Client:

A logistics partner operating a substantial own fleet of 60 vehicles.

Challenge:

A lack of transparency in transport processes, combined with exceptionally high maintenance costs across the vehicle fleet, had begun to undermine confidence at leadership level. A more detailed analysis identified several critical issues:

• Low efficiency: return load utilisation was inadequate, resulting in empty running.
• Uneven workload distribution: driver workloads fluctuated considerably, posing a significant risk to profitability.

Solution:

Interim Ltd. assigned an interim manager with extensive experience in freight and logistics. Our specialist did not merely make recommendations — they took full responsibility for implementation:

• Cost optimisation: conducted a new service partner tender, securing more favourable terms for fleet management.
• Rigorous oversight: introduced tighter controls across the fleet.
• Rethinking transport planning: restructured logistics planning to improve return load utilisation.

Results:

• Pre-tax profit in the division increased by 56% as a result of more efficient transport planning.
• Several million forints were saved against the projected annual servicing costs.
• Fluctuation in driver workload was reduced from a previous level of 25%+ down to 1–9%.
• Rather than simply cutting costs, a transparent logistics structure was established that is demonstrably more profitable over the long term.
• Leadership confidence was restored.

Client:

A large international corporation that embarked on a relocation from Western Europe to Hungary within the SSC sector.

Challenge:

Following a decision by global leadership, the company was required to transfer its customer service and account management operations to Hungary. However, implementation encountered significant obstacles:

• Insufficient internal capacity: due to the existing management team being fully stretched, no resource was available to oversee the complex transition.
• Cumbersome processes: the documentation and structure of the functions being transferred were incomplete, which delayed the start of operations.

Solution:

Interim Ltd. provisioned a senior interim manager with expertise in HR and SSC processes for a six-month assignment. Our interim specialist led the entire process on-site, in line with the strategy approved by global leadership:

• Operational project management: strict adherence to the transition plan milestones and liaison with international stakeholders.
• Recruitment strategy development: management of the hiring process for the Hungarian team.
• Training and knowledge transfer: structured transfer of knowledge from the Western European headquarters to the newly appointed local staff.
• Stabilisation: launching office operations and addressing initial operational challenges promptly.

Results:

• The Hungarian office commenced operations on schedule.
• A stable, skilled team of nearly 20 people was built up in a short space of time under the original two-person local leadership.
• The transition was seamless for European clients, with no discernible impact on service quality.
• Account management processes improved measurably.
• The client's own management was relieved of day-to-day project oversight responsibilities, allowing them to focus on their core activities.

About the Client

Our client is a German family business employing thousands of people in Germany (legally two companies with three separate sites)

About the Problem

As suppliers to the automotive industry, companies must obtain TISAX certification, proving that their data is protected and handled appropriately and securely. The certification is a ‘knock-out criterion’ for automotive operators - without it, they cannot be suppliers to German car manufacturers.

(The rules and requirements for the TISAX - Trusted Information Security Assessment Exchange - certification were developed by the German Association of the Automotive Industry to standardise automotive operators' information security and data protection expectations and the requirements for compliance verification, i.e., auditing. It is based on the ISO27001 standard, but contains many more requirements, including 266 specific requirements for the "minimum level", which is not specified here.)

The Client had planned to spend a year preparing for certification, but when they approached Interim Ltd., only five weeks remained.

As a contingency scenario, the expectation was that ‘someone would come in and lead the company through at least the post-audit process two months after the first one’.

The Solution

Interim Ltd. quickly (within one day) reviewed the situation and recommended to the Client the cooperation of a project manager experienced in auditing, who accepted the assistance of the temporary specialist and Interim Ltd.

The interim specialist started the job within a week and achieved the following results on the first day:

• after assessing the state of preparation, they found that the Client had completed 22% of the required tasks (this was worse than the Client's preliminary estimate, who ‘felt’ that ‘only a little’ was missing), i.e. the remaining 78% should be completed in five weeks - the interim professional was not targeting the post-audit, but wanted to achieve compliance in the first audit originally set),
• the ‘work on something’ approach was replaced by a ‘get this done’ approach, i.e. they started working on the ‘deliverables’ required for the audit to succeed,
• the interim assigned accountable people to the documents to be produced (‘Accountable’, ‘Responsible’ roles – for those familiar with the RACI matrix) instead of the former department joint roles,
• the completion of each document and the tasks performed and to be performed by each person were presented in a spreadsheet. They were graphically accessible to all employees (the data was later updated daily so that it could be visualised transparently and visually who was where in their tasks).

