News Archive

May 2010

Newton Performance Improvement programme Rolled Out to Second Aircelle Site

Building on the dramatic success of an initial performance improvement project, Aircelle, a leading player in the global aviation nacelle market, has engaged Newton, Europe's premier operational and financial improvement specialist, to roll out its innovative package of efficiency measures to a second site.

By bringing in a fresh approach developed by its team of highly qualified and expert engineers, Newton was able to achieve significant financial benefits valued in six figures at Aircelle’s Burnley site in North West England. This included looking at alternative purchasing procedures including e-auctions; rationalising internal processes; introducing more rigorous stock control and optimising material damage control, as well as establishing greater dialogue with workers, managers and suppliers to stimulate innovation.

'The success that Newton brought to our Burnley site in their recently completed project provided the evidence to support a roll out', said Aircelle Managing Director, Andrew White. ‘By working on the shop floor at Burnley, Newton’s engineers were able to provide us with practical solutions that fixed bottlenecks and other problems in our manufacturing processes and supply chain. They didn’t just produce data and a thick report, but passed on their expertise to our people so our workforce and management could build on the initial achievements in the longer term.’

Aircelle has now asked Newton to look at their operations at its Le Havre site in Northern France to build on the success of the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) project at Burnley, which focused on the company aerospace grade fasteners activities.

Newton will be adopting the same methodology at Aircelle's Le Havre site. Aircelle selected the Oxford-based company on the basis of its track record in the area of performance improvement and their shared views of best practices. Newton offers clients a 'no win, no fee' guarantee whereby the cost of the firm's services are met out of pre-agreed improvement criteria.

Ian Quest, Director at Newton said, 'Aircelle has revolutionised the aviation sector with its commitment to innovation, dynamism and quality. Performance improvement is what has distinguished them in the market place and we are delighted to be working with them on this programme'.

He added, 'Clients obtain a range of benefits from our services. As well as reducing costs, the improvements that we help bring about can boost production to meet demand spikes without increasing costs or capital outlay'.

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March 2010

Profit Through Efficiency: Operational and Financial Improvement

Now more than ever private equity houses must add value to their portfolio. The key to delivering multiple £m profit and cash improvements is through operational due diligence, the upsides it can identify and subsequent improvement programmes.

Read the full article here.

Newton Frees Up Order Capacity in Excess of £3m at WFEL

Newton, Europe's leading operational and financial improvement specialist, and WFEL, private equity owned world leader in tactical military bridging, today announced that they have successfully completed a project to increase order capacity without capital expenditure. The project, which formed part of WFEL's internal continuous improvement program, identified a 16% increase in productivity in 16 weeks, equating to GBP3,000,000 in freed up order capacity.

Since 1915, WFEL has led engineering innovation across the defence sector for both land and air based solutions. WFEL selected Newton to manage the project as a result of their commitment to Best Practice and innovative solutions.

"With 10 years experience in transforming businesses, Newton identified several opportunities to improve manufacturing processes at WFEL" said Kevin Jones, Director at Newton. "Newton worked on the shop floor with WFEL area managers to implement a Build Plan Methodology to improve the flow of priorities, whilst also improving key operators' access to tools and services."

Newton's Build Plan Methodology was quickly deployed across the WFEL site. Almost immediately, the internal system highlighted discrepancies relating to the supply chain, which then were alleviated through revamping production scheduling bringing a consistent increase in WFEL's site productivity.

"Newton gave us the skills and information needed to take the sustained improvement and drive it on further" said Ian Wilson, Chief Executive at WFEL. "They took information from our labour and management systems and provided an easily accessible interface. This allowed us to make the right decisions at the right time without compromising performance."

Adopting Newton's methodology on Build Plan has significantly increased the capacity, productivity and profitability at WFEL. "With a continuing increase in demand for tactical military bridges across the world, we are now in a position to take on more orders without affecting our productivity and the quality of our products" Ian Wilson, Chief Executive at WFEL.

