COO visit: Performance driven management

Dr. Anis Kammoun visited LEONI Serbia to emphasize the importance of the countries performance to the future of LEONI. Performance driven strategies are the primary principle to master the challenges ahead of LEONI. Dr. Anis Kammoun and the Serbien team reviewed the continuously improved company’s operations and business results.

LEONI Serbia had the great honor of welcoming Dr. Anis Kammoun, the newly appointed Chief Operating Officer of our parent company, LEONI Wiring Systems Division (WSD). His first visit to our company represented an excellent opportunity to further confirm our dedication to shared strategic goals and the continuous improvement of our operations, with a particular focus on enhancing profitability.

During his two-day visit to our facility in Kraljevo, Dr. Kammoun engaged in a series of constructive and meaningful discussions, gaining a detailed insight into the performance not only of this production unit but also of LEONI’s overall operations in Serbia, including all four of our plants.

He was briefed by Aleksandar Petrović, General Manager of LEONI Serbia, together with the plant directors - Ivan Đorđević (Kraljevo), Amr Shawky (Prokuplje), and Stefan Đorđević (Malošište and Niš) - as well as Srđan Stanković, Finance Director.

Special attention was given to the analysis of achievements, operational efficiency, and opportunities for further improvement of overall performance and market impact. In this context, COO Dr. Kammoun emphasized that this very approach will serve as the foundational management model for the entire LEONI Wiring Systems Division: „Performance-driven management at all levels will be the core principle guiding our activities in the upcoming months and years. It is very important for us to understand how we are achieving performance in every single production unit. We need to develop clear and actionable plans that will enable us to leverage the highest level of performance.” Dr. Kammoun emphasized.

During an extended tour of the production facility in Kraljevo, the COO closely examined the organization and the implemented solutions. This visit proved especially valuable for the LEONI Serbia management team, as the direct interaction with Dr. Kammoun provided an opportunity to gain new perspectives and insights, drawing from his extensive experience and expertise built over a long career in the automotive industry.

We took the opportunity during this visit to conduct a brief interview with Dr. Anis Kammoun.

What is your strategic focus as you take on the role of COO at LEONI?
The first key idea is performance-driven management. We need to focus clearly on the low-hanging fruit at LEONI. We don’t have the time to go deeper and deeper into small, incremental improvements. We know what the opportunities are, and we need to act quickly, bringing them directly to the shopfloor.

The goal is to implement benchmarking between different plants and countries - pushed to the limits. We now have transparency - we have the P&Ls, and P&Ls with external sales will be available soon. This will allow us to benchmark clearly between plants within the same country, but also the regions amongst each other. Plant-level performance must be pushed to the maximum achievable level by defining clear action plans. 

This is my main focus. This performance management is based upon topics like productivity, like improvement of the performance KPIs, like scrap reduction. Regarding fixed costs optimization, we must continue to follow through on our commitment to reducing overhead, particularly for indirect white-collars.
When you mention the need to reduce complexity at LEONI, what exactly do you mean? As someone from communications, my first thought would be bureaucracy, but I’m sure you're referring to other aspects as well.

I’m thinking about two different topics. The first is bureaucracy and speed. We often deal with complicated processes, and as a leadership team, we need to understand how to make them faster. The second topic is complexity on the shop floor. We have a lot of it, and what I mean by complexity there is Muda activities that do not add value. Muda is a Japanese term that stands for “waste” or “pointless activities” in lean management. We have plenty of that across different plants.

How do we solve it? The first step is implementing what we’ve introduced as the LEONI Operating System (LOS), a standard that eliminates Muda and waste. Additionally, as a leadership team on the shop floor, we need to conduct GEMBA walks daily, and not just daily, but during shifts as well, leading the team to identify optimization opportunities and Muda-related issues and address them immediately.

Does LEONI have the strength and capacity for these significant changes?

Definitely! We have the strength because LEONI, first and foremost, has the competence. LEONI is a people-oriented company that has done a great job in the past by training its employees and placing the right people in the right roles.

From my experience visiting various plants, as well as from leading the development center for plant managers, I can confidently say that we are ready. We held workshops with over 33 of our plant managers from around the world, and from that experience, I can confirm that we are prepared. What we need now is the right mindset: to recognize that we have the capability. Once we set ambitious, aligned targets and begin working towards them in unison, I’m confident we will succeed.
How does LEONI plan to navigate the challenges currently facing the automotive industry?
LEONI's approach will clearly start with adapting to change, which focuses on enhancing collaboration with Luxshare. This will be one of our key priorities, and we have already begun. While there are limitations on what we can share, we have started where permitted. As the deal progresses, we will be able to engage in more detailed collaboration. Finalizing this agreement is one of LEONI's main objectives.

On the other hand, in light of the uncertainty and fluctuations in order volumes, particularly in high voltage, the LOS will allow us to be flexible. Once implemented, it enables us to adjust our production lines in response to short-term changes in customer orders. We have already demonstrated this capability in 2024, and for 2025, the level of ambition we have set in our targets is even higher. I now expect our teams to continue accelerating this process so that we can achieve our results, regardless of volume or market conditions.