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Case Story: Redefining Supply Chain Leadership to Restore Delivery Performance and Organizational Stability

Confidential Case Study

Global Industrial Brand (Professional Power Tools)

Context

A global manufacturing leader in professional power tools, operates across more than 40 countries with approximately 17,000 employees and USD 4.5 billion in revenue.

The Danish sales subsidiary, with a 40-year market presence, operates exclusively with internally sourced products from corporate factories.

Despite the strength of the global brand and product quality, the Danish organization faced a critical situation:

  • Loss of the local management team to a competitor
  • Declining delivery performance
  • Increasing customer dissatisfaction
  • Internal dysfunction across sales, logistics, and service functions

The business continued to operate largely on the strength of brand reputation—but underlying performance had become unstable.

The Situation

FG&P was initially engaged to hire a Logistics Director.

However, during structured Hiring Support sessions, it became clear that the problem was not a single-function gap—but a lack of end-to-end supply chain ownership.

Key issues identified:

  • Fragmented responsibilities across logistics, warehouse, customer service, and purchasing
  • Weak coordination and limited visibility across the value chain
  • Leadership gaps at team level, resulting in siloed execution
  • Misalignment between sales expectations and operational delivery 

The Real Challenge

The core issue was not logistics execution—it was organizational design and leadership scope.

A traditional Logistics Director role would not:

  • Address cross-functional fragmentation
  • Align supply chain with commercial priorities
  • Restore delivery reliability at scale

At the same time, leadership expectations were evolving:

  • Top management recognized that sales performance depends directly on delivery reliability (OTIF) and service quality

Supply chain needed to become a strategic function, not a support function  

Our Approach

FG&P redefined the mandate before initiating the search.

1. Role Redesign (Critical Intervention)

  • Shifted role from Logistics Director to Head of Supply Chain
  • Expanded scope to include:
    • Purchasing
    • Warehouse and logistics
    • Customer service
    • Facilities
    • Later also service/repair operations
  • Positioned the role as part of a senior management team of four, with close alignment to Sales

This created true end-to-end ownership of the value chain.

2. Stakeholder Alignment (Local vs Global)

The process required careful navigation between:

  • Danish organization needs
  • Japanese top management decision-making

Challenges included:

  • Cultural differences in hierarchy and communication style
  • Language barriers
  • Alignment on role scope and expectations

FG&P facilitated alignment to ensure:

  • Clarity of mandate
  • Acceptance of the expanded leadership role
  • Commitment to organizational change 

3. Accelerated Search Execution

  • Longlist of 40 relevant candidates identified within 2 weeks
  • Shortlist of 5 candidates
  • Final 3 candidates presented to global leadership

Selection process included:

  • Hogan assessments
  • Deep-dive benchmarking
  • Evaluation of transformation capability (not just operational experience) 

Time-to-Impact

  • Longlist delivered within 2 weeks
  • Rapid selection and hiring process
  • Immediate onboarding of selected candidate
  • First measurable operational improvements within 6 months

The Outcome

Operational Impact

  • Delivery performance improved by ~40% within 6 months
  • Stabilization of previously unreliable delivery execution
  • Stronger alignment between sales commitments and operational delivery

Organizational Impact

  • Full restructuring of supply chain organization
  • Integration of previously siloed functions into one leadership structure
  • Implementation of standardized processes and clearer accountability

People Impact

  • Immediate stabilization of workforce
  • Previously observed unmotivated employee turnover stopped
  • Increased clarity, direction, and leadership credibility 

What Changed

The appointed Head of Supply Chain executed:

  • Organizational restructuring across functions
  • Process standardization and performance management
  • Integration of logistics, service, and customer-facing operations
  • Alignment with sales to ensure consistent value delivery 

Why This Matters

This case reflects a common issue in established industrial organizations:

  • Problems are often addressed at the wrong level (function)
  • While the real issue sits at the leadership and system level

Hiring a Logistics Director would have solved a symptom.
Redefining the role to end-to-end supply chain leadership addressed the root cause.

Why This Matters

This case reflects a common issue in established industrial organizations:

  • Problems are often addressed at the wrong level (function)
  • While the real issue sits at the leadership and system level

Hiring a Logistics Director would have solved a symptom.
Redefining the role to end-to-end supply chain leadership addressed the root cause.

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