The Client:
Action Composites is a manufacturer of carbon composites (carbon composite materials) for the automotive industry. The Austrian-Taiwanese company was founded in 2011 and had about 1,800 employees in mid-2021 with production sites in China and Vietnam and powerful sales companies in Austria (for the European market) and Hong Kong (for the Asian and American markets). The company is growing strongly and already had sales of USD 54 million in 2021. Apart from wheels, Action Composites produced a wide variety of visible and structural carbon parts for the automotive high-volume and premium segments, including stabilizers, engine covers, door sills, rearview mirrors, and rear spoilers by mid-2021. Carbon parts are 30% – 50% lighter than comparable products made of aluminum or steel. Click here to visit the Action Composites “Action Composites” homepage.
The Project:
In August 2021, the Action Composites Group acquired thyssenkrupp Carbon Components GmbH in Kesselsdorf near Dresden, which specialized in the production of carbon wheels for sports cars and motorcycles. Management Factory provided the CFO with procuration until January 2022 to manage a rapid carve-out of the company from the thyssenkrupp Group and to integrate the company strategically, organizationally and financially into the Action Composites Group.
Highlights:
- Implementation of a TSA (transitional service agreement) with thyssenkrupp for accounting, controlling, payments, IT (infrastructure, SAP, telephony and support), payroll and intellectual property. These functions were previously managed by thyssenkrupp in its own corporate service centers;
- Renaming of the company from thyssenkrupp Carbon Components GmbH to Action Composites Hightech GmbH and drafting of new articles of association;
- Implementation of an interim solution for the establishment of a lean and powerful commercial department in Saxony with accounting, controlling and IT;
- Implementation of the abas accounting module, takeover of the entire payment transactions of thyssenkrupp, introduction of rolling weekly cash planning
- Relocation of labor-intensive production steps to Vietnam incl. preparation of the necessary asset purchase agreements for the transport of the required machinery;
- Restructuring, workforce reduction and cost optimization at the German site;
- Development of a multi-year plan as well as support of the owners and the management in all commercial areas.