In addition to (and as part of) project management, communication was also a priority; the interim project manager made:

• all activities (assignment of tasks, progress reports, etc.) were public and transparent,
• clear that each project member would be assigned as many tasks as could be completed in two hours a day (i.e. did not completely disrupt the normal daily work schedule),
• the first tasks ‘addressed’ to members of senior management, who, by carrying them out, demonstrated to all employees that the project was indeed a priority and that everyone should get behind it,
• reports on the project each week at the national management meetings (last week's progress, current status and planned activities for the coming week) and then circulate the report to all project members so that they can work in a confirmed way already agreed by senior management. This approach was reassuring for them compared to the previous situation where they had input from several places,
• the length of the meetings minimised, communicated in a focused, goal-oriented way, closing meetings in a ‘let's summarise who, what, when’ way,
• the parties concerned connected, i.e. instead of preparing a memo on who, with whom and what to consult, or who, with whom and what they had a conflict, they immediately included other colleagues in the discussion, thus closing within fifteen minutes issues that had been ‘under consideration’ for weeks,
• mentoring is necessary to ensure that colleagues understand what they are doing and why.

The project manager quickly built trust both within the client's home management and at the German headquarters, helped by a dynamic approach to work and transparent results based on numbers.

The Project Manager and Interim Ltd.’s management team consulted several times a week on the project status so that the Company's upper management could advise when needed.

The Result

• it was a pleasant surprise for the Client that, thanks to the intensive five weeks, both domestic companies passed the TISAX audit with flying colours (no auditor comments), a better result than the assessment of the German parent company by the same German auditor,
• by attending two days a week in person (the Client's original request was for five days a week), the specialist working with Interim Ltd. also optimised the client's costs, as less time also meant lower overall costs.

Further Improvements

The interim project manager identified the causes of the backlog and made recommendations to address them. Several of the suggestions were immediately accepted and implemented by the Client, resulting in a culture change, e.g.

• a shift to a results-oriented approach in IT projects,
• assigning tasks to people rather than departments,
• the former ‘bottleneck’, i.e. one-to-one communication, has been replaced by direct contact between parent company and in-house experts (replacing the former parent company standard),
• the national experts have undertaken a one-week study visit to the parent company, thus developing good personal relationships in addition to sharing professional knowledge,
• new IT processes and solutions are developed and tested jointly by the parent company and the domestic companies,
• celebrating results and milestones.

Client

The client company has good experience and reputation in the production of automotive safety products. The Hungarian subsidiary manufactures the products developed at the client's headquarters with the equipment of a supplier selected by the parent company.

Problem

The Hungarian subsidiary has experienced problems with the quantity and quality of production and other anomalies:

• Communication between the parent company and the subsidiary was not smooth,
• the technical condition and availability of the production equipment raised serious issues, which affected both production and maintenance,
• production discipline was questionable.

Consequently, the delays and lack of quality service to customers reached such proportions that the headquarters commissioned Interim Ltd. to identify the faults and to improve the OEE, or Overall Equipment Effectiveness.

The rapid assessment carried out by Interim led to the following results:

• There was insufficient knowledge at company level about the essence and measurement of OEE,
• the capability and reliability of production equipment was below the level required by the industry,
• maintenance (including TPM, i.e. Total Productive Maintenance) in the Hungarian subsidiary was inadequate or non-existent,
• The (middle and top) managers of the Hungarian subsidiary were demotivated, spending more energy on discussions with headquarters than on improving the company's performance.

Solution

The Interim concluded that the main causes of the problems were mainly in operations (production, maintenance), so the following changes were implemented:

• Improve the capability of production equipment by involving the supplier,
• improving all three factors of OEE,
• clarification and enforcement of work instructions,
• redefining and enforcing the maintenance basics.

In addition, the Interim identified major challenges, such as the introduction of a management accountability system, motivating staff and improving cooperation between headquarters and the subsidiary. These also needed to be improved and changed.

Results

Interim Ltd. immediately put in place a programme to improve efficiency, and through daily monitoring and various measures, production efficiency has been steadily improved.

One of the two plant managers "bought-in" to the programme and the plant achieved spectacular and lasting results, with the manager still working there today. The other plant manager only appeared to support the programme, with relatively little result, and left the company shortly afterwards, leading to further efficiency gains.