ConMoto's emergency programs - Ensuring your sucessful ramp-up

The corona virus shutdown leaves deep marks in many economic sectors. A recession is unavoidable. Mastering the crisis heavily depends on your skillful decisions as an entrepreneur or top manager.

Benefit from more than 30 years of our industry experience in all areas of production and value creation. Together, we take care of pressing issues like securing your cash flow and safeguarding your production capability. Now, subsistence comes first.

Additionally, we develop pragmatic solutions for a safe, healthy and productive work environment. During the times of the Corona crisis, smart work has a health component as well. We implement social distancing and other sanitary measures within the scope of your operating procedures. Simultaneously, we ensure a swiftly rising productivity by remote work, digitization and low-cost automation.

ConMoto’s approach has passed its road tests with flying colors several hundred times over. We implement effective concepts that secure your operational excellence during the upturn, too.

Please contact us.

Dr.-Ing. Marc A. Heinisch
CSO and Member of the Management Team

1. Securing liquidity: Cash is king!

2. Risk-based supply chain management

3. Ramp-up management: Evolving from the crisis

4. Generating liquidity by Value-oriented Maintenance

The ConMoto Corona Diary: Problems & Solutions

Making decisions during difficult times

Making complex decisions is never easy. During the Corona crisis, existential questions must be answered in very fast order and within rapidly changing framework conditions. There are not always sparring partners in your company with whom you can (or want) to exchange ideas. I would like to take on this role.

I experienced my professional socialization at Robert Bosch GmbH – a company with a clear compass. I have been an entrepreneur in the medium-sized business sector for exactly 30 years now: on April 1st, 1990 I founded the consulting company “ConMoto Strategie & Realisierung”. We advise medium-sized companies and large corporations. Regionally focusing on Europe, with additional venues in the USA and China.

I have always perceived myself as a consultant to entrepreneurs and top managers rather than companies. Over the past three decades, I have had many personal conversations with very successful personalities. Personal questions were often more important than technical issues.

During these difficult times, I offer myself as your sparring partner – let’s talk! Strict confidentiality is guaranteed. I also assure you of great openness and honesty. Just give me a call, free of charge and without obligation! I am offering you 45 years of experience as a manager and entrepreneur in the medium-sized business sector. I am still fully engaged in business and pass judgement against the background of my current experiences.

Dr.-Ing. Ralf Feierabend
ConMoto's Founder and Managing Director

1. Securing liquidity: Cash is king!

Federal state programs such as the possibility to delay tax payments are important emergency aids. In order to be able to leave the crisis behind, an optimized cash flow is needed, which requires an effective working capital management.

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Creating liquidity from within

Effective working capital management means optimization instead of a mere reduction of capital lockup – especially in times of crisis. Trade-offs must be considered when adjusting different levers in order to avoid partial optimizations. A sustainable optimization of capital lockup addresses the tension of risk, rentability and generating cash flow.

Achieving genuine improvements of processes

Working capital management influences all levers of the process chain. Consequently, our professionals are enabling access to the existing liquidity reserves of your company. A sustainable optimization of capital lockup will show you the achievement of genuine process improvements.

Swift analysis and realistic assessment

IWithin the scope of a quick screening, the relevant fields of the cash-to-cash cycle are being analyzed in order to cover all possible levers. These are especially:

  • Analysis of the reach of achievables
  • Logistics performance requirements
  • Process simulations
  • Bewertung und BencAssessment and benchmarking based on the EFQM model
  • Analysis of representative material streams by value stream mapping

Depending on the respective industry and business model, applicable fields of analysis are being emphasized. Especially the ConMoto Value Stream Mapping covers value-creating parts of the process chains swiftly and effectively. Causes of dead inventory are being identified against the background of market demand, fields of action deduced, and the potential of measures assessed within the scope of a financial simulation model.

The success formula for quick results

Our consultants support you from the beginning of the improvement process to the implementation in your daily business routines:

  • Clear visualization of the capital lock-up
  • Implementation of the capital-lockup principles and levers in the minds of all process-relevant persons
  • Awareness-rising measures and training of employees
  • Safeguarding sustainability by establishing a regulated communication and the development of a compelling reporting

Besides instant quick wins, we are going to develop agile pilot schemes or swiftly implementable working capital flagship projects applicable to other areas of business as well. Our efficient project management office coordinates all activities and ensures the implementation with plannable degrees of hardness. We create liquidity for your company!

Dipl.-Kfm. Volker Staack
Member of the Management Team

2. Risk-based supply chain management

From commission to delivery: We are forming a crisis task force for the stable and secure handling of all information, material and cash flows in times of crisis. You benefit from reliable and strong methods to stabilize your supply chain.

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Safe through crises: risk management for your supply chain

Right now, risk management for your supply chain should be in taskforce mode and closely connected with other features such as production and development. The task force should be controlled from a strategic purchasing point of view. In non-crisis times, it has the fundamental task of risk prevention and prevention, but now, in an emergency, the task force must be able to take appropriate countermeasures quickly.