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February 2010

Healthcare Team Target Additional Overtime Sessions worth £240,000

A three month project has been completed at a world-leading endoscopy unit within an NHS trust serving a local population of 500,000. The focus was primarily on modernizing the booking process for the unit and delivering operational improvements within the procedure rooms, resulting in a 12% utilisation increase and a reduction in on-the-day cancellations of over 50%.

Prior to the project, the unit was considered to be operating at full capacity. Waiting lists were increasing, and in order to cope with demand the Trust had to respond by running expensive weekend sessions at a cost of £240,000 p.a. This situation was unsustainable. To tackle this, the project initially focussed on making improvements to the appointment booking process. Historically, a paper-based diary system was used, providing poor visibility of upcoming appointment availability and leading to admin errors. This resulted in under-booked and poorly utilised sessions.

Working alongside the client team, Newton developed and implemented an electronic booking system which allowed the unit to manage bookings and deal with last minute cancellations much more effectively. The tool also enabled detailed patient information to be securely stored under each appointment leading to improved planning and patient care. In addition, Newton worked to significantly reduce appointment DNA rates through the design and implementation of a new streamlined patient confirmation process. Used in conjunction with a performance reporting tool, this has allowed the unit to better manage its capacity requirements.

As a direct result of the project, the Trust was able to allow all weekend endoscopy volume to be absorbed into standard weekday sessions, leading to a full phase-out of costly weekend sessions.

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January 2010

Custom IT Solution Reduces Assembly Time of Complex Aerospace Component

Newton has recently completed a project to reduce the hours taken to manually assemble a complex aerospace component. The areas of opportunity were in rigorous short interval control of the production line, an improved internal supply chain and improved tooling availability and control on the shop floor. Underpinning the success of the project was the custom design, build and implementation of simple, effective and robust new web-based IT system. To find out more click here.

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December 2009

Newton works to improve Defence Training Facility

Newton has recently started a project at a major UK defence contractor supporting work to bring one of its training facilities to full capacity. Working directly with the on-site team on several parts of the improvement programme, Newton is utilising both its expertise in process improvement and experience in the defence sector to make rapid improvements to an organisation facing a complex mix of challenges.

Newton’s IT team are also supporting the project, working in close partnership with the Client and Newton’s operational improvement team. The IT team are developing a number of bespoke tools to both support the management of the facility and help to drive a step change in operational performance. Using a bespoke solution developed by the Newton team allows improvements to be realised much more rapidly than could have been achieved with an off-the-shelf solution or by using an independent IT contractor.

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November 2009

Stock Management project yields £660,000 cash release

Newton has successfully completed a 12 week project at a major UK aerospace manufacturer with an annual turnover of over £100 million. To find out more click here.

Engineers Without Borders – Newton Support 2009

Two EWB projects are being supported by Newton this year, a wind turbines project in the Philippines and a hydraulic ram pump project in Nepal. Our support began with a half-day training session with all the EWB volunteers at their pre-departure course in June. The course focussed on structured problem solving and project management, two areas where Newton’s industrial expertise is of significant value to the projects and both key skills that the volunteers must have in order for their projects to be a success. Since then we have been working with the teams for our particular projects.

Richard Jones is working with the team on the wind turbines project. The project is a 1 year placement and focussed around the new build and installation of a turbine in the remote village of Lamag in the Philippines. The key to a successful installation is developing the ownership of the turbine in the local community to ensure that the turbine is effectively used and well maintained. Richard’s current involvement is through weekly emails to review project plans and progress and he will be visiting the project for 2 weeks in January 2010.

The hydraulic ram pump project is being supported by Richard Graham. The pumps use the natural head of water from a river to pump water to a storage tank at height, thereby easing the collection of water in rural communities. Over the summer Richard worked with the volunteer and project manager on research into the concept which has been successfully used in the Philippines for the last two years. The 9 month placement started in September and Richard will be visiting the installation site in February 2010.

To read about previous EWB projects that Newton has supported, visit the EWB page.

