The new organisation of Genista now employs some 300 individuals and is a leader in the building systems installation and maintenance sector, generating a turnover of 35 million euros in 2017.
A recent analysis of the company’s operations highlighted a number of concerns with regards to resource allocation, with too much time being devoted to non-productive tasks, a lack of efficiency when it came to certain tasks owing to insufficient preparation and coordination, and failure to clearly define roles and responsibilities in some cases, among other issues raised.
“This diagnosis didn’t tell us anything major that we didn’t already know, but it did help confirm our perspective of things, with consistent figures and analyses to back it up”, explains Alain Wildanger, a managing partner in Genista, who is very much aware of the fact that “there is always room for improvement in any company. It’s a normal process, particularly if you want to stay at the cutting-edge of innovation”.
In light of these various observations, an 18-month action plan approved by the management team was put in place with the notable aim of improving operational efficiency (works, maintenance and repairs) by 15% and introducing a series of processes, tools and indicators that would allow us to monitor the performance of each department and how each works project was doing.
Qualitative and quantitative gains
“With this in mind, a series of indicators were identified and measured over time. The combination of the improved internal actions and processes meant that these indicators moved in the right direction”, explains Alain Wildanger. “We weren’t able to implement all of the actions we had planned to, given the corrections that were made along the way, but it was a productive exercise overall”.
In addition to the quantitative gains observed, various qualitative improvements were also achieved, with the introduction of a number of supervisory tools designed to help the operational decision-making process and increase the professionalisation of the supervisory framework and the role of the foreman.
“Our involvement in the Fit 4 Innovation programme was an interesting and enriching experience that helped us to accelerate the introduction of a number of critical processes. More than anything else it enabled us to implement a whole host of theoretical visions through having access to the human capital with the ability to execute them”, explains Alain Wildanger, who has every intention of keeping this momentum going. “Our company claims to be innovative, and innovation doesn’t start, or indeed end, with such a programme. In fact, we are already working on a large proportion of other innovative projects”.
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