Beratungs-Check
Two days on site. Ten areas reviewed. One roadmap.
Most consultants start in the meeting room. Whoever reads the figures first goes looking for confirmation on the shop floor afterwards. The Beratungs-Check (advisory check) reverses the order: people first, then process, then the shop floor, then the numbers, then the tools, and the market last. For owner-managed machining, forming and welded-fabrication businesses with 9 to 250 employees who want to know where they actually stand.
Book an initial callStaff interviews
One-to-one conversations across every level, without supervisors present. Does everyone know exactly what is expected of them today?
Leadership
Does anyone besides the owner make operational decisions? Would the business run for three months without the owner?
Processes
How does an order travel from enquiry to delivery note – and where does the real workflow deviate from the org chart?
Purchasing & suppliers
How much depends on a single supplier or a single source of raw material? Concentration risk.
Production
Machines, tooling, changeover times, scrap – seen in light of the first four areas, not in isolation.
Quality
Are there inspection plans, or does whoever has time do the checking? Is scrap and rework tracked systematically?
Costing
Does the quoted price really cover every cost – or does the answer live in the owner's gut feeling?
Post-costing
Planned versus actual cost per order: where did the margin go, which order type doesn't pay off?
Digitalisation
Which tool solves a problem the previous areas actually surfaced – not whichever tool is trending.
Marketing
How would a prospective customer even learn the business exists – and that it does exactly what they are looking for?
- Maturity matrix – traffic-light rating per area
- Prioritised gap list
- Recommendations in order of priority: what to tackle first
- Roadmap with time and cost frame
- Fixed price for the two days on site, plus travel expenses; we quote the price in the initial call
- 50% on commissioning, 50% on delivery of the report
- Report within 10 business days of day 2
And afterwards: Technische Partnerschaft
Whoever implements the report's recommendations with us books the Technische Partnerschaft (technical partnership): 2 days a month, minimum term 6 months. If commissioned within four weeks of the report being delivered, 25% of the check fee is credited.
More on the Technische Partnerschaft (technical partnership)- Documents before day 1: organisation chart, current costing template, recent financial statements (rough overview), supplier list
- Interview partners available on day 1 and day 2 – across departments, including without supervisors present
- Access to production, storage and the relevant documents, plus one internal point of contact
- One real order from current production for process tracking on day 2
The Beratungs-Check is an assessment with a roadmap – not implementation consulting and not a certification. You receive a prioritised list of what to do, not a finished solution. No restructuring appraisal, no tax or legal advice.
Is this the same as the Technische Partnerschaft?
No. The Beratungs-Check is the one-off assessment with a roadmap. The Technische Partnerschaft is the ongoing support afterwards, for anyone who wants to implement what the report recommends.
Why start with staff, not straight to the numbers?
Whoever starts on the shop floor sees machines. Whoever starts with staff sees why the machines are standing still. Ten different answers to the same question point to a communication gap, not ten separate incidents.
Do we get a finished solution?
No, a prioritised gap list with a roadmap. Implementation itself is the job of the Technische Partnerschaft or your own team.
What if we've already done a Defense-Readiness-Check or Nachfolge-Check?
The Beratungs-Check looks broadly across the whole business, while the other two checks go deep on a single topic. We agree in the initial call which check fits your question – and what a previous check has already clarified.