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September 2009

Newton Develops Acceptance Best Practice

Newton has long held a strong relationship with a major global naval ship manufacturer, built on a history of delivering improvement projects with significant measurable benefits in both Design and Production. In its most recent engagement with the client Newton was able to further demonstrate its breadth of expertise, developing and implementing a successful Contract Acceptance programme.

The challenge for the client project team was to deliver a cutting edge naval solution to an overseas customer. Language barriers and the high complexity of the equipment meant the team faced additional complications in demonstrating the delivery of the customer’s specification.

Working alongside the client team, Newton developed an innovative strategy for ensuring the complete specification was met. To enable this strategy an effective IT solution was implemented, allowing the tracking and measurement of thousands of actions across multiple stakeholders. The impact was immediate – greater control of actions and a clear measure of progress meant that the project areas putting the programme most at risk were visible to all and the business was able to focus on the right problems in order to mitigate those risks.

The development of this process is industry best practice for Contract Acceptance; it has de-risked the programme and more than satisfied the needs of the client.

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August 2009

Reducing Extrusion Rework and Increasing Capacity

Newton has recently commenced a project at a UK-based plastic extrusion plant, targeting annual savings of £2 million. In addition to the annual saving, Newton is also aiming to dramatically reduce the level of WIP requiring rework in the factory, thereby releasing £700k capital.

Through the utilisation of a bottleneck-focused approach, Newton has already succeeded in increasing the rate of rework WIP consumption by 20%. In conjunction with the on-site team, Newton are working to tackle the key causes of scrap and it is anticipated that the scrap rate will be halved over the next six months.

Newton Refines Technical Query Process

A fast response to technical queries is critical to any design process in ensuring that product on time delivery is not affected. For a major marine engineering project across four of the UK’s largest dockyards fast query turnaround is a real challenge and clarity and quality of communication is of major importance.

Newton worked with the local design teams across all four sites on a 16-week project to standardise how technical queries are raised and solved. The improvement project refined the existing problem solving process to ensure it resulted in clear solutions and detailed where and when the query had originated. A new query management database was developed to help the local teams handle the volume of information.

The result of the improved management of the process, new problem solving techniques and increased focus and drive from dedicated members of the local teams was a sustained 200 per cent increase in the monthly rate of solving and closing queries. This took the pressure off the design teams and de-risked design from the delivery progress of the whole project.

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July 2009

Healthcare Team Target Significant Improvements to Operating Theatres

A three month improvement project is underway within an NHS trust serving a local population of 360,000, with an annual income of over £190,000,000. The focus is primarily on operating theatres, with the aim of improving utilisation by 16%, equivalent to a value of £1,600,000 p.a.

The first stage involved a one week assessment to establish the scale and value of the opportunity and to understand the feasibility of any potential improvements. This was followed by a three week scoping phase whereby a cross-functional action team was set up in order to gain further valuable insight. This allowed a better understanding of the key constraints and the actions required to overcome them.

The first major area of targeted improvement was the turnaround time between each operation. Working with the local team, a series of pilot trials were set up to reduce delays and to tackle typical problems experienced by staff on a daily basis. This has so far produced encouraging results, halving turnaround times. In particular, ensuring all wards and surgical staff have accurate and up-to-date information means that each patient is prepared and transferred to the correct theatre, allowing operations to start on time.

Other areas targeted include late starts to operating sessions and the causes of cancelled operations. The aim of the project is to ensure operations are running on time and without unnecessary delays, resulting in better use of surgical staff’s time and fewer patient cancellations. This will lead to reduced waiting lists and increased income for the hospital.

Newton enters a team into the Mongol Rally

On the 18th July Christian & James will be heading off on the Mongol Rally. This is a charity rally that involves driving 10,000 miles from London to Mongolia, unsupported and in a completely inappropriate car, with the aim of being back at work within 5 weeks. The car must be less than 1.3L and worth around £500 - a 2000 Skoda Felicia has been purchased and, after a few minor modifications, will hopefully be up to the challenge!

