I successfully rescued the technically insolvent 1.4 million tons cement company with 650 FTEs from going out of business. In three years, I developed and implemented a holistic turnaround plan that resulted in attracting and on-boarding a new local investor who injected the capital envisaged in the turnaround plan.
Operations:
Developed a complete plant technical assessment and action plan to debottleneck production, increase availability, and replace obsolete spare parts and equipment:
- Increased production rate from roughly 30-70%.
- Achieved 100% substitution of expensive imported coal by local one, resulting in great contribution to bottom line.
- Introduced regular annual plant shutdowns and improved plant availability.
- Completed the restructuring of plant organization, incl. development of missing job descriptions, new grading system, salary structure, and incentive scheme.
- Introduced a technical training program.
Sales and Marketing:
Implemented a new route to market for more profitable sales:
- Introduced and sharply increased direct sales; opened first direct sales depot.
- Regularly increased and adjusted sales prices.
- Rebuilt brand equity in the market place.
Governance:
- Developed and implemented missing policies.
- Launched the implementation of SAP.
Finance:
- Sorted out all going concerns of the company.
- Restructured long-term loans of two major lenders.
- Finalized an Enterprise Valuation.