Critical Situations
Turnaround & Operational Transformation
Turnaround &
Operational Transformation
Take back control of your operation before it costs you customers.
When performance is slipping or your operations need to change, CE Interim Management Group puts an experienced interim executive in charge to restore control, protect your customers and leave improvements your team can sustain.
A proven, mandate-matched executive ready to start within 72 hours of the completed mandate brief.
A recent CE Interim result
71,000+
units a week within the first 60 days
Interim Plant Manager, Poland
Over 20% more capacity, without adding staff
Who we work with
Owners and family shareholders
They need someone they can trust on site.
Private equity partners
A portfolio company is missing its plan.
Group CEOs and COOs
A site or business unit is slipping.
CFOs
Losses are growing and cash is tied up in stock.
HR leaders
The workforce and the management team must hold together through the change.
Is this your situation?
When a running operation begins to lose control
Most operations in trouble are still running. That is what makes the problem easy to tolerate for too long.
In short
What is an operational turnaround?
Turnaround restores control. Transformation changes how the business works, with or without a crisis.
An operational turnaround means putting an experienced interim executive in charge of a plant or business that has lost control of delivery, quality or cost. They find out what is really happening, protect your customers, fix the causes and hand a stable operation back to your team. Operational transformation can also begin before a crisis, when several sites or departments need to change how they work and your leaders lack the time or authority to lead it. It is not a financial restructuring, and it is more than a routine improvement programme.
Bohuslav Lipovsky
CEO, CE Interim Management Group
Companies bring in interim operational leadership for one of two reasons:
Reason one
When performance must recover
Delivery, costs, quality or management control have slipped, and recovery plans are not producing lasting results.
Reason two
When operations need to change
The business may still be performing, but sites, departments or processes must work differently: new responsibilities across business units, better coordination between departments or a changed operating model. An experienced leader carries out the change while the business keeps running.
The typical signs that performance is slipping:
Customer promises keep changing.
Late orders, express freight and firefighting have become normal, and delivery is still not reliable.
The same problems keep coming back.
Scrap, rework, breakdowns and overtime are fixed each week, then return.
The figures do not agree.
Production, planning and finance each tell a different story, so decisions wait.
Nobody owns the recovery.
Actions are agreed in meetings, then reopened or dropped.
What happens while you wait
Missed output
Customer escalation
Margin and cash pressure
Leadership loses credibility
Good people leave
Enterprise value at risk
Every delayed decision makes the next one more expensive.
When does a recovery problem need an interim manager?
Ask yourself these six questions:
- Have several recovery plans failed to change the trend?
- Do the board and local management disagree on what the real numbers are?
- Are customer complaints, margin pressure or cash concerns growing?
- Is your team missing the authority or the capacity to act across departments?
- Are headquarters and the site slowing each other down?
- Are important decisions waiting for a permanent hire who cannot start in time?
Three or more “yes” answers usually mean your current team cannot recover control in time. A single serious customer, safety or cash risk can be enough on its own.
Recognise your situation? Find out what kind of help it needs.
What we have learned
The first recovery is control
Before results can improve, everyone has to agree on the facts.
Boards naturally want to see better output and lower costs quickly. But in an operation that has drifted, even the numbers are disputed. One team counts output one way, another sees the backlog differently, and meetings are spent defending figures instead of solving problems.
So the interim executive starts by getting one honest picture of the operation: customer orders, materials, real capacity and quality risks, all in one place. Then they set a simple routine where decisions are made, owned and followed through.
Improvement figures only mean something when you can trust them, and when you know they will last.
Mandate
Put one executive in charge of the recovery
A recovery stalls when someone is responsible for results but cannot make the decisions.
Before anyone starts, we agree with you what the executive decides, what stays with you and what CE Interim does.
What the interim executive decides
- Production and delivery priorities
- Planning, maintenance and daily routines
- Supplier recovery and stock decisions, within agreed limits
- Who owns which action, and how problems are raised
- The agreed operating changes, through to handover
What stays with you
- Major investment, site and strategy decisions
- Significant changes to the workforce or the organisation
- Any decision outside the agreed scope
What CE Interim does
- Defines the scope and authority with you
- Proposes an executive matched to your situation
- Reviews progress with you through a Partner
- Supports you when issues need escalating
- Plans and supports the handover
The right level depends on where the problem sits.
When the problem sits in one site.
When it spreads across several sites or departments.
When the decisions affect the whole company.
The first 100 days
From first fixes to lasting recovery
First stop the losses, then fix the causes, then make sure the improvements last.
Every situation is different. A plant at risk of stopping a customer’s line needs different first steps from a group with hidden losses across several sites. The priorities below stay the same; the timing depends on your situation.
