Founded in the 1900s, one of Berlin’s largest and most historic factories had a long time to create its own routine. When the gas turbine market began to shrink, staff knew they had to think differently. Armed with a creative approach, an open mind, and more than a bit of bravery, a department within Siemens’ Huttenstrasse factory was able to transform itself.
Old ways have their limits
Originally built as a steam turbine factory, the site had been at the forefront of metal manufacturing for generations, but it would need to adapt — and fast, to respond to a changing market.
For years, the factory had functioned with a traditional, hierarchical structure, meaning the management was in charge of daily decision-making — even though much of the technical knowledge rested with the factory workers who dealt with the machinery first-hand. Decisions could often take too long, and were not always made by the right people.
When Production Planner Sebastian Biegel joined Siemens in 2012, it was obvious to him from the start that the factory had an overblown structure. His department, run by 100 people, formed part of the 3,700-strong workforce at the gas turbine factory.
“There were very clear departmental boundaries,” he says. “I was in the management and planning department, then you had a manufacturing department, production department, technical, quality control, and so on and so forth.”
Issues sprung from these complex structures. “Although we planned the production and management in our department, we had a weak connection with the actual production department,” says Sebastian. First, they would need to plan, then hand the plans to bosses or department heads, who would then pass them to their boss, who would then pass them to their shift manager. It was only after these steps were carried out that the employee would receive their task. You couldn’t help but notice,” he says, “that the task passed through many middlemen before the employee started work. The planning department had absolutely no contact with the people making the product in the production department.”
Bosses couldn’t make decisions because they were far too removed from the production process. “They always wanted to receive something pre-prepared, like files, dates, and diagrams,” he says. “The danger was that mistakes can always creep into that information, and then you run the risk that upper management might make a mistake.”
Working in silos impacted the factory’s productivity. But, on top of this, some parts of the gas turbines were being purchased via third parties, meaning the factory — as well as the people within it — were not being used to their full potential.
Not afraid to make a change
Not long after Sebastian started, two Factory Planners, Robert Harms and Ronny Großjohann, took matters into their own hands.
First, they identified burners (a complex component of gas turbines) as a product that could be manufactured within the factory. Prior to this, a few were being produced each year, but the vast majority were bought elsewhere ready to be fitted to the turbines within the factory.
Making this change would require new equipment and processes, at a cost of €12 million. Robert and Ronny made their case to the managing board, who approved the cost. It spelt a huge change for the factory, but introducing new products was not enough; they needed to go a step further.
Destroying the hierarchy
This bold move meant abolishing the traditional staff-and-boss dynamic and replacing it with two clear groups:
- Production teams (known as clusters) comprising factory workers
- Integration teams comprising interdisciplinary teams of experts (including those who oversee quality control, planning, production, staff, and products) to provide specialist knowledge to help production teams reach decisions
Ultimately, the two teams would work alongside each other rather than via a ‘top-down’ leadership approach.
In practice, the factory workers would take on more responsibility. They would no longer rely on bosses to provide daily tasks or the go-ahead on technical decisions. They’d be given greater visibility of the factory’s financial position, and would have greater authority to make decisions regarding budgets. The people with the ‘know how’ would come out of the shadows. They would be given a voice. “It was very surprising approach,” says Sebastian. “The basic idea behind this new structure was working as an integrated team, which we’d never done before.”
Putting the plan in action
Sebastian was part of a small group charged with transforming Robert and Ronny’s bold idea from concept to reality. He says, “When it was time to execute the plan, they got us together, locked us in a conference room and said: ‘From today, you are called the Integrations Team and you are tasked with putting this plan into practice.’ At first, everyone swallowed hard. On the one hand, it was positive they chose us, but on the other hand, it was just ‘get on with it’. Of course, we could have said no, but we had the ambition to do it.”
The Integrations Team had one chance to make the plan a success. There was a lot at stake.
The resistance came loud and strong
Sebastian quickly learned it wasn’t easy convincing employees to take on more responsibility. “The longer you work in an old system, the harder it is to change,” he says. “The employees making the products were on the receiving end of some stick. We kept hearing: ‘Oh, they’ll just take advantage, it’ll never work, it will be a free for all.’”
Sebastian and his team were fully aware that the change was more difficult for workers than those higher up the career ladder. “We are in a pay bracket where we work independently and we have to have self-discipline,” he says. “We all know our goals and are judged on them accordingly, but it is harder for people in production. When you’re used to being assigned daily tasks it’s a big shift for workers to organize themselves, solve their own problems, and make their own decisions.”
