Sustainable Polymer Technology Company - Interim PMO Director

The Client

A sustainable polymer technology company with high-value IP, R&D and manufacturing facilities, with recent significant investment to enable growth and transformation into a commercial entity. ~50 staff and expected turnover of ~£10M.

The Challenge

The significant growth opportunities this investment afforded were at risk of being missed if the organisation, systems and processes were not in place to deliver consistent quality products to meet customer’s needs. The management team and owners responded to this risk by appointing an Interim PMO Director who was given three primary project objectives:

• Drive commercial focus and project delivery to bring new products to market to meet customer needs efficiently and effectively.
• Introduce formal business processes for product delivery and project management to understand the true status of the executives.
• Recruitment of ~30 staff to expand from ~50 to ~80, whilst moving company focus from academic R&D culture to a more commercially orientated organisation.

The Solution

The recruitment challenge and the transformation of the business were addressed with a significant organisational restructure to combine technical (R&D), manufacturing and supply chain management departments under a new COO role. This provided a springboard for a cultural shift towards commercial customers.

Design and implementation of a new product development framework; a stage gate process with an associated toolkit document suite provided the structure for taking ideas through to saleable products.

The introduction of standardised project management tools and ways of focused effective working for the product development and sales teams.

Mapped and formalising sales processes, including forecasting, account management and other key systems were implemented to drive close out of customer requirements to achieve sales.

The Results

The organisational re-design together with rapid recruitment, increased the capabilities in key areas and matched the new processes for clarity of responsibilities for delivery.

A dashboard of key metrics for the business helped focus the executives and the managers on the value-adding tasks and the risks to achieving the business goals.

The re-mapped business processes directed resources to prioritised and customer-centric workstreams with improved reporting and performance management.

The new product development framework formalised R&D into efficient and effective processes for improved speed and quality to meet customer needs.

Ready to elevate your business with strategic leadership? Contact Claire Lauder or the UK Interim team today to explore how Boyden expertise in interim management can drive transformative success for your company. Let's unlock growth together!