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operating costs were far too high, and the internal work processes were too
cumbersome.
Additionally, Clever Inc. had just lost another major contract. As the deciding
factor for turning Clever Inc. down, the customer had pointed to the
company's lack of future‐orientation, and taking this into consideration, the
pricing of the quotation was unacceptable. The customer had pointed to the
tense market situation, which was forcing them to seek cost optimisations.
They had to reduce their logistics costs to a minimum and order‐driven
production was its only option. There was no alternative to lean processes
and integrated supply chains.
To Max, this phone call was like a shot to the heart. A lack of future‐
orientation? Integrated supply chains? He had never heard arguments like
this before. What immediately came to mind was the permanent
construction site that his own company's internal IT had turned into,
although his customer really had no way of knowing that. Time and time
again, he had talked to his father, the Chairman, about this issue, but he had
never been able to convince him. "We build furniture‐making machines, not
computers," was the counterargument that he had mainly faced.
Max knew, if he wanted to put his families business back on the right track,
he would need to act, and quickly. Now it was his responsibility, and he
wanted to be the one to put Clever Inc. back on the path to success for the
future.
1.2.2
The first management meeting
Four months after taking over as Chairman, he had held a strategy weekend
with his management team, and the focus was on testing the company's
internal workflows. They wanted to identify fields of action and potential
solutions within Clever Inc. But at each step they had taken towards
producing an actionable solution, new uncertainties and issues had cropped
up.
Ultimately the meeting had been a disaster. Everybody went home
frustrated, and everyone had the impression that the different interests and
requirements brought up were unbridgeable.
It had started with a dispute between the IT manager, the heads of the
departments and the head of sales. The Sales and product departments
were managed by relatively young, very active and creative forces, of whom
Max had great expectations. They were all "digital natives", that is,
