UK Manufacturing Consultant. From the Factory Floor to Your Factory Floor

Remove the Stress from Your Manufacturing Operations. 

33% more output in 12 weeks. Production lead times cut from 47 days to 20. Turnover up 40% in 18 months with same staff, same equipment.

Those results come from manufacturing knowledge gained from 30 years on factory floors, a Masters in Manufacturing Management, and the kind of expertise that Cambridge University Press publishes and Parliament calls on for evidence.

Is Your Manufacturing Operation Holding Back Your Growth?

It's 4:30 PM on a Friday you're still at your desk. 

The production area stopped ground to a halt today, that rush order from your biggest client is already two days late, and your team is working overtime again this weekend just to keep up.

Meanwhile, customers and sales are breathing down your neck about delivery dates you know you can't hit.

You'll be thinking about the problems tonight, over the weekend, into next week.

Not only these immediate problems but what can you do to grow, the sales are there.

You've been back and forth over these two issues for a while.

Sound familiar?

You're Not Alone - But You Don't Have to Stay Stuck

Every day, manufacturing leaders across the UK face the same brutal reality:

• Customer demands are increasing while margins get squeezed
• Your team is maxed out but output keeps falling short
• Every day brings a new crisis that demands your immediate attention
• You know there's a better way but don't have time to figure it out

The truth is: Your biggest competitor isn't another company.

It's

TIME

Whether that’s the challenge caused by

• Incoming parts and material arriving late
• Customers wanting and Competitors offering shorter lead times
• Waiting for Engineering to re-draw designs, new product introductions
• Sales wanting to move orders around because of delays
• You wondering if giving your management team another 3 months they'll learn how to turn it around

The challenges caused by not having enough or needing more TIME can be solved.

What If You Could Deliver 20% More Output With Your Current Team?

Imagine walking into work on Monday morning knowing that:

•   Your production schedule is predictable - no more last-minute scrambles
•   Quality issues are caught before they become customer complaints
•   Your team actually goes home on time - overtime becomes the exception, not the rule
•   You can confidently promise delivery dates and actually hit them
•   Sales can sell more because operations can deliver more

This isn't fantasy. It's exactly what happened at companies just like yours.

"We thought we needed more people. We just needed better systems."

Global Printing Machinery Leader, Cambridge UK

• Production time cut from 47 days to 20 days in just 4 months
• Same staff, same equipment, 57% faster turnaround

"Our overtime budget disappeared - and so did our stress."

Fabrication & Manufacturing Organisation, Humberside

• 33% output increase in 3 months
• Zero overtime required to hit targets

"We could finally keep up with the sales demand."

Electro-Mechanical Assembly Company, Yorkshire

• From 8 to 12 machines per month with existing resources
• 50% increase without adding factory floor staff

Here's what most manufacturing leaders try:

• Throw more overtime at the problem
• Buy more equipment before optimising what you have
• Blame suppliers, customers, or "market conditions"
• Keep firefighting instead of preventing fires, "everyday is a school day"
• Look for yet another system, KPI to measure & monitor the teams
• Wonder if changing the leadership again would work
• Think up another "new" incentive, bonus scheme
  

It's likely you've tried these and they didn't work, they may have even made the situation worse. 

Here's what actually works in manufacturing:

• Systematically eliminate wasted time in your processes  
• Understand bottlenecks where they occur and how to remove them  
• Coach your team with clear systems and accountability  
• Predict and prevent problems before they impact customers  
• Create sustainable growth that doesn't depend on working harder  

The Manufacturing Consultant That Manufacturing Leaders, Institutions & Policymakers Trust

UK Manufacturing Consultant - Mark Greenhouse

Mark isn't just another consultant he's the manufacturing expert that world-class institutions, industry bodies, and government commissions turn to.

Academic & Institutional

He has written for Cambridge University Press on Lean Techniques, training business leaders across the globe. He has written for the Møller Institute at Cambridge University on making digitalisation projects succeed.

