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Case · Automotive · Japan

A factory, an insolvency and a sale.

Our first order was not a study. It was a factory.

Client
Karmann
Where
Japan, on Nissan's grounds
When
2006–2010
Role
CEO & lead functions, interim
Result
€60m · 250 jobs · 0 deliveries missed

The situation

In 2006 Karmann decided to build a plant in Japan, on the grounds of its customer Nissan. It had no organisation in Japan. Our first mandate was to build both: the plant and the company.

What we did

  • Set up the Japanese entity and the management team, and took the CEO and lead functions ourselves.
  • Built and started the plant: the first greenfield plant of a German car supplier in Japan, with start of production in 2009.
  • On the day of start of production, the parent company declared insolvency. We took over the business, kept the plant producing and the team together.
  • Sold the going concern to Magna in 2010 and ran the post-merger integration.

The result

A €60m plant built and run. 250 jobs kept through the parent's insolvency. No delivery to the customer missed, and nobody resigned.

Every service CBI offers today started here: interim management, turnaround, M&A, HR and project management.