The same approach works for wider operational transformation: changing responsibilities, improving coordination between business units or introducing a new operating model, without disrupting day-to-day business.
This is a typical pattern, not a promise. The first 100 days set the priorities and the review points for restoring control; the full assignment and handover often take longer.
Days 0–10
Get the facts straight
The executive checks what customers need, what the plant can really produce and where safety or quality cannot wait, in direct conversations with customers, suppliers, finance and shift leaders.
Days 11–30
Stabilise
Urgent losses are stopped and customer delivery is protected, while everyone agrees one reliable starting point.
Days 31–60
Fix the causes, not the symptoms
The executive tackles what keeps creating the problems: planning, maintenance, quality routines, a bottleneck, or unclear responsibilities between departments.
Days 61–100
Make it last
Daily reviews, realistic planning, named owners and a clear way to raise problems are put in place and tested. Handover follows when your permanent team is ready, which may be after day 100.
Track record
Turnarounds CE Interim has led
Three published examples, each a different kind of recovery.
Each result belongs to its own assignment and is not a promise for every client.
France to Poland
Poland: Interim Plant Manager restores output
71,000+
units a week within 60 days
Situation: A French-rooted group’s domestic-appliances plant in Poland had under-delivered for years, despite continued investment.
What we did: CE Interim appointed an Interim Plant Manager, accepted by the workers’ council and given authority to run the site within days.
Result: Record weekly output of more than 71,000 units within the first 60 days, the highest monthly production in the site’s history, and over 20% more capacity without adding staff.
China to Czech Republic
Czech Republic: just-in-time delivery back under control
90 days
to stable just-in-time delivery
Situation: A tier-1 automotive supplier, recently taken over by a Chinese family owner, was losing money and struggling to deliver just in time to carmakers, with only one day of stock as a buffer.
What we did: An Interim Plant Manager took full operational authority to stabilise the plant and restore delivery.
Result: Just-in-time delivery stable within 90 days, two customer launches delivered on time, and the plant moving from losses toward break-even within 12 months.
Austria to Czech Republic
Czech Republic: an Interim CEO restores control
60 days
to restored operating control
Situation: A subsidiary had weak operating control while its owner weighed recovery against other options.
What we did: An Interim CEO took full legal and operational authority and restored management accountability and reliable information.
Result: Operational control restored within 60 days, with turnaround, sale and closure options prepared for the board to decide.
More CE Interim turnaround mandates
Facing something similar? Speak to a Partner who has seen it before.
Governance
Keep headquarters informed without slowing the operation
Headquarters gets reliable information. The site gets the authority to act. Both matter.
Across cultures
One executive, at home in both cultures
The interim executive works with your headquarters in its language and business culture, and leads the site in the local one. Group expectations become clear local priorities, and local problems reach you early, in terms your board recognises.
In an international group, headquarters may see a missed plan while the plant sees late materials and conflicting instructions. More calls and approvals can make it worse. The executive has to be credible on both sides: turning group expectations into clear priorities for the site, and making local problems visible before they become surprises.
Local executive authority. Direct headquarters visibility. One accountable recovery mandate.
Our published assignments include a French-rooted industrial group’s plant in Poland, a German-headquartered operation in the United States and a US-owned business in Poland.
The interim executive runs the day-to-day recovery. Local managers own the actions in their areas. Headquarters or the board receives agreed figures, early warning of problems and the decisions that genuinely need their approval. A CE Interim Partner stays involved to review progress and support you, without taking over line management.
Your headquarters or board
Sets direction and approves the big decisions
CE Interim Partner
Reviews progress with you; supports, never takes over
Interim executive, on site with your team
Runs the recovery day to day, in your language and the site’s
You keep strategic control, the interim executive runs the operation, and problems reach you early.
What success looks like
How you know the recovery is holding
One good week is not a turnaround. Look for results that repeat.
Measure against where you started
Choose a few measures that fit the problem:
- On-time delivery
- Quality right first time
- Output against capacity
- Scrap and rework
- Stock levels and the cost of emergency fixes
Production and finance figures should tell the same story.
Hand control back to your team
The assignment ends when:
- Your permanent team runs the daily routines
- Problems are handled without the interim
- Every open action has a named owner
- A new manager, if there is one, receives the facts, relationships and remaining risks
Want to know what lasting recovery would look like in your business?
Why CE Interim
Why CE Interim for an operational turnaround?
The right executive, with the right authority, and a Partner beside you until the job is done.
CE Interim Management Group provides cross-border executive leadership for critical business transformations. As a member of the Valtus Alliance, we work with partner firms internationally.
