Case Study: Automotive Manufacturing
Over 200 complex projects across locations on three continents, managed centrally. Presented as a global best-practice standard to an industry audience at Smartsheet ENGAGE in Seattle.
Learn more about the FEW story
The challenge
As a hidden champion, the FEW Group grew rapidly, but its internal infrastructure could not keep pace. Five plants were operating in isolated Excel silos, which led to a failed project costing €600,000 because there was a lack of the transparency needed to take timely corrective action.
A fragmented data landscape: Working with isolated spreadsheet solutions across continental borders made it difficult to manage global projects consistently and prevented the adoption of any form of uniform standards.
High financial risk: A critical lack of real-time visibility meant that problems were not detected until avoidable losses totaling 600,000 euros had already been incurred as a result of a single failed project.
Administrative inefficiency: Reliance on manual processes and error-prone Excel spreadsheets tied up valuable management resources and prevented the company from achieving scalable operational excellence across the entire organization.
The solution
Instead of installing rigid software, we implemented a dynamic system that focuses diffuse data streams into a clear line of sight, much like a Fresnel lens. This approach was so effective that Smartsheet invited us and FEW to Seattle to present the solution to an international audience of industry professionals as a global benchmark.
We implemented a 7-step process—from the shop floor to strategy—to embed continuous improvement throughout the entire production process.
Today, real-time dashboards transform complex data sets into immediate decision-making bases for global management.
The technical basis enables global scaling and the automation of routine tasks across locations.
Konstantin Gross
Group Program Manager, FEW Automotive
Nico Röpnack
Founder & Managing Director, Lighthouse Consultings
Answers for decision-makers
The questions that operations managers most frequently ask us before a project like the one at FEW.
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