Sarah Burkamp is a Siemens employee who works within the department’s production team, specializing in metal cutting. She admits she doubted how well the factory would function under the new system: “I am a rather skeptical person and I looked at everything to see whether it would really work out the way they say it would. I thought that they’d surely be some problems.”
She says it was tough to convince colleagues of the benefits of the new structure — especially when it meant they would need to take on new work. “You have colleagues who are so entrenched in the old structure that they say: ‘No, why should I have to deal with this new thing which is increasing my personal workload, compared to just standing at the machine and doing my work?’”she says. “Because now they also have to worry about all the things that used to just come to them directly from their boss.”
And — the big question: can people really be trusted to do their work? “In a small company,” says Sebastian, “you can be fired by the boss. You don’t have that here, only on rare occasions. This new structure only works by talking to people, convincing them. You take them to one side, show them the effect they’re having and work with them to change.” Sebastian quickly realized that the more an individual understands how their work is negatively impacting others, the more likely they are to improve.
Slowly, the hierarchy began to dissolve
Greater responsibility shifted to include those who knew the most about the specific tools, equipment, and machinery in question. The ‘old system’ required bosses to make production decisions, even if they did not possess the suitable technical knowledge to provide them with all the facts. “It’s definitely an improvement because the employees grow closer to the products they are producing,” says Sebastian. “The lack of hierarchical layers means the employees are closer to our clients, so we can be more active, improve on our timelines, stick to deadlines, and improve quality.”
The new structure also speeds up the decision-making process. “There used to be a long process for dealing with the kind of problems that we have on a daily basis in production, just to find out who was actually responsible,” he says. “We don’t have that anymore. Even if we make a bad decision, we remain 10 times quicker than under the old structure.”
Decisions are also now a more collective process, meaning employees with the relevant expertize can work together to find solutions. “Sometimes someone still has an objection on the technical side of things, and then we have another think and make some changes,” he says. “Under the old hierarchy, it always went up or down.”
With decision-making comes greater responsibility, something that used to be left to the bosses alone. Sebastian says: “In a way, every decision we make is the right one because it’s a different decision. You never know 100% in advance but until now we have never made a decision where we were completely wide of the mark.”
Since the factory revolution, staff have greater control over their day-to-day. “Before, I found it astonishing that employees would wait for their boss in the mornings to find out what they were doing,” says Sebastian. By dissolving the need for leaders to dictate workload, staff who were more than equipped to manage their own workload were trusted to do so.
This meant that people actually started talking to each other. Sarah says: “You no longer have one machine and two other colleagues with whom you have a maximum of five-minutes interaction at the beginning or end of each shift. Now you have a look and discuss what happened during the shift; you have more to do with each other and get to know people far better.”
Employee satisfaction began to improve
Soon, even the people who were initially resistant started to take responsibility into their own hands. “They now determine their own daily work processes,” says Sebastian. “They can be part of the process of developing the very product that secures their lives by paying their wages.”
More responsibility for staff also leads to fewer complaints. Sebastian quickly learned that when an employee who constantly complains is handed the responsibility to solve a problem, they tend to stop complaining. “Usually it is the clever ones who complain,” says Sebastian, “and you can’t just convince these people — you have to give them the responsibility to change the system. So, we did that, and the people who said at first, ‘No it won’t work’, now concede that it does work — and they contribute to the improvement and optimization of production,” he says.
Despite her initial doubt, Sarah admits the changes have re-invigorated her role. “My motivation had seriously dropped off,” she says. “My first thought in the morning is no longer: ‘Argh… now I have to go back to that place,’ but instead it is: ‘Today’s a new day, we can do something new.’ Once you have got used to it, it actually functions rather well.”
A world without bosses is paying off
Just because something has always been approached a certain way, doesn’t mean it’s the only way. By being willing to adapt, the factory department has become more successful than ever.
The lessons learned? The more visibility staff have, the more they want to stand up and be counted. They see the direct impact their work has on the future of the factory, so they go above and beyond their assigned roles. But above all, it shows that you don’t have to operate traditionally in order to be successful.
Sebastian is a Production Planner at Siemens, Germany. He joined the company in 2012. Find out more about working at Siemens.
Illustration: Giacomo Bagnara
