Panelfisa: Evolving Self-Management Through Practice and Reflection

This blog post is part of 80+ case studies of progressive organizations we created for the ZeroDX awards 2025. These organizations embody the principles of RenDanHeYi in their work structures:

• Zero Distance to customer: Decision what to build is based on insights from the marketplace

• Autonomy: Small teams with full decision-making autonomy enable speed in execution

• Shared Rewards: Everyone in the micro-enterprise participates in its financial success.

In its early years, Panelfisa evolved from producing simple nails and screws into a global supplier of cold-forged and laminated fasteners, serving the demanding automotive sector. Today, it exports 70% of its production to over 20 countries and serves global clients such as Volkswagen, Renault, and Ford, employing nearly 200 people across itsheadquarters in Spain and a production plant in Mexico.

The real shift began in 2011, when Panelfisa formally embraced self-management inspired by the NER Group model. This marked the start of a journey rooted in RenDanHeYi (RDHY) principles, focusing on autonomy, customerproximity, shared rewards, and continuous learning. "The first seven years were incredible. Today's Panelfisa hasnothing to do with the Panelfisa of 15 years ago, neither in numbers nor in the way it operates," recalled Satur Ormazabal, Panelfisa's coordinator.

For more than a decade, this model allowed the company to thrive, but as Panelfisa grew, new challenges emerged. By 2023, tensions appeared as teams had begun prioritizing their own objectives over broader organizational goals. "The teams focused a lot on team performance, but then the relationship between the teams was weakened," Ormazabal explained. This signaled a drift from RDHY's key principle of cross-team alignment around user value.

As these tensions accumulated, Panelfisa’s leadership grew increasingly curious about the deeper causes. "Westarted asking ourselves why these patterns were emerging, and whether there were underlying factors we were not seeing," Ormazabal explained. This curiosity led them to explore theories that analyzed cultural behavior, including the six cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede. "We began comparing ourselves with other cultures, trying to understand if some of our difficulties were influenced not just by organizational design but by national culture itself," he added.

To deepen this analysis, Panelfisa engaged an expert consultant specialized in these six dimensions: power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, masculinity vs. femininity, and indulgence vs. restraint. The consultant worked closely with the leadership team to map how Spanish cultural traits shapedbehaviors inside the company. "Self-management requires you to defend your ideas. If you don't speak up because you fear upsetting the group, decision-making becomes more complicated," Ormazabal reflected. High group loyaltyand uncertainty avoidance, typical of Spanish culture, made open debate and transparent decision-making harder to sustain.

Instead of seeing these cultural traits as obstacles, Panelfisa chose to transform this awareness into an opportunity for learning. The leadership deliberately combined both theoretical insight and practical experimentation to refine how self-management could function effectively in their context. This approach allowed them to acknowledge cultural realities while actively designing organizational solutions that respected both freedom and responsibility.

Understanding these deeper patterns allowed Panelfisa to diagnose why some self-management practices that worked in smaller teams or other countries were becoming difficult as the organization scaled. The leadership saw a growing imbalance between freedom and responsibility. "The tendency that was emerging is that the spaces of freedom were expanding, but the spaces of responsibility were being reduced,"said Ormazabal. New internal agreements were introduced to clarify expectations on matters such as vacation planning, internet use, and work schedules. "We regulate not to control, but so that when there is any discussion, we have the data," he added. These agreements reflect RDHY's emphasis on radical transparency as a safeguard for distributed authority.

Leadership selection processes were also refined. Originally, team leaders rotated every two years without added recognition. Over time, the role became more of a formality. "It was almost like being president of your neighborhood community: your turn comes, you do your year, and then pass it on," Ormazabal shared. To address this, leadership terms were extended to five years, and a management bonus was introduced. Teams continue to elect their leaders, but coordinators now provide feedback during the selection process. "The team always decides, but the coordinator can also give his opinion about the election process," he explained. This preserves autonomy while ensuring leadership capability.

The organizational structure itself underwent significant redesign. The original piloting team, once including up to 18people, was split into two driving teams: one overseeing production and engineering, the other managing commercial operations. A new Strategic Thinking Team was created to track progress on seven strategic challenges through quarterly reviews. "In strategic challenges, most companies fail because they are not given adequate follow-up," Ormazabal noted.

To reinforce internal alignment, interdisciplinary quality and efficiency teams were introduced, bringing together members from production, engineering, and planning. "We are talking less about the team and more about what brings those teams together," said Ormazabal. These cross-functional structures foster the type of zero-distancecoordination that RDHY promotes both internally and with customers.

Beyond structural adjustments, Panelfisa also revisited its core identity. "We also needed to reconnect a little with ourDNA," Ormazabal said. Working with external advisors, the company articulated values such as solidarity, participation,transparency, co-responsibility, humility, and effort. These values serve as behavioral anchors, ensuring that autonomy remains grounded in shared norms and expectations.

A defining evolution has been Panelfisa's growing focus on becoming a learning organization. "We say that we need to move from training to learning, which is a different concept," Ormazabal explained. Regular learning meetings nowaddress process challenges, particularly as the company enters more technically complex manufacturing. "This is atotally new element in Panelfisa," he emphasized, illustrating RDHY's emphasis on building organizational learning capabilities.

The impact of these transformations has been significant. Quality complaints were cut by half, falling from 46 in 2022 to 23 in 2024. The company also expanded its production of high-value, technically complex components.

Throughout this period, Panelfisa never treated self-management as a rigid formula. "We believe we can work on changing organizational culture. The key is to talk about the patterns that exist," Ormazabal emphasized. Instead ofabandoning self-management when challenges appeared, the company adapted its model to better balance freedom and accountability, ensuring that teams stayed aligned with enterprise-wide objectives.

Panelfisa today offers a thoughtful and evolving example of how RenDanHeYi principles can be applied in manufacturing. Its journey highlights how organizations can sustain decentralized models while continuously learning and adapting.