Case Studies In Brief Below you will find synopses for a number of projects we have undertaken, broken down into major sector categories. If you would like to receive a full version of the project example, please make a request via the feedback form on the "More Information" page   Manufacturing | Service | Distribution/Logistics | Retail | Mining   Manufacturing Sector Plastic Drainage and Plumbing System Manufacturer Subject of a recent MBO and moving from the relative security of a major group. Having a need to take indirect cost out of the business and improve the profitability of the factory and warehouse functions whilst maintaining a favourable market position. Electrical Engineering and Manufacturing Company Traditional culture, design engineering lead. Confused responsibilities and ownership of pre-production business processes, leading to extended delivery times. MRP user, but poor interfaces with Commercial and Design activities. Lack of focus by shop floor management on the key performance measures such as on-time delivery and productivity. Industrial Glass Lens Manufacturer Highly specialised but grossly underutilised and capital intensive glass manufacturing plant. Needing to develop a new marketing strategy through analysing potential market opportunities and develop new products using the existing manufacturing capability and workforce. Bathroom Suite Manufacturer Multi-site manufacturing and warehousing operation making to stock, but needing to improve forecasting and balance inventory to allow improved customer service. Suffering from poor productivity and poor capacity utilisation in manufacturing areas and needing to improve the predictability of deliveries to the warehouse. Cable Manufacturer. Three diverse production units suffering from co-ordination problems within the divisional commercial department. Unclear management accountabilities and poor systems for controlling areas such as sales order processing, sales/production interface, and production planning. Specialist Alloy Strip Manufacturer Following a recent MBO, the company realised that it would not be able to survive long term without the rationalisation of the organisation structure to reduce the overhead cost. It also needed to enhance it's ability to deliver improved customer service and to replace the current reporting pack with one more focused on the three distinct areas of the business. Fashion Clothing Manufacturer Possessing four manufacturing units and being heavily dependent on one customer, this company had adapted itself to meet the demands of its major customer. In the process it had lost internal control of its various departments (Sales, Design, Technical, Planning and Purchasing) which were operating as independent entities, and hampering efforts to achieve its financial targets. Printer of Self-Adhesive Labels Under pressure from head office to generate budgeted returns, but suffering from a loss of market share, low conversion ratios, and uncompetitive costs, despite having picked up business in modern applications. The organisation structure was functionally compartmentalised with significant individual power bases and no means for senior management to exercise control over the entire business. Electric Motor Manufacturer Following the implementation of new layouts and control systems to create production cells using a mixture of modern and traditional methods, productivity levels had not increased as expected. The inability of the feeder shops to produce the right components at the right time was also hampering the drive for improved productivity. Wooden Door Manufacturer 18 month old company, moderately successful but suffering from high stock levels and poor delivery performance. High raw material wastage in "make to stock" manufacturing strategy. Manufacturer of Machine Tool Spares Problems with the enquiry to quote to order acceptance processes were causing difficulties in meeting delivery promises. Lack of an integrated control system and knowledge of the exact capabilities and limitations of the shop floor resource were contributing to the problem. Paint and Building Chemical Manufacturer and Distributor Customer Service levels and costs of the warehousing and transport operation were giving cause for concern, as was the frequency with which key raw materials were having to be ordered, despite apparently healthy stock levels. Production batch sizes were seemingly at odds with customer call-off quantities, leading to the poor performance levels. Manufacturer of PVC Flooring Products and Waterproofing Products Wishing to operate its continuous process plant round the clock this company needed to react to a perceived lack of flexibility of shop floor staff, this company needed to reassess its manufacturing organisation and working practices to maximise productivity. There was also a need to address the traditional inflexible working practices of the Engineering department. Thermoplastic Injection Molding Company This company had recently introduced 24 hour per day working to accommodate a 40% increase in demand in the last 12 months. They needed a strong management input to the shop floor operation to maximise machine uptime and a significant reduction in levels of waste produced. In the warehouse there were also stock balance errors which were adversely affecting customer service levels. Manufacturer and Distributor of Chemical Products This client was in the process of a major restructuring of its European commercial and financial operations and required a very strong project management and cost control input. The in house management team was busy with the "upwards and outwards" aspects of the project and needed assistance with the "downwards and inwards" aspects and detailed control and completion of project tasks. Electric Motor Manufacturer Cell-based shop floor operation, but struggling to achieve the necessary output and backlog reduction areas. A major barrier to improvement was poor performance of a highly capital intensive process which affected all products. A major rethink of the way the bottleneck was managed was required, together with a maximisation of cell productivity. Electric Motor Manufacturer With the introduction of a new product design and a significant increase in workload, there was a need to update the layout of the assembly line and to introduce