Our Clients
Smiths
- Project Outline
- Smiths is a global technology company focusing in detection equipment, medical devices, energy and communications markets. In 2009-10 Smiths turned over £2.7b and the group employed 22,600 people in Europe, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Maxxim has worked with Smiths since 2007.
Phase 1 – Aligning the Corporate Centre with the strategy
In 2007 Smiths sold its aerospace division to GE which significantly reduced the operational size of the remaining business. Maxxim was engaged by the CEO to review the corporate centre and the relationship with the business divisions with a brief to radically change the structure, governance, cost base and processes of the Group. The relationship between the centre and the divisions needed to be re-negotiated and new metrics and behaviours established. In the process, the divisions took on more accountability and responsibility for driving their businesses forward with remuneration schemes in place to reflect this. The result of Maxxim’s work has been savings of over £10m at the corporate centre together with further targeted savings of £48m in the divisions. These cost savings were delivered in parallel with underlying sales growth of 6% and resulting profit growth of 10%.
Phase 2 – Aligning Finance with the strategy
As a result of their work at the corporate centre, Maxxim were retained by the CFO and divisional Finance Directors to design a functional blueprint for the finance organisation. The work extended to support the divisions through the detailed design and implementation planning phases and as a result 10%+ savings were identified. Maxxim’s work included the design of a business partnering and shared services structure making better use of group scale, and included clarifying responsibility between the centre and the divisions across all finance processes.
Phase 3 – Aligning HR with the strategy
Maxxim worked with the HR leadership team during 2010 to design the target operating model for HR and in parallel supported them in the development of an HR Information Systems business case to enable the transformation. The target operating model included new HR organisation structures and roles and responsibilities based around centres of expertise, business partners and administration hubs. In addition, the team designed new governance structures and KPIs, a service delivery model, and standardised HR processes to act as the backbone of the new organisation. The target operating model identified significant savings for the divisions and identified improvements to talent management processes enabling the group to further develop the capability of its management. - Testimonials
-
Terry Nolan – HR Director, Smiths GroupVery client centred, they are not trying to sell you an off the shelf model…Maxxim tailors the solution to your problem knowledgeable, practical and hard-working.