Interim Management	« The LORENZ Life Sciences Group is a global leader in software solutions for the Life Sciences market, shaping the industry since 1989. Over 280 customers in more than 28 countries use our flagship product docuBridge™ for electronic document exchange between the pharmaceutical industry and approval authorities. We have build up an effective implementation team that guarantees trouble-free installation, commissioning and support of our software products. During an unseen period of absence, we entrusted Dr. Paping of Kontrapunkt Technology with the leadership of this group. Mr. Paping was of tremendous help due to his loyalty and competent working methods. Through his closeness to the team members and to the company management he provided not only interim management but also came up with valuable ideas concerning the optimization of our business processes. » Wolfgang Witzel, President, LORENZ Life Sciences Group, Frankfurt (Ger)
Technology Roadmapping	« The Ravensburger Spieleverlag is currently growing faster than its markets. One factor behind this is our focus on the expansion of the "Hybrid-Games" segment, i.e. the conjunction of classical haptic games and educational toys with new electronic elements. Extending our traditional know-how into new technologies was quite challenging for various reasons. Questions on which technologies would be most suitable, their technical feasibilities, costs which could be expected, and on the associated manufacturing processes, all needed to be answered. We engaged Kontrapunkt Technology to help us develop a technology roadmap for the coming years. The goals of this strategic project included the identification of suitable technologies for Ravensburger, and the appropriate application of these technologies in our products. Kontrapunkt Technology worked together with our innovation management team, and through internal analysis and external research, delivered a clear step-by-step plan of action - we are currently implementing this plan. » Michael Tiesler, Managing Director Programme / Marketing, Ravensburger Spieleverlag GmbH, Ravensburg (Ger)
Organisation Development	« Our development team is small and centralized, which makes collaboration and decision-making easy. On the other hand, we work in a technologically challenging domain ("R&D" = big "R", little "D") and because everyone is multi-tasking, any one project is easily disturbed by another. Eventually, we arrived at a consensus that we must bring more structure into the way we develop new products. We asked Kontrapunkt Technology to analyse current and past projects, and to disclose potential weaknesses. Based on these findings, we developed a very lean product development process, helping us reduce project risk and avoid unnecessary loops during the development phase, thus shortening the time-to-market. Although just a new process won't perform miracles, we have already seen a great improvement in our communication, as well as the planning and predictability of our work. » Philip Keller, Marketing & Product Manager, Metrolab Technology SA, Plan-les-Ouates (CH)
Interim Management	« Our company had already invested considerable time, effort and creativity in the development of a new generation banknote handling machine. The dual requirements of higher performance and lower production costs were especially challenging. During production ramp-up however, a particular complex component was not fulfilling end-of-line testing expectations. We commissioned Dr. Paping of Kontrapunkt Technology to lead Bernese development team and Shanghai production team members to rectify the situation. All problems were identified, analysed and resolved within a short time-frame. The methodology used by Kontrapunkt Technology ranged from systematic, logical analysis through to penetrant pushing of team members and brutal honesty concerning critical product features and process design. A very successful intervention: within months production scrap rates were reduced to acceptable levels. » Hansjörg Klock, Director Research & Development, Glory Global Solutions, Niederwangen (CH)
Outsourcing & Collaboration	« Inficon manufactures critical sensor technologies, gas analyzers and vacuum gauges. The company operates in a competitive marketplace under increasing pressure to enhance customer benefits through innovation, to reduce costs and to improve quality. Kontrapunkt Technology has been supporting us over several years in planning and executing ambitious projects concerning production automation and automatic quality inspection. While taking responsibility of the overall project management, Kontrapunkt Technology first focused on identifying best-in-class experts. Subsequently, these external experts worked directly with our core team, delivering specialised results to the project from their own disciplines. We were extremely satisfied with this approach, as it reduced the involvement of our own resources to a minimum. Nevertheless, this external view helped us to broaden our horizons and to build up our own internal know-how. » Dr. Urs Wälchli, General Manager Vacuum Control Products, Inficon Ltd, Balzers (LI)
Interim Management	« At Swiss Life International we needed an experienced project manager to run a large internal project. Martin Paping was hired as an interim manager for this purpose. Constrained by tough deadlines and under enormous pressure to succeed, Martin was fully effective right from the very start. He led the international team skilfully and with empathy. The project was completed on time and was considered a great success by our clients and business partners as well as by our own staff. » Margrit Schmid, CEO Corporate Clients, Swiss Life International, Zürich (CH)
