Innovative Product Management for the Energies of the Future

This article was originally written by DDIM and can be found at Innovatives Produktmanagement für die Energie der Zukunft - DDIM Mandate (ausgezeichnete-interim-projekte.de).
 

The Client

Boyden's client is a world-leading German company, globally successful and a pioneer in the production of renewable energy.

The Challenge

When the interim manager started at the company, he found the following situation:

• Very competitive market environment (renewable energy systems) with high price pressure
• Cost explosion and challenges in the development of the global supply chain
• Many product varieties & project-specific product adaptations
• The Management Board is facing up to this transition and has been successfully realigning the company since 2020

In light of this, the manager set these milestones:

• Creation of the company-wide product roadmap
• Establishment of a powerful and effective product management department
• Gaining the recognition of the other divisions with regard to the leadership role for the product portfolio
• Focusing on the development of new products (or adjustments to existing products) with the aim of relieving the burden on development
• Establishment of the department including recruitment of employees
   

The Solution

During implementation, the interim manager drew on his many years of management experience in transformation projects and his enthusiasm for sales and product management, enabling him to successfully drive the goals forward with motivation and team spirit:

• Creating a clear product roadmap and also communicating it
• Deprioritization of products that did not fit the new product roadmap
• Clearly defined inflow process for new development projects and adjustments to existing products
• Creating an understanding of product management as a core task within the company
• Establishment of the product management department (incl. coaching of the successor)
• Definition and coordination with all stakeholders of the new product family
• Supporting the market launch of the new product series with the largest onshore wind turbine in Europe
• Introduction of rolling product and technology news events, incl. training of over 200 sales employees as webcasts
   

The Results

The results that were achieved include the following areas:

• The international product management department was successfully established in merely a few months
• A new CEO was recruited as a transformation expert (the Boyden manager had only been on the job for two months at the time)
• A clearly defined product roadmap was developed and a rolling process established
• Ideas for new, digital, data-based product developments are being worked on within the company
• The pioneering future product was defined, development was started and successfully presented at the most important international industry trade fair. The Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and the company CEO unveiled the new wind turbine at this trade fair