufactures lens blanks for sunglasses
and other special eyeglasses at its Grünenplan plant, which is
between Hanover and Göttingen in Germany. The story, which
ends happily, started as a crisis in 2015: The German company
was not meeting the expectations of its parent company. The
Italian parent Barberini S.p.A. had acquired the manufacturing
operating from Schott AG in 2010. It planned to expand its
production depth, ensure its own supply and get control of the
quality in general.
The manufacturer‘s situation had already taken a hit during previous
years, however the problems became quite glaring in 2016.
Too many changes in management caused quite a bit of nervousness
in the company. Poor delivery performance, low quality and
a lack of transparency brought their share of problems, putting
the higher-ups in Italy on edge.
STAUFEN. | BARBERINI 3

APPROACH
AND
SOLUTION
The Italian management contracted Staufen AG as an experienced
consultant in the manufacturing industry. Staufen was
asked to take a close look at the company as a whole, identify the
reasons why it was in such economic crisis and draw up a business
plan to successfully re-align the company.
The combined top-down/bottom-up approach was applied to
provide an integrated look at the company. A process view (bottom-up)
combined with a management perspective (top-down)
allow potentials to be determined with a variety of different analyses
approaches tailored to each customer, which then feed into
the company‘s restructuring concept.
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»With the help of Staufen, we were able to significantly
improve transparency and are now able to
trace all of the effects in production on costs, both
in positive as well as in negative terms.
Laura Frattaroli, Managing Director«
6 STAUFEN. | BARBERINI

Holistic restructuring with the top-down/bottom-up approach
ANALYSIS
CONCEPT
Creation of transparency with respect to
Company and business structure
Structuring of the product portfolio
Analysis of the organization and
cost structures
Increase
PERFORMANCE
TOP-DOWN
Identification of
cost drivers
Result,
Targets
Improvement
QUALITY
TARGET
IMAGE
Reduction
COSTS
BOTTOM-UP
Potential
Measures
Performance
management
Evaluation of the current
management system
Mapping of
processes and interfaces
Investigation of the workplaces, activity
structures and machines and plants
Consolidation of optimization
levers
Validation of strategic targets
Derivation of scenarios
Definition and adoption of a
uniform/holistic target image
Results of operation successfully realigned and stabilized long-term within 24 months
+ 7 %
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Total performance
EBIT
STAUFEN. | BARBERINI 7

A view from the outside
reveals problems
The first thing that theStaufen AG analysts noticed in 2015 was
that the percentage of material costs compared to overall sales
had dramatically increased and that they were clearly too high
for a company structured in this manner. Production resulted in
a disproportionate amount of rejects, the yield of eyeglass lenses
that were in fact high quality was too low. Off hand, no one was
really able to provide a specific reason why this was happening,
because the production processes were not at all transparent. At
second glance, quite a few inefficient processes were revealed
within the company. Employees were more likely to improvise
that to systematically search for the reasons behind the quality
problems. The result of this was that technical problems such as
machine settings and deviating process parameters remained
hidden. No integrated and structured problem-solving process
had been implemented.
Staufen AG quickly found that structured problem solving, consistent
adaptation and implementation of parameters combined
with clear leadership and responsibility structures contributed
significantly to remedying the crisis. Shop Floor Management was
introduced to improve and simplify communication. It played a
major role in understanding changes in production in a transparent
and timely manner and to take appropriate countermeasures
quickly and successfully.
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»With Shop Floor Management, our staff has the
tools they need to quickly recognize changes
and to introduce appropriate countermeasures.
Andre Bujak, Head of Technics«
STAUFEN. | BARBERINI 9

In addition, Shop Floor Management improved communication among employees. Combined
with the technical measures and the steps taken to stabilize processes, rejects were
considerably reduced within just a short amount of time. The ratio material costs to sales
dropped significantly by 2018. With the involvement of staff, additional improvement projects
were implemented that helped to structure staffing more efficiently. A consistent cost
reduction strategy further improved the overall results. The operational improvements also
resulted in a noticeable reduction in the staffing ratio without having to simply accept a loss
in production performance.
10 STAUFEN. | BARBERINI

»
«
Thanks to our improved process control
and integrated communication, in the
meantime we have developed the capability
to offer our customers a high degree of
flexibility and short waiting times.
Ottmar Bartels, Head of Supply Chain
STAUFEN. | BARBERINI 11

Seeing things from the right
angle makes the difference
The Italian partner took a change in management as an opportunity
to try something entirely unorthodox. It did not send a
delegate to Germany, nor did it attempt to control operational
business from Italy. The Italian manager was only legally responsible,
but left the operational responsibility to the management
team in Germany.
The reasons for the unusual decision: The personnel changes
at the top that the company had implemented in the past had
brought about any significant improvement. So, in consequence,
all operational tasks were assigned to the experienced experts in
their field - what had in the past been deemed the „second rank“.
They had the expertise required and could therefore optimally
prepare the decision-making basis for management.
What this meant for Staufen AG was that its mandate was expanded
to include coaching a new team, which now assumed various
tasks in preparation for the managing director. This allowed
the team of managers, supported by Staufen experts, to prepare
collective bargaining agreements and recommend investments,
which were then approved by the management board at short
notice. The latter related primarily to production automation and
digitization of production. Here, because of its many year of experience,
Staufen was able to provide valuable assistance in the
areas mentioned as well as offer an analysis of what would most
likely be feasible.
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A consistently clear view
going forward – the change
made it possible
RESULTS
All measures showed the desired effect, allowing the Barberini
GmbH team to turn the company around. Staufen not only supported
Barberini with analyses and recommendations, but also
in day-to-day operations with training and coaching. For Staufen
AG, the cooperation with Barberini GmbH was an interesting experience,
especially due to the length of time and the intensity
of the contract that lasted several years. A consulting company
rarely has the opportunity to accompany the change process of
one of their clients over such a long period of time and respond
to the dynamic development of the company and the market environment.
In addition, Barberini S.p.A. in Italy benefited from the huge learning
effects: An integrated transformation of processes, a change
in the leadership culture with the introduction of Shop Floor Management
and greater degree of responsibility for management
combined with „classic“ top-down restructuring approaches can
rapidly improve a company‘s earnings and make it competitive
for the future.
The parent company now intends to implement these findings at
its own site and seize the opportunity for even further growth -
with Staufen AG as its consultant.
Payroll costs and material expenses were reduced significantly
– 20 %
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Material ratio Staffing ratio EBIT
14 STAUFEN. | BARBERINI

»By bringing all staff members together in
Shop Floor Meeting, the sense of team spirit
is now much better. The team now strives to
reach optimal results daily.
Gianni Vetrini, Managing Partner
«
STAUFEN. | BARBERINI 15

ABOUT STAUFEN
Inside every company there is an even better one.
With this conviction, Staufen AG has been advising and qualifying
companies and employees for more than 25 years.
340
employees
69
Mio. € revenue
17
languages
> 90
BestPractice Partner
7.000
seminar participants every year
PUBLISHER
STAUFEN.AG
Consulting.Academy.Investment
Blumenstraße 5
D-73257 Köngen
+49 7024 8056 0
contact@staufen.ag
www.staufen.ag
CONTACT PERSON
Christoph Heine
Director Sales
+49 7024 8056 169
c.heine@staufen.ag
2015