Knowledge Management	« When we were faced with changes of staff in one of our key departments, we needed to analyse and document all the expertise and especially the core-processes that had accumulated over decades: the core-team needed simple access to all this information. Dr. Paping of Kontrapunkt Technology lead this critical project using a very efficient methodology and through thorough discussions. Looking back, one can say that we experienced very little internal friction, and that the team now works more efficiently and more motivated. » Tobias Hardmeier, Chief Executive Officer, Regatron AG, Rorschach (CH)
Interim Management	« Re-filling the position of our Head of Development took considerable time and patience - not least because we were extremely fastidious in this respect. In the meantime, in order to avoid a vacuum, we asked Dr. Paping to assume responsibility for the leadership of the R&D Department in the Security Communications Division. Thanks to his communicative style, he could approach the staff quickly; at the same time he was able to rapidly familiarise himself with the complexity of our core business. A particular concern of his was to support the teams working with staff on other sites and in other divisions. With his market-facing mind-set, Dr. Paping succeeded in leading many challenging inter-disciplinary tasks towards their goals. The handing over of the baton to his successor, during a very short period of overlap, was hugely successful, thanks to an efficient and thorough induction. » Dr. Fritz Gantert, General Manager Security Solutions, Ascom (Schweiz) AG, Bern (CH)
Business Development	« The media industry is changing rapidly, driven by fast-paced developments in the technologies available, in the final products and of course in customer habits. These factors prompted us - manufacturers of printing inks - to review our business model, our value creation chain and the relevant technologies, with the view to expand our operations. We asked Dr. Paping of Kontrapunkt Technology to assist us in this strategy project by using his 360-degree method: suppliers, partners and customers alike were involved in the systematic analysis of our core business. Within two months, the project team came up with a good number of suggestions on how to expand our business. The analytical mindset and the unbounded creativity of Dr. Paping were especially beneficial in this respect. Since then, we have launched two projects, one of which involved the backward integration of a key component of ink manufacture. » Dr. Ansgar Nonn, Member of the Board, Head of Publication and NAFTA region, Siegwerk Druckfarben AG, Siegburg (Ger)
Technology Tracking	« Postal markets worldwide are moving very fast. Market liberalisation, new technologies and demanding customers are stretching our development teams more than ever before. With Kontrapunkt Technology we have found a competent partner who helps to drive our innovation processes, e.g. through specific technology or market research, through the selection of suitable partners for development projects, or through strategic technology planning. Outsourcing certain projects to Kontrapunkt Technology has allowed us to concentrate our own resources on our core business. Additionally, we have been able to make new business contacts and to uncover new approaches and solutions to old problems. » Dr. Philippe Boulanger, Chief Technical Officer, Neopost Technologies SA, Bagneux (F)
Productivity Improvement	« The permanent improvement of our internal processes as well as the consistent focus on our customers are permanent features of our company culture. Therefore we ran a lessons learned workshop, together with one of our customers. We called on the services of Kontrapunkt Technology to set-up, execute and analyse the results of this exercise. The successful execution of the workshop evoked very positive feedback both from within our company and from our customer. We will implement the insights we gained, both internally and externally, and I am convinced, that the collaboration on both sides will strengthen and improve. » Maximilian Kostka, General Manager Sales Appliance, Diehl Controls, Wangen (Ger)
Knowledge Transfer	« Growth through acquisition has left De La Rue's product development teams spread throughout the world. We had the feeling that we could do much better in fostering the collaboration between our different R&D sites. Kontrapunkt Technology helped us to identify areas of possible synergies and to define concrete action plans. We were surprised how quickly results were achieved: improved interaction between the various locations, active sharing of expertise and experience, and the systematic elimination of duplicated effort on projects. » Malcolm Burr, Director of Engineering, De La Rue Holdings plc, Basingstoke (UK)
Networking	« Exchanging ideas and best practices with R&D managers from other industries has become an essential part of our ongoing self-improvement programme. Kontrapunkt Technology helped us to improve our networking skills and to build an effective international network, whereby we could regularly contribute and gain new ideas. » Philippe Maréchal, Technical Manager, Total Petrochemicals, Feluy (B)
Innovation Management	« The key competence of our consulting firm lies in our ability to guide our customers through their change processes and in their staff development programmes. Some time back, we intended to introduce a software tool to support our projects. It was soon obvious that we needed professional advice from a product development specialist. We found this ability in Kontrapunkt Technology. It took a few intensive workshops before we had a clear concept on the table - now we know exactly where we need to concentrate our efforts in the future. » Beat Kappeler, Partner, iwa, Effretikon (CH)