For sponsorship and to keep track of progress go to the Mongol Rally website

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June 2009

NHS Trust Saves £1,250,000 p.a. within a six week project

Newton has successfully completed a six week project with an NHS trust serving a population of over 200,000 with an income of over £130 million. The project identified and implemented savings in two areas, totalling £1,250,000 p.a. To find out more click here.

Newton in Procurement Leaders magazine

Newton are featured in the June '09 edition of leading Supply Chain magazine 'Procurement Leaders'. An article titled 'Sourcing strategies to stand the test of time' focuses on Toyota's celebrated Toyota Production System and asks which contemporary approaches to procurement and supply chain management will stand the test of time and which of today's global businesses will sustain long-term competitive advantage by adopting them - Newton's development of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is one such approach:

"At the end of the day, minimising cost is what drives procurement professionals. But which cost, precisely? What's important, says Richard Jones, head of supply chain at specialist consulting company Newton Industrial Consultants, is to look beyond the purchase price and look at the overall impact on the organisation. It calls for a cross-functional approach - especially in industrial applications such as tooling and fasteners, where category expertise in terms of use, not buying, can be lacking.

At British shipbuilder and dockyard operator Babcock Marine, for instance, procurement director Tim Clay is driving a Total Cost of Ownership initiative that is overturning traditional attitudes to the purchase of simple things like hand tools.

Formerly, spend on hand tools with outside suppliers was around £1.5m, but analysis showed the total cost to be closer to £10m, once the costs associated with defective tools, poor quality tools and tools not being available had been factored into the equation, says Clay. 'Box cutting' knives, once purchased at 90 pence and regarded as disposable, now cost £2.80 - but last far longer."

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May 2009

Newton TCO Team launch first project in the Aerospace Industry

Newton has recently launched a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) project on aerospace grade fasteners at a major UK aerospace manufacturer. The project targets £800k p.a. savings and £440k one-off cash release from a TCO of £6.4m.

The first step was a three day assessment to identify the size and achievability of the opportunity. Then followed a three week strategy phase where a cross-functional team was set up to identify and value the TCO, understand and prioritise cost-saving ideas and develop the project plan. The implementation phase aims to make a rapid change to the procurement and use of fasteners within the business, generating measurable and sustainable savings.

The project focuses on areas such as part catalogue rationalisation and standardisation (including use of the best value parts over all cost centres), improved stock management (both with our supplier and on site) and working more closely with the supplier on managing risk in the supply chain. The cash release will be achieved with improved shop floor stock management through the combination of a more robust and controlled KanBan system and improved shop-floor understanding and discipline.

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April 2009

Newton drives delivery with the UK's Largest Defence Alliance

Continuous improvement is always a challenge on a major defence design project but when you are managing the alliance of some of the UK's most reputable defence contactors it is essential that process improvements are identified quickly and implemented effectively.

Newton has been working with the UK's largest defence alliance to improve the rate of design delivery in one of the most challenging projects ever commissioned by the MoD. Using experience drawn from across the defence industry Newton has identified the key delivery bottlenecks in the current processes. However it is not sufficient to simply identify the problems, the challenge and real value is in working with existing team to solve them permanently. By working will all the alliance partners and process owners Newton is delivering a plan for improvement which, even in the early stages, is already showing results in key deliverables.

Niche Defence Manufacturer shows a Step Change Productivity Improvement

A successful niche defence manufacturer needed additional capacity to satisfy its progressive sales growth, leading the management team to turn to their private equity partners for advice on how to increase output without capex. Newton has worked successfully with a wide range of private equity supported businesses and its proven track record of delivering a step change in productivity put it as the obvious first choice.

After an assessment period of 2 weeks in which Newton worked with the on site manufacturing team to identify the opportunity, a project proposal was put forwards to increase capacity such that the additional benefit in the first year was not only in excess of double the project costs, but the project remained cash positive throughout.

The project delivered significant improvements in productivity from an early stage with five consecutive record weeks by the eighth week of the project. Improvements ranged across a wide range of processes from machining to fabrication, paint to assembly. Not only has productivity increased but there has been a substantial improvement in adherence to internal schedules. The manufacturing manager described the shop floor as "The best I've ever seen it". Newton is now supporting the on site team in implementing internal processes that will continue to drive improvement when the project has ended.

