What happens when a company in a mature market reaches a growth deadlock? Ruwac Asia, the Thailand-based member of Germany’s Ruwac Group that also coordinates activities across Asia, builds industrial vacuum systems that clean factories to spotless precision. Yet by 2024, the company itself had gathered a layer of dust: a settled mindset, sluggish sales, and an operational culture that had grown comfortable on autopilot. Then a new Managing Director, Matthias Hoffrichter, arrived with a clear growth mandate. A high-energy All-Rounder with strong Ideas-leaning tendencies, he wasn’t hired just to manage, but to turn the company around. First, he needed visibility. Who was on the team? Which roles were they playing? And were the right people in the right seats?

Guided by TIPS, we began by profiling more than 30 employees across four departments: management, sales and marketing, corporate services, and production. The TIPS Team Profiling Maps told a telling story. Production was a sea of Systematizers: eight of them, alongside one Experimenter and two All-Rounders. Corporate Services leaned on Organizers and Technocrats, a textbook case of profiles fitting function. Sales and Marketing was more balanced, with Promoters, an Ideator, and a Partner, but it lacked true hunter energy. In short, Ruwac Asia ran on Systems energy. What it needed for growth was more People energy.

On July 24, 2024, we brought our TIPS Talent & Innovator Profiling Workshop to Ruwac’s offices and factory in Chonburi, delivered in both English and Thai so everyone could fully join in. The TIPS Lineup Game and the TIPS Staffing Game got the room moving. The defining moment came when we invited the profiles one by one to step onto a large TIPS Profiling Map laid out on the floor. When we called the Systematizers, a crowd stepped forward onto the same spot. The MD and I traded a few jokes, and the whole room burst out laughing at the sight. Suddenly, everyone could see it: one profile dominated the company. That explained Ruwac’s strength in building precision machines, and why its sales side was running thin. In other words, Ruwac Asia didn’t have a motivation problem. It had a profile imbalance, and now it was visible to everyone.

One month later, we closed the loop in a management alignment session with two questions: So what? Now what? Action followed. Several Systematizers from production volunteered to stretch out of their comfort zone. Months later, they were confidently hosting customers at Ruwac’s house fair. The MD and HR began repositioning people and filling gaps through their new TIPS lens. Ruwac Asia hired new salespeople, and today every new recruit is TIPS-profiled for role fit and fit with the overall team. Ultimately, the workshop rekindled the team’s zest, and the turnaround gained momentum.

Is your company running smoothly on proven processes, yet stuck when it comes to growth? Contact us to find out how TIPS may help you make your team’s talents visible, put the right people in the right seats, and bring in the energy your next growth stage needs.