revised methods of shop floor control to maximise productivity and control the delivery backlog. Products requiring rework were causing long delivery delays, and shorter throughput times were needed. Injection Molding Company Using highly capital intensive plant and seeking to ensure that each of its machines was being to maximum effectiveness, this company needed a better system for capacity planning and job scheduling, and for ensuring that production plans were achieved consistently and at the right cost. The present shop floor structure meant it was difficult to keep tabs on exactly what was going on. Roadside Compressor Manufacturer The internal team attempting to define processes during the SAP implementation realised that too many of its activities were disjointed and would need reengineering, particularly in the areas of material control and logistics. At the same time there was a need to take overhead cost out of the business and introduce cellular manufacturing techniques to make the company fit for the future. Specialist Printed Label Producer Following Management Buy-Out, this company needed to set up an organisation to best meet the perceived needs of the business. The right system for managing the scheduling and productivity of the printing plant was essential, and the company wanted to complete the half-finished implementation of a new computer system to assist their customer service people. Manufacturer and Distributor of Bathroom Units Having a very strong market position, this company was suffering from a very high fixed cost burden, and needed to assess Shop Floor, Production Planning, Warehousing, Purchasing, Accounts, and other support areas to bring about the necessary cost reductions. At the same time the service given by these departments needed to be improved, not compromised. Specialist Chemical Manufacturer The financial risk of continuing to deliver a product which customers felt was sub-standard was unbearably large. The company needed to redefine the internal quality standards, communicate these to all affected personnel, assess present manufacturing procedures and introduce new controls which would ensure the new quality standards were met consistently. Electronics Printed Circuit Manufacturer Need to reduce overhead cost and to re-focus the organisation away from being a comfortable large company department, to being lean and fit and able to win business in a highly competitive market. A new organisation and set of procedures was needed for engineering and quoting new jobs and shop floor operations needed to be improved if manufacturing costs were to be reduced enough to allow the company to compete effectively. Glass, Aluminium and Plastics Manufacturer This company realised that the vast increase in the number of players in its core markets would required them to be able to produce with the lowest cost per tonne. It needed to produce a financial model which would take into account all the pertinent cost drivers and provide information which would determine how they could best rationalise their locations to allow them to get as close to this minimum cost as possible. Specialist Baker and Confectioner Excessive material waste costs were being experienced and the company needed to take a very detailed look at the material flow for all ingredients throughout the whole bakery. Contributory problems were also perceived with shop floor supervision and hygiene standards. Bus Manufacturer The doubling of demand had caused problems for this old-fashioned traditional business, whose outdated procedures prevented any effective cost and production control. The factory felt cluttered and disorganised and there were never enough bits to finish a bus. A doubling of production within 6 months with no increase in labour would require the introduction of some of the new manufacturing ideas and some very tight project control. Manufacturer of Paint Application Products The subject of a recent MBO, this company needed to improve the utilisation of its mature plant and make sure that the limited resource was being used to manufacture products which were not going to sit in the warehouse for weeks on end. Recent productivity improvement efforts had plateaued but more was needed to achieve World-Class Manufacturer status. Tungsten Carbide Tooling Manufacturer This company had a urgent need to improve the utilisation of the installed capacity for its specialised manufacturing process, and was suffering from the effects of a partial implementation of a new production management structure. Having a strong technical expertise but poor production management skills, the company was experiencing rocketing labour cost, without the expected increase in output. Manufacturing | Service | Distribution/Logistics | Retail | Mining     Service Sector Construction Industry Service Company Operating on numerous construction sites across the UK, and utilising sub-contract labour as their main source. Experiencing difficulty with allocation of work to the various sub-contractors from a centralised head office, and with controlling project costs and the attainment of project milestones. Construction Industry Service Company Well established company which had enjoyed a favourable position in its marketplace for a number of years. The number of depots used by the company had gradually increased over a period of time and had become unnecessarily cumbersome, expensive to run and required a large number of managerial and administration staff. Vehicle Leasing Company The recent introduction of a centralised, one shop – non stop service to provide customers with the complete range of services offered by this company had led to a deterioration in customer service and rising staff turnover. The new systems had, in fact, been ill defined with no single right way of doing business, and would need to be looked at again. County Council Building Maintenance Division Ex-public sector department now needing to sharpen up contract control procedures in order to be able to compete in the private sector. Poor systems in place for monitoring contractor activities; consequently key performance issues were not being highlighted to the decision makers. Productivity of support staff also affected because of duplication of checking activities and performance of non-essential activities. Public Sector