For over a decade he delivered an annual Manufacturing Operations Improvement lecture to more than 4,000 MBA and undergraduate students at Leeds University Business School.

Government & Policy

Levantar contributed evidence to the Manufacturing Commission's 2026 Parliamentary Enquiry into SME Manufacturing — reviewing how manufacturing SMEs can participate in the UK's Industrial Strategy. The enquiry was co-chaired by Lord Bilimoria and Bill Esterson MP and published by Policy Connect. The resulting report, Small Means Essential: why Britain's manufacturing SMEs are vital for growth, made seventeen recommendations to the UK Government.

Hull and East Yorkshire Councils have commissioned Mark to produce a Process Improvement Handbook and a 7 Hats of Manufacturing Leadership Guide for manufacturing firms in their area.

Speaking & Media Appearances

2026

BAMA Innovation Day — British Aerosol Manufacturers' Association, Royal Armouries Leeds, April 2026
"Transforming factory performance: practical strategies for improving capacity and lead times"
BAMA Innovation Day 2026 | Full programme

Manufacturing Leaders Summit — Theo James Recruitment & New College Durham, April 2026
"Simplifying manufacturing performance — identifying where productivity is lost"
Event listing

Manufacturing Leaders Podcast — Theo James Recruitment, January 2026
"Unlocking the Secrets of Manufacturing Efficiency"
Podcast page | Watch on YouTube

2025

Humber Business Week — June 2025
Lessons from Manufacturing Improvement

2024

Rubik Podcast — December 2024
"How Digital Transformation is Reshaping the Manufacturing Landscape"
Watch on YouTube

Future of Manufacturing Conference — Invest East Yorkshire, June 2024
Conference page

Process Improvement in Construction — sharing ideas from manufacturing companies linked to the construction sector - Hull & East Riding Council, July 2024
Lessons from Manufacturing
Event page

2023

Improving Manufacturing SME — HEY LEP, November 2023
Event page

Real-World Experience Combined With Academic Excellence 

Mark brings his 30+ years of manufacturing leadership from many different businesses combined with his qualifications.  Mark holds a Masters in Manufacturing Systems and Engineering Management from Nottingham Trent University and a BEng in Manufacturing Engineering, also from Nottingham Trent University. He uses this powerful combination and blend of manufacturing and supply chain knowledge and experience to help to clients to deliver the results they've been searching for.

Professional Memberships held by Mark Greenhouse 
Member, Institution of Engineering and Technology (MIET)
Member, Chartered Management Institute (MCMI)

Manufacturing & Industry Publications Mark Has Written For

Not Just Theory - Proven in the Trenches

Mark's journey from factory floor to boardroom:

Education: Education: BEng in Manufacturing Engineering and Masters in Manufacturing Systems and Engineering Management, both from Nottingham Trent University.

Started: Team leader and supervisor roles - managing real people, real deadlines, real consequences

Progressed: Through operations management positions - optimising actual production departments not theoretical models

Advanced: To Operations Director - responsible for entire manufacturing operations, P&L accountability

Mastered: Project management for major capex investments - new equipment, machinery purchases, department restructuring.

Why this matters: He's solved the exact problems you're facing, in roles just like yours, in factories and on industry sites like yours, with the same pressures you feel every day.

He's Walked in Your Shoes

• 20+ years from team leader to Operations Director
• Managed real production deadlines with real consequences
• Led major capex projects - knows what works and what doesn't
• Supervised teams doing exactly what your teams do every day

Academic Excellence Meets Real-World Experience

Manufacturing Consulting Results - Turnover up 40%

UK Privately Owned Machinery manufacturer based in Yorkshire with Mechanical & Electrical design, CNC machining and Assembly capability.

Problem: Lead Times too long and getting longer, customers complaining about the long lead times and missed delivery dates, quality issues and complaints rising.

An initial Factory Diagnostic Review was carried out. Initial insights identified that improvements to scheduling of work through the assembly sections would give the largest impact. A new scheduling tool was developed with the team and tested live and adjusted as needed. This was used in a single Daily Meeting, previously the business had held 3 Daily Meetings, the power of this solution reduced it to one.

