One of our global clients had major production issues causing losses, in the millions per day, at one of their manufacturing plants of 2000 people in Tijuana, Mexico. Despite guidance and advice from the global leadership to rectify these losses, changes were not being made under the current General Manager’s leadership. The leader of the plant was very well liked but the global leaders took the difficult yet necessary decision that they needed to replace him. The biggest concern was the further loss of production if the plant leader were to find out he would be replaced. Our client did not want to use a local executive search firm, as they were concerned about the confidentiality. We were asked to carry out the search as it had to be incredibly confidential so that the leadership changeover could take place within one day to minimise disruption.
After listening to the challenges and understanding the impact a future leader could have on the plant, we set about to find an exceptional individual who could turn the plant around. We searched globally and in the initial batch of interviews one of our candidates from Asia was offered the position. Unfortunately, once he’d researched the local area he declined the offer due to safety concerns of the location. We went back to the drawing board and in the next batch of interviews a second candidate was offered the role, he visited the location with his family and unfortunately declined, also due to security issues. The candidate landscape was very limited due to the nature of the role, the location and the expertise and experience required for such an immense role.
Finally, we uncovered what we felt was an absolute super star, who had grown up in the city and wanted to return after years of working away. After his final interview with the leadership team, they were incredibly excited and hopeful he would join. This had not been a straightforward search and having had two candidates reject the offer. Within 3 months of starting, the new GM already started to turn things around and the team had accepted and respected the new leader and were all happy to learn that the plant was now hugely profitable and operating like clockwork.
