Outcomes
the turnaround delivered results that were, by the client’s own admission, remarkable. Delivery performance leapt from 14% to a sustained average of 92% to order. Raw material and work-in-progress inventory was reduced by approximately £5 million. Sales revenue recovered a 20% deficit against budget, and sales margin recovered a 25% deficit. Customer confidence was restored and senior management credibility rebuilt — all within twelve months.
The client’s VP of Operations said:
“All the transformation that happened in the last 12 months would not have been possible without Curzon support.” The Head of Group Manufacturing added: “This is the best example of a site transformation and progress on the Journey to Process Excellence that I have come across — and to do all this in 12 months is truly remarkable.”
Background
The site had lost the confidence of its customers entirely. Delivery performance to order stood at just 14% — a figure that had eroded trust at every level of the supply chain and damaged the credibility of site leadership. A £5 million capital refurbishment programme had been sanctioned, but bricks and mortar alone could not fix what was fundamentally an operational and cultural problem.
The issues ran deep. There was no clear understanding of supply capability relative to demand, material availability was unreliable, and relationships with internal suppliers had broken down. Inventory was out of control. The ERP system — a tool that should have been central to operational management — was poorly implemented and barely used, leading to a proliferation of workarounds on the shop floor. Perhaps most telling of all was the cultural dynamic: a workforce and management team that had learned to accept poor performance as the norm, without question or challenge.
Curzon Approach
Curzon’s approach combined immediate operational intervention with the longer-term capability building needed to make the improvements stick. Working directly on the shop floor and alongside management, we implemented the foundational disciplines that the site was missing.
A Sales & Operations Planning process was introduced to bring demand validation and supply commitment into alignment for the first time. Visual planning boards gave the shop floor a live, shared view of the plan and progress against it. Daily performance and discipline routines — supported by visual management — restored accountability at every level. Warehouse and inventory management routines brought stock under control, while a sustained effort to improve data quality and ERP usage eliminated the workarounds that had become embedded in daily practice.
Running in parallel with these operational changes was a structured programme of management and staff coaching — building the functional capabilities needed to sustain the transformation beyond Curzon’s involvement. A business management system and KPI framework were embedded to ensure ongoing performance visibility and a culture of continuous improvement.