The ConMoto approach to risk management follows a rigorous, four-step process with the following elements:

  1. Perception and management of weak risk signals
  2. The assessment of risks in terms of their probability of occurrence and the amount of damage
  3. Development of direct recommendations for action to mitigate risks and their impact, sorted by priorities
  4. Continuous assessment of the situation and adaptation of measures

Screening of key suppliers

Supply chain risk management focuses on active screening of key suppliers or suppliers who have high priority for these key suppliers elsewhere in the supply chain. All critical suppliers are prioritized in a risk funnel and, depending on the urgency level, a task force is set up on site. In doing so, we apply pragmatic, proven ConMoto criteria to assess risk classes.

During screening, we distinguish the following risks for the suppliers:

(A) Environmental and health risks, political risks, country-specific risks

(B) Financial risks

(C) Strategic risks

(D) Performance risks

We apply the defined 4-step risk process to each risk category. For the detection and management of weak risk signals, we have developed a set of criteria for identifying problems in each of the four risk classes.

(A) Supplier locations, infrastructure, equipment protection / know-how

(B) Financial KPIs, clients / markets / ownership structure

(C) Existing quality of supplier relationship, monitoring

(D) Quality, cost, logistics performance, R&D, production, central areas

Steps 1 to 3 in our risk management are preemptive – designed d to prevent the occurrence of risks. Step 4, on the other hand, involves active risk and crisis management. It ensures the continuity of business processes in a reactive area of tension.

During the current crisis, sporadic indicators of category D are intensifying: suppliers who have performed well so far suddenly appear in the highest risk category. Therefore, it is important to set up a crisis unit immediately and to manage the acute risks across functions.

Dr.-Ing. Christoph Siegel
Managing Partner

3. Ramp-up management: Evolving from the crisis

Not only machines are switched back on. Work systems in the direct and indirect areas must operate according to the new rules. Our Corona-adapted 5S method helps: Safe, Spotless, Swift, Sensitive, Stable.

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How to ramp-up your production safely and quickly

The Corona crisis presents many companies with the challenge of having to ramp-up their production safely and quickly after the shutdown: the health and safety of employees is more complex than in normal times, as is coordination with external service providers and suppliers.

ConMoto offers you concrete help with its implementation-experienced team of consultants. With our task force, we ensure an effective ramp-up of your production with the following modules:

Planning and controlling production effectively and stable

Satisfy your volatile client needs, stabilize your supply chains, and optimize your staff availability. We analyze the condition of your plants and machinery as well as your capacity requirements – and implement the necessary-ramp-up measures.

Introducing safe and clean forms of work

The design of safe and clean forms of work reduces the risk of contagion. Compliance with the relevant hygiene measures as well as health and safety guidelines are essential to enable production during the Corona crisis.

Agile and sensitive decision-making processes

In times of crisis, agile and sensitive decision-making processes are important. We are supporting you by coaching your team regarding the design and implementation of agile decision-making processes. This leads to fast and high-quality decisions with the relevant feedback effects.

Flexibility in cooperation and new forms of cooperation with other companies

We will support you in developing potential forms of cooperation with other companies, where advisable. Consequently, employees and production capacities may be used flexibly. Also, the compensation of capacity overloads or underloads will be rendered possible.

Make your product portfolio more flexible by producing medical and crisis supplies

We will check whether you may benefit from a short-term flexibility and on-demand customization of your company’s product portfolio.

On request, our interim managers can support you

If you have managers on sick leave or are simply lacking management capacities during ramp-up:ConMoto’s experienced interim managers step in – in all business units of your company.

Rüdiger Feigl
Member of the Management Team

4. Generating liquidity by Value-oriented Maintenance

Let’s continue to improve your value-oriented maintenance together – profit from a sustainable business development and additional liquidity! Take advantage of our many years of experience, especially in crisis situations.

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During the current Corona crisis, ConMoto is supporting clients to achieve significant liquidity-effective results in the short and medium term. Within the scope of our one-week Quick Check “Additional liquidity by Value-oriented Maintenance” we analyze relevant basic data, identify the main elements of value-oriented maintenance that are specific to your company and design a custom implementation plan with a cash-flow calculation for your additional liquidity.

Subsequently, we will implement the pre-defined improvement measures together with your employees. We generate additional liquidity by

  • Less repairs and therefore, less material expenditure,
  • Better maintenance planning and
  • Risk-based spare parts management.

What does this mean in practice? With our proven method for risk- and availability-oriented maintenance, we develop the economically most beneficial maintenance strategy at component level, thereby reducing repair costs and error rates of your main production facilities.

Simultaneously, we are going to introduce an optimized planning schedule for your maintenance services. Thus, we will increase the efficiency of your resource deployment for both your own maintenance staff and external service providers. By insourcing external services or omitting them – which essentially comes down to hard gatekeeping of external services – the necessary cash-in may be achieved.

In addition, we optimize your spare parts management by means of a risk-based approach, avoid excessive stocks, make spare parts disposition more reliable andreduce the material costs for repairs. Thus, we generate additional liquidity in this field in the short and medium term as well.

Including a significant net liquidity effect, these measures are funding our consulting services and give your company greater capacity for action.

Dipl.-Ing., MBA Nils Blechschmidt

Dipl.-Ing. Nils Blechschmidt, MBA
Member of the Management Team

The ConMoto Corona Diary: Problems & Solutions