Magneti Marelli
Context
In November 2016, Magneti Marelli, a multinational company operating in the automotive sector, started to implement a new organizational model through the Manufacturing Master Model (M3) program in 65 of its plants located in 17 different countries.
Objectives
The project stems from the desire to define a common way of working amongst the plants by spreading new organization operations’ standards, to increase the plants’ performance and to maximize people’s contribution and involvement.
The challenge of such a project is to set-up and introduce a new organizational model, able to take into account 7 different business lines, plants’ different sizes and local culture and needs.
Contents
To achieve such a change, it was necessary to engage the “global sponsors” (the leaders of the 7 business lines), the local sponsors (Plant Managers and HR Managers of all the 65 plants involved), and the “change agents” (all the first line managers of all the 65 plants involved) – nearly 1500 people – following a “bottom-up” approach.
Firstly, Methodos organized 3 Activation Workshops, global events to involve the global and local sponsors in the definition of the challenge and set the right mindset necessary to deploy the organizational model.
Secondly, together with the MM HR Central Team, Methodos held local experiential workshops in each plant, aimed at adapting the change management program (as well as the organizational model) to local needs and to strengthen the leadership skills necessary to lead the change.
Thirdly, Methodos trained the white collars on the shop floor, in order to empower them and to enhance their capabilities to communicate the change. In addition, other activities have been developed, such as: the “M3 Development Community”, an online platform for the change agents, a specific communication plan and other involving activities.
Finally, after more than a year since its beginning, the M3 project entered a new phase: the “M3 Review”. This phase, which is still ongoing, was conceived to appraise the implementation of the M3 model at the plant level. In particular, the MM HR Central Team evaluates the hard part of such a change, while Methodos deals with the soft one, supporting each plant to quickly adapt the change program when necessary.
Results
Although it is difficult to accurately quantify the impact of the project on performance, a general increase in productivity and efficiency of the organization has been found since its launch. Actually, this project allowed the creation of a community that interacts, learns and share experiences. In this respect, the main expected result is the growth of people and synergies among the various plants, also thanks to the possibility of dialogue among plants and confrontation with internal best practices.