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March 2009

Newton Achieves Improvements at a Growing Pharmaceutical Supplier

Newton is currently working with a supplier of research antibodies on a number of projects across their supply chain. Highlights include a distribution cost reduction of £250k p.a. and improvement of the bottleneck process by 20%. To find out more click here.

5 Axis Machining Centre Capacity Improved by 20%

In 8 weeks the 5 axis machining facility capacity at an aerospace manufacturing plant was increased by 20%, with tools and methodologies in place to continue capacity improvement to at least 35%. To find out more click here.

Newton Pioneer Integration with Client Attendance System

Working with one of the UK's largest food manufacturing business, Newton's IT team has created a performance tracker which automatically extracts attendance data from the client's own systems.

"This is a breakthrough for us," commented Paul Harvey, Newton's site team leader. "Until now we have always had to rely on the data captured on the line to analyse the labour. Now we have a much more accurate measure. This has already enabled us to identify further areas of opportunity which were not immediately obvious."

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February 2009

Final Results from UK Bakery Project

A 6 month project at a UK bakery has now been completed. Annual savings of £500k in labour and £200k in waste reductions have been realised. To find out more click here.

Double the Target Savings Achieved at UK Cake Manufacturer

A 6 month project is currently underway at a large UK Cake Manufacturer. Current delivered savings are in excess of £850k p.a. By project end, expected annualised savings to the business will be in the order of £2M p.a. To find out more click here.

Newton TCO team applies its approach to an Estates Maintenance Department

The Total Cost of Ownership approach offers a scientific method for analysing the impact on profit at every stage of the supply chain, resulting in the ability to make procurement decisions that maximise profit. The process can be applied to all businesses with a sizeable procurement spend, be it for raw materials, utilities or simply catering or office equipment.

Following on from three successful materials TCO projects with a major defence client, Newton were asked by the Facilities Director to apply the same process to the Estates Maintenance Department, his logic being that it is a structured rigorous process and each time it has been used he has been surprised by the results.

The output of the TCO analysis of the Estates Department was no different - the process highlighted weaknesses in organisational structure, demand processes and operational efficiency. Whilst Senior Management were aware of some of the issues, the TCO approach of identifying the current cost and valuing the benefit of the cost saving initiatives laid bare the extent of the opportunity for improvement. This size of this opportunity was backed up by a benchmarking exercise carried out during the project.

The result of the project is a 6 phase action plan to completely overhaul the organisation over the next 2.5 years. The plan includes relocation of some staff around the site, organisational charts for each phase and methods for the key process improvements. Action teams and a project governance are in place to drive through the changes and ensure that the target saving of 17% pa of the TCO is reached. To find out more click here.

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January 2009

Preparing a New Build

Newton has completed a 2-month project to review and assist with the initial proposal for the complete logistics strategy of a train manufacturer wishing to move production to a new building in order to cope with increased production demand.

Aerospace Carbon

Autoclave capacity at a major aerospace manufacturer has been increased by over 30% during the past 3 months without capital expenditure. Having worked closely with the team onsite throughout the project, sustainable systems have been left in place to maintain improvements along with plans to realize a further 50% capacity increase over the coming year. To find out more click here.

Newton optimises Interface with Delivery Critical Subcontractor

Newton has strengthened its relationship with a world class naval ship manufacturer by optimising a delivery critical subcontractor interface. Like many businesses the client subcontracted parts of the design modelling process abroad due to a UK skills shortage. However the subcontractor is still on the critical path, and any issues are amplified by the 1000s of miles between offices and wide cultural differences. Newton has been working both within the client and subcontractor to increase the rate and quality of information exchanged.

Firstly the interface between them was reviewed and subsequently restructured to give better visibility of capacity, deliverables and exchanged information. Secondly, by working in close partnership with both teams of project managers, internal processes on both sites were challenged and optimised to improve the rate of progress.

