A major manufacturing business, who just happened to be part of a leading packaging company, identified the need for an external review of their market position and manufacturing capabilities; the aim being to improve their overall profitability.

After the initial review, three keys areas identified for improvement:

1) Waste reduction – with waste levels at 17% (equating to 8.5% of the turnover), this was identified as a priority. Changes to the design and planning processes soon resulted in savings of 5-7%.

2) Material utilisation – capital investment in production equipment identified a saving in raw materials of up to 9%.

3) A restructured and retrained sales force – targeting new markets and adopting a full service provider approach. The result was two-fold: first, it improved relations with existing customers, securing their loyalty and secondly, it created additional production opportunities for the under-utilised manufacturing plant.

Delivering on these key areas meant the business would multiply the profit four-fold (even accounting for the capital cost) within the first 12 months.