04. Relocating a business from Norway to Skierniewice, Poland

Scope and size of the project:

25 FTE
Revenue approximately SEK 50 million

25 FTE

Scope of project

EUR 50 MILLION

Revenue

3 MONTHS

Project Duration

RELOCATING

Project Type

Challenge

The assignment was part of a broader cost reduction program targeting approximately 20 percent of the cost base. One of the key initiatives was to consolidate operations and move production from a high-cost environment to a lower-cost structure.

Following due diligence, the decision was made to relocate the business from Norway to an existing facility in Poland with available capacity. On paper, the case was straightforward.

Execution was not.

Customers in Norway were used to lead times of eight to ten days. Transport from Poland alone required several days. Maintaining delivery performance while relocating production became the central operational challenge.

Together with local production management, the solution was to redesign the operating model. Production was reorganised into three shifts per day, creating the flexibility to produce several days of output within a shorter time frame. This allowed production to be completed faster, leaving time for transport without extending customer lead times.

What previously required five to six days of production was reduced to approximately two days. Output increased. Unit cost decreased. The new structure created room to strengthen the commercial organisation and improve profitability.

Lesson

Relocation cases often appear simple in analysis but require precise operational redesign to succeed.

The critical step is not the decision to move. It is how the new operation is structured to meet existing customer expectations under new constraints. Lead times, capacity, and flow must be engineered, not assumed.

External perspective can accelerate this process. Established ways of working are often accepted without being questioned. Bringing in new viewpoints allows alternative solutions to be identified and implemented.

Execution across countries also requires leadership that can adapt to different cultures and working environments. The ability to align teams with different backgrounds around a common objective is a practical requirement, not a theoretical one.

Financial control remains central. Pre- and post-calculations, cost tracking and continuous follow-up are necessary to ensure that the expected benefits are realised in practice.

Final reflection

Relocation is not a transfer of production. It is a redesign of how the business operates.

When the operational model is adjusted to the new reality, relocation becomes a lever for both cost and performance improvement.