Profitabel, als der Niedergang begann

Recently, a turnaround consultant told me: Every failing manufacturing company he works with was profitable when the decline started. He steps in when things stop working. So I asked him what they all missed.

The companies were niche, growing, and fully booked.

Their machines ran at capacity, and backlogs were stacked for months. So they optimized what was already working.

But then the market shifted.

Customers became price-sensitive. Competitors offered the same product cheaper. And the queue that felt infinite… disappeared.

The consultant remarked that "they never considered that the orders could stop."

From my side of the table, the pattern looks the same.

I sit in these conversations every week. Business is strong. The pipeline is full. Leadership talks about AI, innovation, new markets.

But when I ask what they've actually done: "We're looking into it." And almost always: "Did someone else already do this?" Nobody wants to go first.

I've seen one exception.

A CEO of a large Swiss retailer asked: "How will AI change our business, and what does it mean in numbers?"

We ran experiments across departments and measured outcomes. Within months, they created a full-time AI role.

They moved while business was still good and will most definitely reap the rewards.