Restructuring of liquid gas supplier Calor Gas Ireland

Why did you call Globalise?
For one thing, we didn’t have an acknowledged expert at Calor and nobody else from within the organization could have coped with the project alongside their other responsibilities. Secondly, an unbiased view of the situation at the company is always good when it comes to change processes.

Globalise used the Six Sigma method DMAIC. Which of the Define – Measure – Analyze – Improve – Control steps proved to be the most difficult?
The analysis was a big issue. The sheer volume of data that had to be collected for it was enormous. Then it turned out that this data was of greatly varying quality and not always comparable. Similar data was often stored using different methods and in different systems. The Globalise manager literally had to rummage through the entire company to be able to gain an understanding of the processes and their weaknesses.

Were the employees willing to change?
Yes and no. But that was understandable, to a degree. After all, Calor was doing fine: it was financially healthy and the market leader. The employees feared that “process optimization” in the midst of an extreme economic crisis would only mean job cuts.

How did he succeed in motivating the staff despite this?
Through persuasion and building up trust. They knew that the processes at Calor weren’t perfect and that was something the Globalise Manager could work with. With his communicative and social skills, he gained their confidence and we included as many staff members as possible in the project work. This made the optimization of the processes a communal project. We placed priority on processes that offered quick wins and that helped show what value the optimization had.