Passenger Transport Maintenance Round the clock maintenance operations carried out on a firefighting basis with routine maintenance activities being neglected. Heavily unionised and engineering – led culture making it very difficult to drive through any improvement initiatives. Poor progress reporting on specifically agreed longer term maintenance activities. Plant Hire Company Nationwide operator with over thirty depots. Management had identified the need to improve the operations of the business in the key areas of Customer Interface and Workshop Control and Productivity. Suffering from an inability to monitor depot activity levels and reasons for non-attainment of financial targets. Plant Hire Company Operating out of 30 depots in North America, this company needed to integrate several disparate cultures into a cohesive unit, with common reporting systems. They had also recognised the need to develop a more customer focussed service strategy, whilst improving the control of depot stocks using a centralised inventory control system. Catering Company to a UK Airline This company was facing a crisis brought about by the demise of two of its major customers. In house attempts to reduce overheads had been largely ineffectual, and remaining customers were driving for price reductions when renegotiating contracts. Suffering from poor purchasing strategy and having no systems for the control of direct activities. Alarm Installation Company This company was experiencing a high level of customer churn and was gradually pricing itself out of its historical markets. A newly installed computer system was hampering the business because of programming errors and lack of installation expertise resulting in the need for manual intervention and duplication of effort across the business. Integrated Computer System Provider In an attempt to create a business capable of keeping pace with the rapidly developing IS market and to provide a competitive response to customer demands, this company needed to rethink its whole company structure. It also needed to develop planning and control systems which allowed it to maximise the utilisation of its three of four distinct classes of experts (Engineers, Consultants, and Trainers), and to ensure that the necessary hardware was readily available when their customers needed it. Worldwide Telecommunications Company Data Centre The lack of any systematic operational processes to generate efficient service levels had led to an unacceptably high level of customer dissatisfaction. Excessive resources were devoted to administration and bureaucratic paperwork, resulting in multiple levels of non-essential resource which were insular, self-serving and had poor focus on the real customer. Local Authority Owned Bus Company Suffering from low fleet utilisation and availability. Current market opportunities exist which could only be met through improved availability of the fleet. Struggling to make changes to bring this about due to presence of poor employee relationships and a very strong powerbase in the workshop management staff. Alarm Manufacturer and Monitoring Security Group Despite a well-qualified, professional set of managers and a healthy set of improvement initiatives, this company was suffering a lack of cohesion between head office and the many branch operations. The sales order process was unnecessarily protracted and problematic, and the company needed to needed to re-engineer some of its other internal processes to maximise returns from the available marketplace opportunities. Construction Company The purchasing department had grown around traditional methods over the years and was now in need of a major update to cope with the volume of business at reduced overhead cost. The introduction of a computer system would require a fresh look at the way purchasing was carried out throughout the organisation. Train Operating Company The need to deliver against commitments imposed by the Government's passenger charter meant that the company needed to take a look at the organisation and management of it's maintenance activities and organisation. The lack of information on routine jobs coupled with and the heavily unionised environment would hamper any drive for change. Train Operating Company Faced with the problem of how to maximise the utilisation and minimise the costs of train crews and diagrams, whilst, this company needed to take a critical look at its depot strategy, diagram planning procedures and the daily planning and control of traincrews. Making the necessary changes would impact on the introduction of revised train timetabling, establishment setting for train crews, and linking. Construction Plant Hire Company This company faced the need to develop a new customer base after supplying its parent company exclusively. Behind the times, the business had attempted to rectify the situation with the introduction of a new company operating system. Profitability of the individual services offered by the company were uncertain, as was the view of what the market would need in the future – crucial information needed to determine future strategy for the business. Water Utility Company Emerging from the protected world it previously enjoyed, this company needed to improve the productivity of its leak detection, repair, and network services to stave off competition from independent sub-contract operators. New procedures would be required for scheduling routine work and responses to emergency calls. It would also need to win new business, and maximise the utilisation and productivity of its field workforce. Public Service Administration Company The boom in the industry had resulted in a situation where demand far outstripped the ability of the department to process sales and this had resulted in an unmanageable and growing backlog of paperwork. Measurement of the size of the backlog was, nevertheless, inaccurate. A quick fix was needed to satisfy the auditors along with a review of procedures to provide the ability to clear the backlog and keep on top of new sales. Facilities Management Company This company, recently facing free market pressures, was failing to provide contractual levels of cover on its many municipal activities and maintain overall profitability. Suffering with the poor attitudes and work practices often found in the public sector, there was a