Competitive pressure and complexity
A leading manufacturer in the field of renewable energies was confronted with a multidimensional crisis: High price pressure, exploding costs due to disrupted supply chains and an exuberant variety of product variants overloaded development departments and endangered economic stability. Although the Executive Board had already decided on a strategic realignment in 2020, there was a lack of clear structures, processes and responsibilities to implement this vision.
Four hurdles to change
The company faced four key challenges that made it difficult to successfully transform: First, it lacked a product strategy with clear priorities. At the same time, the product management department was neither sufficiently staffed nor structurally positioned to cope with the tasks at hand. Another problem was that product management had to be accepted by other areas such as development and sales. In addition, the company had to develop new products in parallel without further burdening existing resources.
Steps to stability
In order to rectify the situation and position the company for the future, a multi-stage transformation plan was developed: First, a company-wide product roadmap was to be created to create transparency and clarity. A key step was to clean up the product portfolio to identify and eliminate non-strategic products, freeing up resources for the most important innovations. At the same time, a standardized inflow process was to be introduced to increase efficiency in product development and avoid bottlenecks. At the same time, the new product management department was qualified and strengthened in terms of personnel in order to professionally cope with the upcoming tasks and increase acceptance within the company.
Von der Strategie zur Markteinführung
Die Umsetzung der Strategie erfolgte zielgerichtet und mit klaren Ergebnissen: Die Produkt-Roadmap wurde nicht nur erarbeitet, sondern auch unternehmensweit kommuniziert, um alle Beteiligten auf ein gemeinsames Ziel auszurichten. Durch die konsequente Bereinigung des Produktportfolios wurden nicht-strategische Produkte gestrichen, was Kapazitäten für die Entwicklung innovativer Lösungen freisetzte. Die Einführung eines standardisierten Entwicklungsprozesses beschleunigte die Projektumsetzung und erhöhte die Planungssicherheit. Gleichzeitig wurde das neue Produktmanagement-Team aufgebaut und der Nachfolger intensiv gecoacht, um eine nahtlose Übergabe und langfristige Stabilität zu gewährleisten. Ein besonderer Erfolg war die Unterstützung bei der Markteinführung der neuen Produktserie.
