CDI Holdings · Case Study Library
MDW® Recovery · Western Cape, South Africa — Fruit Packhouse
Kromco
“Your Best Choice” — Turning Around a Cautionary Tale with MDW
Leading South African Fruit Packhouse · Failed Initiative 1988 · Relaunch 2006 · 20× Profit Growth · Productivity SA Award · UK & EU Retailer Recognition
20×
Profit growth
by 2009 vs 2007
by 2009 vs 2007
147K
Bins (from 120K)
in three years
in three years
80%
Innovation ideas
implemented
implemented
2nd
WC Productivity SA
Awards (2008)
Awards (2008)
Background
The Most Important Case for Every Sceptical Prospect
Kromco is a leading South African fruit packhouse. In 1988, the company launched a workplace excellence programme aimed at world-class performance. It failed — due to unrealistic expectations, weak management follow-through, and deteriorating business results that forced retrenchments and abandoned the process entirely. This is not a small detail; it is the most important fact about Kromco's eventual success.
In 2006, a new management team and board recommitted to transformation under the banner “Kromco — Your Best Choice.” This time they chose MDW®, and this time they understood what had failed before: not the concept, but the commitment. Three years later, profit had grown 20-fold, and Kromco was collecting national productivity and maintenance awards.
In 2006, a new management team and board recommitted to transformation under the banner “Kromco — Your Best Choice.” This time they chose MDW®, and this time they understood what had failed before: not the concept, but the commitment. Three years later, profit had grown 20-fold, and Kromco was collecting national productivity and maintenance awards.
The Challenge
Relaunching Trust Where Trust Had Been Broken
The most difficult challenge in the 2006 relaunch was not operational — it was credibility. Management, employees, and unions all remembered 1988. The legacy of that failure created active resistance and deep scepticism toward any new improvement initiative. Add the seasonality of fruit packhouse operations (results needed quickly or the window closes) and the scale of the leadership challenge becomes clear.
The Approach
Earning Trust Back — Town Meetings, Small Wins, and a Culture of Innovation
1
Leadership Commitment Made VisibleMonthly town meetings created the transparency that the 1988 failure had lacked — all staff informed, all progress shared, all setbacks acknowledged. A visible shift from directive to participative leadership style demonstrated that something was genuinely different this time. CDI-facilitated workshops aligned leaders with the MDW process.
2
Celebrating Small Wins as Strategic CommunicationResults from internal audits and external stakeholder feedback publicised widely as strategic proof that the 2006 relaunch was different from 1988. Independent accolades (Productivity SA, Pragma, UK and EU retailer commendations) validated progress through external sources that sceptics could not dismiss as management spin.
3
Customising MDW for SeasonalityFruit packhouse operations run in windows. MDW was customised to Kromco's operational rhythm rather than applied as a standard template. The understanding embedded in the relaunch — that each company must adapt MDW to fit its own context — was the structural learning from the 1988 failure applied directly to the 2006 design.
4
Line Management Ownership — Champions Coordinate, Leaders CoachSustainable change was led by committed line management, not sustained by external consultants. Champions coordinated the process; team leaders coached the people. CDI facilitated and advised; Kromco's own leaders drove. This distinction — built into the design from the start — made the transformation durable rather than dependent.
5
The Innovation Programme — Structure, Target, Recognition, MomentumInnovation was framed as a strategic priority with a specific ambitious target: implement 80% of submitted ideas. The 80% commitment told every employee that their idea would be taken seriously. Monthly recognition with a R500 voucher for innovator of the month and symbolic gifts for all team members. An annual Innovation of the Year award sustained momentum across the full programme — creating an innovation culture structured enough to sustain and human enough to motivate.
The Two Attempts
1988 — Workplace excellence programme abandoned. Unrealistic expectations, weak follow-through, retrenchments. Trust broken at every level.
2006 — New management team relaunches with MDW. Vision anchored to “Your Best Choice”. This time, commitment is real and sustained.
2009 — 20× profit growth. 147,000 bins. National awards. UK and EU retailer recognition. Three years from scepticism to front-runner.
Key lesson: top management must show 100% commitment. Worker-level buy-in is equally critical.
Sustainable change is led by line management, not consultants. Champions coordinate; team leaders coach.
Results — Three Years from Scepticism to Front-Runner
From Cautionary Tale to Best Choice
20×
Profit Growth
Profit before tax grew 10× in 2008 and 20× by 2009 compared to 2007 — from breakeven to sustained profitability in three years of recommitted MDW.
147K Bins
Throughput Increase
Bin intake rose from 120,000 in 2006 to 147,000 in 2009 — a 22.5% increase driven by team ownership of operational performance.
80%
Innovations Implemented
80% of submitted employee innovations implemented — the commitment that turned the innovation programme from a suggestion box into a genuine improvement culture.
2nd Place
Productivity SA Award
2nd place, Western Cape Productivity SA Awards (2008) — external validation that the transformation was real and competitive at a provincial level.
Pragma
Maintenance Awards
3rd place (2009) and 2nd place (2010) at Pragma's National Maintenance Management Awards — consecutive recognition confirming sustained performance.
Global
Retailer Recognition
Multiple commendations from UK and EU retailers for service and quality — international validation that a South African fruit packhouse had become genuinely world-class.
“
Sustainable change is led by committed line management, not external consultants — champions coordinate, and team leaders coach.
Key Lesson · Kromco MDW Recovery Programme
Key Insight
Kromco is the case for every prospect who says “we tried this before and it didn’t work.” The 1988 failure was real. The resistance in 2006 was earned. The 20× profit growth is the proof that what failed was not the idea — it was the commitment. MDW® does not require perfect conditions. It requires that the people at the top mean it, the frontline believe it, and both are held to the same standard of follow-through.