10+
years on the market
50+
countries of intervention
95%
cross-border mandates
1
unified standard of excellence
Who we appoint
Comparable responsibility matters more than an impressive title.
- Has run a whole business, site or operation of similar size, reporting to a board, owner or investor
- Has led in your sector, so they understand its economics, customers and risks
- Has led a comparable turnaround or operational change before
- Has taken over a management team and strengthened it while keeping the operation running
- Works in your head office’s language and business culture, and leads the site in the local language
- Brings more seniority and judgement than the role would normally need, so they can lead when difficult decisions cannot wait
Which kind of help fits your situation?
Operational Excellence
The business is under control and wants to improve. Your own leaders can sponsor the change, so you may not need an interim executive at all.
This page
Turnaround & Operational Transformation
Performance is slipping, recovery plans have failed, or operations must change faster than your leaders can manage alone.
Crisis & Restructuring
Cash, lenders or survival are at stake. The work needs restructuring authority and close management of lenders and creditors.
Relevant industries
Manufacturing
Automotive
FMCG & Retail
Logistics & Supply Chain
How it works
What happens when you get in touch
You do not need a finished recovery plan. Tell us what is happening, what is at risk and where decisions are stuck. A Partner will help you judge whether interim leadership is the right answer.
Talk to a Partner
A confidential conversation about what is going wrong and what is at risk. No commitment.
Meet the right executive
We introduce one or two carefully matched executives, not a long list of CVs. You interview them and decide.
They take charge
The executive leads the recovery on site, with a CE Interim Partner involved until handover.
Ready when you are. The first conversation is confidential.
Questions
Questions clients ask before starting a turnaround
How quickly can an interim executive start?
We introduce a proven, mandate-matched executive ready to start within 72 hours of the completed mandate brief. The mandate brief is complete once we have agreed with you what the role must achieve and the authority it needs. Travel and any legal appointment are planned from there.
Can we bring someone in before we know the root cause?
Yes, and most clients do. The first conversation starts from what you can see: the customers at risk and the decisions not being made. Finding the root cause is part of the executive's job.
How is confidentiality protected?
Confidentiality starts with the first contact. Your situation is discussed only with the Partners and specialists needed to define and deliver the assignment, and the executive is bound by confidentiality before any details are shared.
Why an interim manager rather than a consultancy?
Many consultancies advise, and some help implement. The difference with an interim executive is line authority: they run the operation, make decisions within the agreed scope and answer for the results until handover. Many clients use both: consultants for specialist analysis, an interim executive to lead the change.
Do we need to replace our current plant management?
Not automatically. Many local teams are capable people working with unclear authority. The executive leads alongside them, assesses the team fairly and recommends changes to you. You decide.
We are a private equity owner. How does this work with our portfolio company?
The executive works inside the portfolio company with the authority you and its board agree. You receive clear, regular reporting against the value plan, and a CE Interim Partner keeps you informed without adding work for the management team.
How does this work alongside our HR team?
HR stays closely involved: in the appointment and contract, and in the people side of the recovery, such as workforce communication, works council discussions and management capability. The interim executive works with HR to assess the team fairly and strengthen it before handover.
Can the interim executive be appointed as board member or general manager?
Yes. Where the mandate needs it, the interim executive can be appointed to the local statutory role, such as board member or general manager, and takes on the role's personal legal duties. The appointment, authority and insurance cover are agreed with you and your legal team before the start.
What happens if the executive has to leave during the assignment?
Continuity is covered. If an executive has to leave, CE Interim provides a replacement, and a Partner manages the handover so the recovery does not lose pace.
How long does a turnaround take, what does it cost, and how is the contract set up?
It depends on how far the operation has drifted and how ready your permanent team is. Control often returns within weeks; lasting results usually take months. Interim executives work on a flat daily rate, agreed before the start. The total budget depends on the scope and the number of days worked, which we agree with you at the outset and review as the recovery progresses. The executive is engaged through CE Interim, not employed by you, with one standard contract and one governance framework whichever country the operation is in, and your Partner stays the single point of contact.
What if we need to change how the business works, not rescue it?
That is the operational transformation side of this service. When several sites or departments must work differently, an interim executive can lead the change with clear authority, while your permanent team keeps the business running. You do not have to wait for a crisis. When the change is one strategic programme across functions, sites or systems, such as an ERP rollout, see Enterprise-Critical Transformation Programmes.
Your operation needs someone in charge.
If performance is slipping or a major change is stretching your leadership team, a confidential conversation with a CE Interim Partner will show what authority is missing and who can provide it.
Bohuslav Lipovsky
CEO, CE Interim Management Group
Book a 20-minute call to speak with Bohuslav directly.
Ready to talk? The first conversation is confidential and free of commitment.
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