Manufacturing Consultant UK – Stop Firefighting….

Is Your Manufacturing Operation Holding Back Your Growth?

It's 4:30 PM on a Friday and you're still at your desk, aren't you?

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

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

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.

Real Results From Real Manufacturing Operations

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

Global Printing Machinery Leader

• 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."

Manufacturing Organisation

• 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

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

Why Your Current Approach Isn't Working

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 ❌

Here's what actually works:

• 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  ✅

STABLISE

Prevent Your Manufacturing Output From Getting Worse; Make Costs, Quality, Delivery Dates Predictable

OPTIMISE

Making Your Operations As Productive, Efficient & Cost Effective As Possible

GROWTH

Enable Your Manufacturing Leaders & Teams to Deliver Your Business Growth Targets

Real-World Experience Combined With Academic Excellence 

Mark brings his 30+ years of manufacturing leadership from many different businesses combined with his Masters qualifications in Manufacturing Management to clients to deliver the results they've been searching for.

Manufacturing Consulting Results - Turnover up 40%

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

Problem: Lead Times too long and getting longer, customers complaining.

Assessment carried out. Initial insight that improvements to coaching on scheduling would give the largest impact.

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

Other projects could then be introduced, including reducing 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 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.

Identified key bottleneck process and communication improvements. Worked directly with Supervisor and shop floor staff to manage the production 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.

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 £500k+ and can't afford to get this wrong"

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

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 waste 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

The Manufacturing Consultant that Manufacturing Leaders Trust

When Cambridge University & Global Publishers Choose You...

Mark isn't just another consultant - he's the manufacturing expert that world-class institutions turn to:

He's written for Cambridge University Press on Lean Techniques, to train the leaders of tomorrow across the globe. Written for the The Moeller Institute at Cambridge University on his insights to making digitalisation projects succeed.

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

He regularly supports the teams at Hull and East Riding Councils and has presented on the

• Improving Manufacturing SME - November 2023
• Future of Manufacturing Conference - June 2024.
• Process Improvement in Construction - Lessons from Manufacturing July 2024.
• Lessons from Manufacturing Improvement - Humber Business Week June 2025.

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

The bottom line: When the world's leading educational institutions need manufacturing expertise, they call Mark. Shouldn't you?

Industry Publications Mark Has Written For

Not Just Theory - Proven in the Trenches

Mark's journey from factory floor to boardroom:

Education: Studied Production Engineering to degree level, subsequently he went on to gain a Masters Degree in Manufacturing Systems and Engineering Management.

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

 As a manufacturing advisor, Mark has worked with manufacturing firms and production sites across the UK and Europe across a range of sectors. This has given an insight into operations from high speed automated production lines and warehousing through to hand built technical assemblies; assemblies designed and built for specific customers.

• Electrical Cabinet Assembly (Wiring Prep and Finish) - control cabinets assemblies for various industries
• Welding and Fabrication including painting & blacking
• FMCG (bottling, filling and packaging) - soft drinks, toothpastes, shampoos, crisps
• Chilled Foods - soups, sauces, salads, coleslaw(s), ready meals
• Metals Processing (CNC Lathes, Milling, Grinding) - 20mm diameter through to 450mm x 500mm
• Electro-Mechanical Assembly - of sub assemblies in various industries.
• Printing

This range of sectors means he's worked with companies whose output is measured in millions of items a week (bags of Quavers, bottles of lemonade for UK Supermarkets), through to those who deliver just a handful of machines or sub assemblies a month (World Leading Printing machines).

He's also experienced many industries in which Production and Assembly aren't the final step in the process. Following on come Commissioning and Testing and finally Dispatch - all of which form part of the lead time to customers.

Mark has experience and expertise across a large range of manufacturing industries in several types of leadership roles;

• FMCG
• Fabrication, Welding
• Mechanical Assembly
• CNC Machining
• Bottling
• Food Production
• Electrical Assembly

• Supervisor
• Production Manager
• Project Engineer Capex
• Site Production Engineer
• Department Manager
• Global Management Roles
• Operations  Director.

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

• 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

Masters Degree in Manufacturing & Systems Management gives him a deep 

• 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
Manufacturing & Operations Consultant
Masters in Manufacturing & Systems Management
mark@levantar.co.uk
07712 669396

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

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
Manufacturing & Operations Consultant
Masters in Manufacturing & Systems Management
mark@levantar.co.uk
07712 669396

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