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FEW Automotive Group standardizes operations and improves visibility, boosting customer satisfaction
With guidance from Lighthouse Consultings, FEW
united its projects in Smartsheet.
With a 50% time
saving and 80% more visibility, it manufactures better
products, improving customer satisfaction by 90%.
“Smartsheet saves time, keeps track of
information, and provides structure. These three
things make it easier to deliver a good product.
As a result, we have improved our customer
satisfaction and retention by 90%.”
Konstantin Gross
Head of Project Management
at FEW Automotive Group
at FEW Automotive Group
Founded in 1995 in Germany, FEW Automotive Group dominates its
niche market: customised pre-soldered connectors for the
automotive industry. Its products are found in vehicles from
companies like Volkswagen, Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Porsche.
FEW needs to navigate a complex landscape: a portfolio of over 1,000
articles, 600 employees spread across five plants on three continents,
and over 120 projects a year with various customers. Initially, it relied
on spreadsheets and email to manage projects. “Every project
manager created their own plans, which led to inconsistencies,”
explains Konstantin Gross, Head of Project Management at FEW
Automotive Group. This caused a lack of transparency, delays, and
problems in planning and execution. “The realisation was quite
painful, to be honest. A big project failed and we incurred additional
costs trying to get back on track. With more
Laying the foundation
FEW realised it had to completely overhaul how it worked. It reached
out to Nico Röepnack, Founder of Lighthouse Consultings, who has
expertise in both industrial engineering and portfolio programme
management, as well as experience in empowering
high-performance teams with his pioneering approach, the overall
team effectiveness (OTE) framework. “In my past experience in the
automotive industry, I developed and implemented programme
management systems for other companies, both large and small,”
shares Röepnack. “So, I have a deep understanding of how a
programme management system should be set up.”
With guidance from Lighthouse Consultings, FEW restructured its
staff and formed a dedicated project management team to handle
everything from project nomination to mass production. “Next, we
worked with Nico for about four or five days to come up with a
management plan for all our deliverables. We wanted clear structures
for standard products, adapted products, and development projects.
Nico helped us build the foundation for that,” recalls Gross. They also
came up with a robust reporting structure to gather actionable
insights. “At the time, I already had Smartsheet in mind as the perfect
solution for this company. But our approach is not just about offering
a tool, but also about designing the processes together with the
customer and then realising them in Smartsheet,” Röepnack adds.
A centralised, transparent platform
Next, Röpnack introduced Smartsheet to the FEW team, plugging in
sample internal data to showcase how it would work. In just seven
days, Lighthouse Consultings transferred FEW’s data into Smartsheet
and built a comprehensive project management and gate review
system. It also created dedicated dashboards for each of the five
plants. “I always emphasise that having a beautiful dashboard is one
thing, but what’s more important is having a process that allows us to
track activities and spot deviations from our targets. This was missing
before, but with Smartsheet, we were able to connect the numbers
with the activities, making it easy for FEW to compare factory
performance globally,” shares Röepnack.
A centralised, transparent platform
Next, Röpnack introduced Smartsheet to the FEW team, plugging in
sample internal data to showcase how it would work. In just seven
days, Lighthouse Consultings transferred FEW’s data into Smartsheet
and built a comprehensive project management and gate review
system. It also created dedicated dashboards for each of the five
plants. “I always emphasise that having a beautiful dashboard is one
thing, but what’s more important is having a process that allows us to
track activities and spot deviations from our targets. This was missing
before, but with Smartsheet, we were able to connect the numbers
with the activities, making it easy for FEW to compare factory
performance globally,” shares Röepnack.
One standard across three continents
Finally, Röepnack held workshops for the entire FEW team. “We
showed them benchmarks from other companies’ programme
management systems and tailored the system to their needs,” he
shares. “We helped them define what was necessary and supported
them with our knowledge since not all team members had
experience with programme management systems.”
Today, FEW oversees the planning and execution across all global
facilities in Smartsheet. “We use Smartsheet for everything from
project management and collaboration to reporting and gathering
information,” Gross shares. “We have standardised project plan
templates that everyone follows, bringing consistency. Tasks and
deliverables are assigned directly to the responsible team members
through Smartsheet, making sure that nothing falls through the
cracks.”
Real-time visibility
FEW also relies on Smartsheet to track key performance indicators
(KPIs) from its production plants, everything from on-time delivery to
incident reports and quality metrics. “Each plant has a dashboard
that tracks several KPIs. Every week, we review the previous week’s
performance and compare it to the current week, which allows us to
steer our efforts towards reaching those KPIs more effectively,” adds
Gross.
With automated, comprehensive dashboards, FEW has cut the time
needed for sending emails and assembling reports by half. “By saving
time, we’ve lowered our costs by 30%. We now handle more projects
with higher complexity with the same amount of people,” shares
Gross.
“Lighthouse Consultings
has been very
professional and
hands-on. Nico
understood our
challenges and provided
ideas to address them.
He’s always available
when I need assistance
or have questions. Even
now, if I come across
something new, I can
call him, and he’ll guide
me through it.”
Konstantin Gross
Head of Project Management
at FEW Automotive Group
at FEW Automotive Group
Empowered to impress customers
Thanks to a centralised platform for tracking plans, resources, and
schedules, FEW has gained a live view of the entire company’s
operations. “We’ve improved project visibility and transparency by
about 80%,” says Gross. “As Head of the Department, I now have
detailed insights into the health and status of each project, along
with budget information. I can compare targets to the current status
and allocate resources where they’re needed. It’s a big improvement.”
Other project managers also claim that Smartsheet helps them keep
track of their activities and focus on what’s important without
missing anything.
Meanwhile, C-level executives have a clear view of the entire strategic
roadmap of the company. This enables them to track the progress of
regional initiatives, ensure that all project components align with
strategic objectives, and immediately resolve issues across all plants.
But the ultimate winners are FEW’s customers. “Smartsheet saves
time, keeps track of information, and provides structure. These
three things make it easier to deliver a good product,” shares
Gross. “As a result, we have improved our customer satisfaction
and retention by 90%.”
Continuous improvement
Gross expects that more employees at FEW will start using
Smartsheet, starting with the marketing team. “We’re also always
improving our processes and bringing more automation into
tasks like document signing and approval. There’s so much
potential,” he says. Whatever FEW decides, it has a reliable
partner to lean on for guidance. “Lighthouse Consultings has
been very professional and hands-on,” Gross concludes. “Nico
understood our challenges and provided ideas to address them.
He’s always available when I need assistance or have questions.
Even now, if I come across something new, I can call him, and he’ll
guide me through it.”
Looking back, Gross offers a piece of advice to those embarking
on a similar journey. “Smartsheet is very easy to use, but when
dealing with a big challenge or a complex organization, it’s best
to consult an expert from the get-go, it will save you a lot of
time,” he shares.