Our story begins on an ordinary morning, in the offices of a large distributor of electrical products. A company used to stocks, invoices and fast-moving goods. But one day, its directors looked at a product they’d been selling for years and asked: “But what if we made it ourselves?”
The idea sounded lovely. The reality? Not so much. The company had no manufacturing experience. No prepared warehouse, no processes, not even a business model for something that didn’t exist yet. All it had was a “greenfield” it was getting ready to build on. Yet, it had one advantage: it knew the market better than anyone else.
That’s where we came in. Our role? To give shape to a factory that hadn’t been built yet, to build with our minds what didn’t yet exist in reality. We worked side by side with the client’s engineer, the person who knew which subassemblies needed to be created and what machines could bring products to life. With him, we shared sheets, sketches, versions, hypotheses.
Foto: Johannes Gellner
After a few days, we entered the CEO’s office with the business plan in hand. We expected him to ask about margins, amortisations, break-even. But instead, he analysed our way of thinking. Every logic, every hypothesis. In his eyes, there was an unspoken question: “When this world you’ve drawn becomes reality… how will I control it?”
Because on paper, everything is orderly. In the factory, though, there will be machines that must work, people who must be coordinated, invested money that must return. And there, improvisation is no longer an option.
Then came the moment that changed everything. The CEO turned to his team and said: “If we could build this plan for the factory, we must do the same for every department in the company.”
In that second, we understood: the company wasn’t just preparing to become a manufacturer. The company was maturing. The shift was clear – from decisions taken on instinct to decisions made logically, backed by figures.
That’s when we realised why the CEO wasn’t obsessed with the numbers in the plan. Numbers may change. The premises, though… those build the future. If they’re solid, you can make plans for the entire organisation.
In the end, controlling wasn’t about reports. It was about trust. It was the structure that revealed how a company truly works: what influences what, how activities connect, where do the results appear and why. A tool for maturing, not a cold spreadsheet.
Foto: Johannes Gellner
In essence, transformation begins the moment the company takes on the discipline to work with clear premises, repeatable processes and measurable indicators. From here on, decisions become quicker, resources are allocated more efficiently, and risks are better managed. It’s the transition from reaction to conscious leadership – the foundation of any organisation that wants to grow sustainably.