Within 12 weeks the output had been increased by 33% OR just over £1M per month!

Other projects could then be introduced, e.g. kitting of parts for assembly teams to help reduce build time by 20% and improving quality control through several process.

Over the next 18 months,

• Turnover grew by over 40%,
• Gross Margin by over 80% and
• Staffing numbers by just 8.5%.

The increased output came without increased staffing costs. Increasing the Margin. 

Imagine that in your business.

Manufacturing Consulting Result - Output up 40% in 3 weeks!

UK Manufacturing plant in East Yorkshire with Laser Cutting, Fabrication, Welding, Paint and full Assembly operations. 

Problem: Customer Orders Delivered Late and at risk of cancellation. Ops Management team had been unable to solve and resigned, leaving one Supervisor to hold the plant together.

The initial Factory Diagnostic Review identified the single key bottleneck process. The first stage of improvement was to ensure this department was managed daily and the business was scheduled around it too. Further improvements were made to equipment being used, to speed up processing of materials, standard raw materials were specified and purchased. Both actions resulted in shorter times to process work at the bottleneck. Worked directly with Supervisor and shop floor staff to manage the production process through a daily meeting process.

• Within 20 days the weekly output had been increased from £120k a week to over £190k.
• Increased output was maintained with no extra staff. FREE OUTPUT WITH NO LABOUR COSTS
• Turnover increased from £6m to £10m in just 6 months.
• Customers and Haulage firms gave positive feedback on the ability to hit agreed dates. 

Staff then brough forward other projects which also improved quality and lead times, which convinced customers to stay. We redefined the management roles and assisted in recruiting a new Ops Management team.

** The results above can't be guaranteed, They are dependent on a number of factors. We work with you and your teams to find at least 20% more output from your existing, plant, machinery and teams. 
Before we start we recommend a Factory  Performance Diagnostic Review where we review and provide you with the insights and a target figure you could achieve. 

Why Manufacturing Owners & Leaders Call In Expert Help

UK Manufacturing Consultant - Mark Greenhouse

Mark consults regularly for Industrial businesses & Factory sites across the UK.

He works with businesses typically from £5m-£100m. He’s worked with SME and family owned organisations. As well as those with PE backing.

Providing manufacturing consulting services for much larger blue chip and multi-national organisations he has learnt that many times we are dealing with a single site at a time or on a single industry focus. Therefore the challenges are faced with small groups within a much larger business.

Instead of a list of technical solutions, such as 5S, Lean, Six Sigma, here's the questions manufacturing leaders often share with him, the production challenges they have, the factory problems they want to solve.

The reasons they get in touch....if your challenge is here, maybe you should too..

Strategic Growth Initiatives

"We need to double capacity without doubling costs"

• Factory expansion projects - optimizing layout before you build/move
• Mergers & acquisitions - integrating operations from acquired companies
• New site setup - getting it right from day one instead of fixing it later
• Product line additions - ensuring new products don't disrupt existing flow
• Capacity planning - understanding true bottlenecks before major investments

Major Factory Investment Decisions

"We're spending £50k - £250K+ and can't afford to get this wrong"

• Equipment selection - choosing machinery that fits your actual workflow and improves output
• Capex project management - ensuring new equipment delivers promised ROI
• Automation decisions - when to automate, what to automate, how to integrate and skill staff
• ERP/MRP system implementations - making IT and systems technology work for your operation
• Warehouse & logistics optimisation - increase throughput through better storage and dispatch

Organisational Changes

"Our people are our biggest asset - and our biggest challenge"

• Leadership transitions - when Operations Directors leave or get promoted
• Skills gap management - developing internal leadership capability for growth
• Multi-site coordination - standardizing processes across locations
• Shift pattern optimization - maximizing asset utilization
• Succession planning - preparing next generation of operations leaders

