1) Client situation (anonymised):
A European manufacturing group had acquired a domestic appliances production facility in Poland nearly a decade earlier. The site remained structurally underperforming for years, with declining margins, undelivered targets, and lagging investment traction.
Despite ongoing capital expenditure and high market potential, operational results remained inconsistent. The local leadership lacked traction, and HQ had limited insight into true plant performance. The parent group had French roots, while the site operated under Polish labor and cultural norms.
The mandate became urgent when a major production line failed to ramp up successfully and visibility gaps became untenable at board level.
2) The challenge:
- Instability across core production lines affecting throughput and cost
- Structural under-delivery despite repeat CAPEX injections
- Leadership vacuum and absence of local accountability
- Poor horizontal coordination and silo mindset
- Low morale among production teams and inefficient shift management
- No linked cadence between HQ expectations and plant execution rhythm
- Disconnect between management reporting and plant realities
3) Interim role delivered (speed and fit):
CE Interim deployed an Interim Plant Manager through a rapid process in line with the client’s urgent timeline.
The role was designed as a 9-12 month transformation mandate focused on operational visibility, production control, and team structure reset.
Fit criteria included:
- Proven plant turnaround experience in cross-border PE and corporate settings
- Fluent in both Polish operations and Western European governance logic
- Able to build credibility with local teams while aligning with HQ expectations
- Comfortable with union negotiation and structural headcount decisions
The interim leader was accepted by the workers’ council, granted site-level proxy authority, and operationally onboarded within days.
4) What happened during the mandate:
First 30 days
- Took immediate site ownership and built trust with frontline teams
- Identified the root causes of production instability and delayed ramp-up
- Held union discussions to prepare for changes without escalation
- Launched daily operational cadence with plant leads and shop floor
- Introduced structured reporting to translate reality back to HQ clearly
First 6 months
- Reorganized production into four functional blocks to match business criticality
- Implemented shift optimization to meet ramp-up demands while controlling cost
- Delivered record production outputs within 8 weeks through scheduling and focus
- Conducted indirect headcount right-sizing and initiated maintenance structure review
- Led transparent communication on cost justification and capital spend execution
6+ months
- Oversaw closure communication of a sister site with HR and legal precision
- Maintained labor relations across two unions during transition period
- Sustained output gains and linked daily management to financial impact metrics
- Adjusted responsibility layers between production, technical, and QA
- Supported internal successor pipeline assessment with Group HR and line leaders
Handover and exit
- Facilitated knowledge transfer across plant middle management
- Delivered stable reporting structure and visual operational control for successor
- Complied with all documentation, legal, and handover protocols
- Converted to permanent leadership role under client agreement
5) Actions taken (execution focus):
- Installed daily tiered meetings integrating technical, shift, and plant leadership
- Reset department structure to separate core vs supportive functions
- Introduced 12-hour shift model to meet execution needs during ramp-up
- Built reporting link between plant outputs and central expectations
- Required solution-based problem reporting from functional owners
- Terminated underperforming indirect service roles based on capability review
- Used weekly cadence meetings to track capex burn and unblock spend delays
- Clarified roles and tasks between maintenance, QC, and production supervision
6) Outcomes achieved (measurable proof):
- Record weekly output of >71,000 units achieved within first 60 days
- Delivered historically highest monthly production in site history
- Cut indirect headcount without union escalations
- Reduced packaging bottlenecks via shift and functional load realignment
- Achieved >20% capacity uplift without additional labor increase
- Re-established horizontal coordination between departments
- Linked production outputs to Group reporting with new transparency
- Internal leadership acknowledged delivery after years of stalled improvement
7) Why CE Interim:
The mandate moved forward quickly because CE Interim delivered:
- A culturally fluent interim leader trusted by both HQ and local teams in Poland
- Rapid deployment with structural site ownership from day one
- Reliable cadence between board reporting and on-site operations
- Hands-on project leadership that unblocked production and budget execution
- Governance clarity and leadership continuity in a politically complex environment
8) Call to action:
If you need an interim Plant Manager to stabilize output, reset production structure, and align local execution with group expectations, CE Interim can deliver the right leader with speed and precision.
CE Interim delivers proven executive interim leaders within 72 hours across borders, cultures, and industries. We specialize in high-impact interim management for private equity firms, family offices, and global corporations facing moments of transition: digital transformation, market entry, operational turnaround, post-merger integration, or crisis.
What sets us apart is not just the speed or depth of our network, it’s how we lead. Every engagement is personally guided by a CE Interim managing partner: former CEOs, CFOs, or COOs who’ve been on your side of the table, steering organizations through high-stakes decisions.
With a global talent pool and operational reach spanning Europe, the USA, and the Middle East, we don’t fill roles, we build trust, lead transitions, and deliver outcomes.
As part of the Valtus Alliance, the world’s largest alliance of Executive Interim Management companies, we ensure seamless international execution through 25+ offices and 80+ senior partners in over 50 countries.
