Restructuring a FTSE 10 health, hygiene and nutrition business into a multi business unit organisation

How can a FTSE 10 global consumer products company transform itself into their 3 new business units across 50 countries in less than three years?

Our client, a global health, hygiene and nutrition company, was embarking on its largest-ever transformation – a global restructuring project with a £0.5bn budget and spanning 50 countries. The seven program streams were changing almost every aspect of the business – implementing a new SAP system, integrating an acquired nutrition business, creating new shared services, developing new operating models, separating all countries into multiple legal entities, and more. The Group Transformation Director asked Baringa to help manage this massive project.

Keeping everything on track

The first step was getting a handle on the complexity and interdependencies of all work streams. We worked out of the transformation management office (TMO), sitting side-by-side with the client’s management team, shaping and overseeing each of the programme streams. Timing was essential to meeting the ambitious three-year schedule with multiple interdependent workstreams. If things didn’t happen at the right time or in the right order, it could shift the entire project timeline to the right. To make every activity visible for everyone – in all 50 countries – we went digital and analogue. We created an online programme management portal tracking 11 global functions and 5,000 deliverables. And in the head office, we built a physical master plan – a 3x7 metre, wall-mounted chart showing what was happening, month-by-month in each country. Everyone could see what impacted their work and how their work impacted others, and plan accordingly.

Taking the risk out of change

We also had a team on the ground, managing the different risks including financial, legal and tax. We worked directly with local leadership teams wherever they were needed – putting out fires before they started. When a program stream needed specific domain expertise, we pulled in our industry experts in areas including finance, supply chain, product lifecycle management and R&D regulations.

Given the size of transformation, the company’s transformation leaders met regularly with the board’s audit committee to update them on the program. And we were right by their side, as a contributing partner and independent third party. After two-and-a-half years, the transformation was complete, and on-budget.

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