SARIA Global Newsletter February 2023

UNO – For improved collaboration within the Group

UNO is an organizational project which was initiated October 2022, as a consistent next step to the 3 DIVISIONS – 1 GROUP transformation from a national based to an increasingly divisional organization.

UNO will align our administrative and finance organization with the evolving structure of our divisions. During the first phase, UNO will clarify and align roles, structures, and responsibilities in IT, HR, Finance and Strategic Purchasing at the interface of the corporate functions and the O2P and Sinova divisions.

In brief on Project UNO:

Q: What is the purpose of Project UNO?
Being one strong and united SARIA Group means that each part contributes its core competencies with the clear goal of advancing both the individual parts and the Group as a whole. Project UNO will contribute to this target for the administrative and financial functions.

Q: What are the benefits of Project UNO?
It’s about collaboration, instead of working side by side. By collaborating within a frame with clear rules and responsibilities, we will avoid unnecessary coordination efforts and duplicated work. Furthermore, clear structures will strengthen our organization to enable future growth and facilitate even quick(er) adaptation to the challenges of the changing market environment.

Q: How do we achieve these targets?
The participants for the countries and divisions in scope have defined in a catalogue of standard processes who should be responsible, accountable, consulted or informed in each step of the process (known as the ‘RACI matrix’). This matrix is the foundation to ease and improve future collaboration and organization.

Q: How does the project proceed?

Q: What is the timeline of the project?
The Project UNO is the starting point of designing the future collaboration model of the corporate functions and countries in scope. Recognizing that change will take time and many colleagues will be involved, the new structure is to be introduced as soon as possible, but also as well timed as necessary to ensure that the common steps toward the new organization are as inclusive as possible.

Who is involved and what is in the current scope of the project?

Current Scope:

O2P and Sinova divisions, Group Functions, local corporate functions

In particular: France, Spain, Poland, Italy

Specifically: Finance, IT, Strategic Purchasing and HR

Steering Committee: Executive Board members: Peter Hill, Nicolas Rottmann, and Tim Schwencke.

Transformation Team: led by Gregor Brück, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions, accompanied by Claus Eckmann, Director Human Resources SARIA Group.

Workshop Participants: selected experts from the functions, countries, and divisions in scope.

External Support: for organizational design PwC supports the expert teams.