My Overall Objective – To help you create more value in your business
Your business will be focussed on doing what it does as well as it can. As a result of this it will probably not be as good as it can be at managing change and conducting analysis to seek improvements in performance in some less obvious areas.
This is the area I focus on, using technical skills and experience gained in this type of role over many years
Realising a new product – from idea to market
Whilst the product and its recipe may be developed, there are a lot of decisions and development work to see it through into production. I can design and develop the manufacturing process for the product and conduct negotiations and tests with equipment suppliers. This then leads naturally to a complete process design and specification, investment costs and other requirements such as services.
Plant and Process Design – innovation leads to excellence
If a plant or process line is to deliver maximum efficiency and flexibility at minimum operating costs it requires an innovative approach to ensure that the very best solution is selected. It also requires a properly integrated design process. This starts with a clear specification of what it will be required to do and continues via defining the equipment capability and capacity to equipment and plant specifications, services requirements, etc. This then allows an accurate cost estimate to be made and the viability of the project tested before the plant is ordered and built
Commissioning and Start Up – making the investmentstart to pay
Process commissioning and start up is an extremely important phase of a plant’s genesis, lateness and quality issues can destroy a products chances in the market place and excessive costs can destroy its viability. The manufacturing process needs to be brought on line in a controlled manner and potential issues with output, efficiency and quality identified in advance and monitored closely. The operating staff must be involved, trained and motivated during the commissioning process so that a successful transition to “beneficial operation” is achieved on time and on budget.
New processes for existing products – expanding production, reducing costs
Many successful products are constrained by quality, production and cost restrictions. It may be appropriate to completely rethink the manufacturing process and to develop a new way of making the product. This can give substantial benefits and allow a product a to move to a new level of excellence and profitability
New products on existing plants
By analysing the capability and capacity of existing production lines it is often possible to work with marketing teams to develop new and innovative products to increase utilisation and reduce costs for existing products as well as taking new products to market quickly and economically
Analysing the cost base – techniques to understand the costs in your business
Costs are always too high! By using analytical techniques to break down the manufacturing costs of a product it is possible to identify where there opportunity to reduce costs and improve efficiency. This includes not just obvious categories such as ingredients, labour and energy but less well recognised ones like waste, give away and energy effluent. In most cases a side result has been an improvement in product quality and consistency
Capacity analysis – do you really need to invest in more capacity or is the potential already there?
A myriad of issues can reduce the effective capacity of a plant and leave you unable to supply demand. A logical system for working out the capacity losses from its “perfect” 24 hours/day 365 days/year point of origin allows a greater understanding of the areas which need to be controlled to maximise opportunity. These can range from lost time waiting for ingredients, shift change over issues to recognising a problem with product mix or unscheduled shut downs.
Factory layouts and design – what’s needed and where it should be
Designing a new factory starts with understanding the requirements of the processes and equipment and their associated services. It also needs to take into account factors such as warehousing, the requirements of the workforce and product flow patterns. Bringing all these factors together in a good factory layout has an important effect on the efficiency of the manufacturing unit
Equipment suppliers – working with industry experts to get the right equipment specifications
Your management team has been recruited, developed and trained to run an existing factory as efficiently as possible. They are unlikely to have experience of working with equipment suppliers, carrying out test work and developing and agreeing the specifications of new equipment
Skills of Associates
Through my associates in Acumentia I have access to other complementry skills such as recipe development, packaging technology and regulatory and labelling requirements