Crisis Management & Turnarounds

"We need results fast or we're in serious trouble"

• Rapid improvement initiatives - when the board demands quick results
• Cost reduction programs - cutting costs without cutting quality
• Customer complaint resolution - systematic approach to quality issues
• Supply chain disruption recovery - when key suppliers fail
• Regulatory compliance preparation - meeting new standards quickly

Market Pressures & Competitive Responses

"Our competitors are moving fast - we need to move faster"

• Lead time reduction projects - when customers demand faster delivery
• Lean manufacturing implementation - eliminating wasted time and effort systematically
• Quality system overhauls - achieving certification or customer standards
• Sustainability initiatives - reducing environmental impact efficiently
• Industry 4.0 preparation - digitalization that actually improves operations

Pre-Sale Due Diligence

"Potential buyers are asking tough questions about our operations"

• Operational value enhancement - improving metrics before sale/investment
• Due diligence preparation - ensuring operations can withstand scrutiny
• Process documentation - creating systems that survive ownership change
• Performance benchmarking - proving operational excellence to investors

I've developed some core services which you can read about in the links below. If you not sure whether these are for you, call me on 07712 669396. My initial consultation is always free.

What Makes Mark Different From Other Consultants

He's Walked in Your Shoes

• 30 years from team leader to Operations Director
• Managed real production deadlines with real consequences
• Led major capex projects - knows what works and what doesn't
• Supervised teams doing exactly what your teams do every day

His Masters and 30 years on the factory floor give him a deep understanding of:

• Deep understanding of MRP, ERP, and BoM optimization
• Production planning and scheduling expertise
• Bottleneck identification and elimination strategies
• Financial management of operations
• HR and team development in manufacturing environments
• knowledge of the Operating Model types you can choose and how they affect delivery, staff, finance, HR.

What makes this different? Most consultants have either academic knowledge OR practical experience of one industry.

Mark combines both - he studied the theory, then spent decades proving it works in real factories across many types.

Your Next Step Is Simple

Don't spend another weekend worrying about Monday's production schedule, thinking about that investment, second guessing how to move forward.

Pick up the phone, dial: 07712 669396 Or email: mark@levantar.co.uk

What Happens Next:

1. Free consultation call (1 hour) - understand your specific challenges.
2. One-Day Manufacturing Performance Review - identify your biggest opportunities
3. Custom improvement plan - tailored to your operation and constraints
4. Results you can see - usually within the first 30 days

Stop Accepting "That's Just How Manufacturing Is"

Your operation doesn't have to be chaotic. Your team doesn't have to be stressed.
Your customers don't have to wait. You don't have to work weekends.

Call 07712 669396 today.

Time is your most valuable resource. Stop wasting it on problems that can be solved.

Mark Greenhouse MIET MCMI
Manufacturing & Operations Consultant
mark@levantar.co.uk
07712 669396

"The best time to optimise your manufacturing was yesterday. The second best time is today."

These reviews are from 2018. If you're a recent client and would like to share your experience, we'd be grateful — leave a Google review here.

"Throughout 2016 I had the privilege of working closely with Mark Greenhouse of Levantar... any SME looking to build a strong platform in readiness for the next stage in its organisational growth... I am delighted to give testimony to Levantar."

Roy Thompson, Former Head of Production & Process Engineering, Inca Digital Printers, Cambridge
★★★★★ Google Review — March 2018 | View on Google

"Levantar provide a fantastic service...helped to dig much deeper to identify underlying issues across the business and how to improve them... really easy to work with and are able to challenge and develop individuals from the shop-floor to the management team. I highly recommend them.
Garth Williams Software Manager ABG International Ltd ★★★★★ — Google Review, May 2018 | View on Google

"An in depth knowledge of how to fix all the problems you can imagine any business to have, exceptional consultancy — cannot recommend them highly enough."
Phil Robson, Operations Manager, ABG International Ltd ★★★★★ — Google Review, May 2018 | View on Google

Page Last Reviewed: 1st June 2026