Operational leadership when speed and accountability matter

Interim operations leadership means an experienced operations leader steps in for a defined period and takes real responsibility for delivery — as COO, operations director, plant manager or production manager. You need it when delivery is slipping, a ramp-up or factory transfer has to succeed, or a leadership gap opens in the middle of it.

At the level the situation requires. I have led every level from production management to COO, often with a bigger title and a wider scope than the level itself, and I still take whichever one fits — plus board work and expert calls. That includes the top seat: a factory or unit run as its general manager, the whole business in one mandate. The title is not the point; the mandate is.

Both — and the span is deliberate. I am brought in when something has to change and the change needs seniority: beside a CEO as the senior operator, or in the top seat, running a factory or unit as its general manager with P&L, customers and organisation in one mandate. In mid-size industrial companies the top job is an operational job, so the two roles are closer than an org chart suggests. What I am never is a caretaker — the mandate is always to change something and answer for the result.

For urgent operational situations I can usually be on site within days. A short first call is enough to scope the mandate and confirm whether I am the right fit — and if I am not, I will tell you.

The structure stays. I build the operating model so the organisation owns it — daily management meetings, KPI cadence from shift to site, trained owners — and close with a structured handover. The goal is simple: the numbers must not depend on me being in the building.

With method, control and openness — not a promise that nothing will ever wobble, because every move is different and none of them is simple. The work is months of preparation before anything moves: competence transfer and training, buffer stock sized to carry the customer through the transition, retention and bonus terms negotiated with the unions so people have a reason to stay and deliver to the last day, and continuous, honest communication with everyone affected. Then I stay on the receiving site, usually three to six weeks, until output, quality and safety are back where they were. I have done this four times, from four different chairs — the governance and the experience are what I can promise.

Industrial and manufacturing operations of most sizes: owner-led and family companies, private-equity portfolio companies and larger group sites. The span runs from start-ups and new lines, through low-volume high-mix precision, to high-volume serial production — the common thread is an operation under pressure to deliver, scale or change. The largest single P&L I have owned was a plant selling finished products to end customers, with revenue around €80 million.

Most leverage sits in months three to twelve after a change of ownership, when the value-creation plan has to become operational fact. I also work at both ends of the cycle: operational due diligence before a deal, and exit-readiness before a sale — stable numbers, a governance structure that stands on its own, and no dependence on any one person.

That gap is common in acquisition-driven groups: each deal adds plants, systems and management teams faster than the integration capability grows. I take an acquired operation through the integration itself — common governance, factory moves and consolidations where they are justified, margin work on the floor — and leave a structure your next acquisition can reuse. Behind it sits a transfer record of five receiving factories in four countries, with customer deliveries protected throughout.

A transition is an operational event as much as a legal one. I step in as the bridge: keep delivery stable while ownership changes hands, build the operating structure the next generation — or the first external leadership — inherits, and hand over in a structured way. The owner keeps the strategic decisions; I make sure the operation carries them.

Yes. I am based in Sweden and take assignments across the Nordics and Europe. I have led cross-border transfers and restructurings involving Sweden, Norway, Germany, Poland, the UK and Finland. In the Nordics there is no culture bridge to build — I led a Norwegian plant as a Swede for four years, in the shared Scandinavian working language.

In the operating system, almost certainly — even when the product is new. I have run aerospace serial production, high-volume electrical products, plastics and polymers, and regulated pharmaceutical packaging; the pattern repeats: the sector is new, the system is not. Takt, flow, quality discipline and leadership on the floor travel between industries. The product specifics I learn on your floor, fast.

If the operation needs someone accountable for delivery right now, that is an interim role. If you want an operator’s judgement on a plan, a team or a decision, start with an hour — an expert call. We settle which one fits in the first conversation.

Both routes work. You can contract directly with my company, or bring me in through the interim provider or executive-search firm you already use. The person, the mandate and the accountability are the same either way — the route is a procurement choice, not a difference in commitment.

A few kinds — though I never say no until I understand what I am saying no to. I decline mandates where the responsibility comes without the authority to act, and work outside industrial operations where someone else is simply better. The fifteen-minute call exists exactly for this: if I am not the right person, I say so and point you somewhere better.

The title is for the boardroom; the work happens on the floor. I am as comfortable in a management meeting as at a machine, and I stay close to where the value is actually made. The mandate decides my altitude — the floor is where I verify it.