pressing need to revise organisation structures and change procedures to allow cost to be taken out of the business without further deterioration of the level of service being provided. Manufacturing | Service | Distribution/Logistics | Retail | Mining     Distribution/Logistics Sector Window Installation Company. Subject of a recent MBO, struggling after 5 years of decline, and disenchanted by the offerings of the large accountancy consultancies, who had failed to deliver the much needed profitability improvements. High head office cost base, made up of departments operating largely independently of one another causing significant variation in the performances of their various installation depots. Specialist Distribution Company. Operating 3 areas of business out of a large number of distribution depots throughout the UK. Operating base increasing rapidly due to the company's recent series of acquisitions. Needing to develop and implement a new business strategy and structure, whilst absorbing a number of diverse cultures in their various SBUs. Distribution Company to the Oil Industry Part of a Plc, not considered as core business but attempting to expand by developing into higher value added activities. Focussed on IT but having ineffective labour supervision, poor planning and control systems for vehicle utilisation and incurring high levels of overtime which it is attempting to redress with the use of casual labour. Importer and Distributor of Ceramic Tiles Needing to respond to a downturn in the market by taking cost out of the business, particularly in central warehousing activities, where the availability of labour did not seem to match the demand for product through the week. An opportunity for cost cutting was also perceived to exist through the reduction of the number of management layers. Agricultural Equipment Wholesalers A family business, run by Father and Sons, operating a seasonal business from a number of depots in the UK. Identified the need to realise short term cost reductions to safeguard the future of the business. This required a radical rethink of the depot strategy, and the introduction of direct labour controls to match capacity with workload and maximise productivity. Manufacturer of Fibre-Bonded Floor and Wall Coverings This company needed to bring about a significant improvement in performance of the Warehousing and Despatch areas. It required the streamlining of the management structure and the introduction of management controls to maximise the productivity of the suspect areas, and the introduction of a more effective means of managing inventory levels. Distributor to Major Supermarket Chain Working out of a number of depots in the UK this company wanted to introduce a standard management control system across all locations to drive productivity improvement. It realised it would need outside help to assist its internal team with the development of new organisation structures, crewing levels and shift patterns matched to the unsocial operating hours. Agricultural/Horticultural Machinery Distributor With the majority of its managers approaching retirement and systems and procedures which had not kept pace with the times, this company needed to update it's operations and management controls to ensure survival in the modern age. The selection and implementation of an appropriate computer system would help. Chilled Produce Packing and Distribution This company was struggling with the logistics of making timed, out-of-hours pickups from a large number of sites whilst being pressured to reduce the cost of sub-contract fleet hire through improved driver and vehicle utilisation. It was also trying to and maximise the productivity of casual labour used in the packing and warehousing operations. Chilled Food Warehousing and Distribution The company, recently split away from a larger organisation, had been left with processes which were not suitable for the smaller company. Its management team lacked the experience to develop new procedures more suited to a fledgling commercial entity. Product locations within the warehouse and with stock control procedures would need to be looked at, as would changing the working practices to cope with revised shift patterns. Manufacturing | Service | Distribution/Logistics | Retail | Mining     Retail Sector Large Central Warehouse for Food and Non-Food Products Inefficient warehouse operations and high stocks in the retail outlets. The company had made a heavy investment in computer technology to help manage the business, but this had been only partially installed. Also suffering from an unclear management focus and direction with high central administration costs. High Street Retailer of Fashion Shoes Delivering high fashion at high street prices, but coming under increased pressure from competition and experiencing a squeeze on profitability. Remote head office attempting to impose strategy, but with weak control of retail activities and poor sales/costs ratios. Poor productivity in warehouse activities and inefficient distribution operation. Stationery, News and Cards Merchandiser Generating enough cash through existing shops to fund future growth would require a critical look at the detail of the merchandising practices (Product, Pricing, Promotion, and Placing) employed throughout the existing chain of shops. The existing management seems lethargic and not customer focused. Could they actually bring about the growth of the business required by the board? Manufacturing | Service | Distribution/Logistics | Retail | Mining     Mining Sector Open Cast Mining Company A profitable company, experiencing apparently uncontrollable fluctuation in performance in successive accounting periods, and unable to consistently deliver good results to the parent company. Suffering from a lack of meaningful management reports and review procedures, adversely affecting productivity. Mineral Extraction Company Over the years the presence of the right types of raw material in the ground had reduced, requiring a more innovative approach to the forecasting of requirements and in the planning and control of the extraction of the material which was available. Early attempts to reengineer the business from the front end using internal resource had been abandoned due to lack of time and expertise in such a major reorganisation of the business.