The project has been successful in delivering ambitious delivery targets that weren't thought possible before Newton's involvement. Both parties are now using the most effective tools, techniques and resources in delivering the program as well as the skills to drive continuous improvement.

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December 2008

Nuclear Reactor Commissioning – Reduction in Flushing Duration

Newton have just completed a project that has shortened the critical path to commission a nuclear reactor by several months. A pipe cleaning process known as flushing was taking almost 3.5 times as long as planned for and delaying the program significantly. By applying rigorous problem solving techniques with the local team, the latest flush durations have been reduced to 75% of their planned duration. To find out more click here.

Clients and Newton welcome Finance Director’s arrival

Newton is delighted to announce the appointment of James Frost as its Finance Director. James joins Newton in this new leading role from Dyson, the electrical products manufacturer, bringing with him a strong background in commercial, operational and manufacturing finance. Before Dyson, James was Group Finance Director during the restructuring and subsequent £100m sale in 2006 of a leading international flooring business. Prior to this he held a number of senior finance positions at Alliance UniChem plc, the FTSE 100 European healthcare and pharmaceutical business, working in a range of established, start-up and newly acquired businesses, including four years as Finance Director of the £2.5bn UK wholesale division and latterly within Alliance UniChem’s international retail division.

James will focus on helping both Newton and their clients, capitalising on his experience in areas such as profitability management, cost control & efficiency programmes, working capital control, management reporting development and systems integration & implementation. James’ role will extend beyond internal management within Newton, supporting its consultants in the rapid and transparent delivery of benefit to clients' bottom lines and leading the continued development of Newton’s process optimisation services into complementary areas with a financial bias, building on Newton’s strong foundations in manufacturing and industrial consulting.

With seven consecutive years of near 50% annualised growth it has never been more important for Newton to have industry leading internal systems and controls. James will support the business’ future success as it continues to deliver outstanding results to its clients through the current difficult economic conditions.

Production Planning to Support SAP

The introduction of production planning tools to support SAP on an assembly plant in Europe has delivered a 73% increase in OTIF delivery to customers and a 6% increase in labour efficiency. Many assembly plants now use SAP to run their stock and inventory levels. Optimising the way the local management used SAP on this site has delivered impressive results.

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November 2008

Newton in The Sunday Times Business Section

The Sunday Times has focussed on some of the businesses who are doing well despite the recent economic downturn. Following Newton’s consistent growth and project success, The Sunday Times asked Newton to share their recent experiences.

75% Increase in On Time Deliveries

A major defence manufacturer used Newton to rapidly improve their design to delivery process in order to satisfy a demanding new defence contract. New systems were implemented in a short space of time to achieve this and it is clear that these will also add long term sustainable value to the company. The project delivered a 75% increase in on time deliveries from 40% of orders to 70%. Further improvements were delivered with the design teams and procurement.

Ambitious Bakery Labour Target Achieved

A Newton project has recently achieved the ambitious targeted reduction of labour cost as a percentage of sales within a bakery. Historically this key performance indicator averaged more than 24%. Through targeted efficiency improvements and improved manning and loading across all areas of the factory, the labour cost was reduced to less than 20.5% of sales. This equates to a saving of £500k pa, on a business turning over less than £13m pa. The project focus will now shift to ensuring sustainability and to the reduction of production waste throughout the process.

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October 2008

Increase in Operating Theatre Throughput and Utilisation Rates

Newton has just successfully completed a project with an NHS Trust. Through the improvement of planning, workflow, and patient processes, there has been an increase of 360 cases per year performed in one theatre department alone. This is worth close to £1m p.a. to the Trust.

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September 2008

Newton Launches its Deal Advisory Practice

Newton is pleased to announce the launch of its Deal Advisory Practice. The Practice takes Newton's home-grown operational expertise and combines it with transaction industry experience to offer a deal-focussed service line.

With this service line, Newton can both increase the deal value, through identification and quantification of cost base focussed EBITDA opportunities, and deliver due diligence related services to trade and investment house clients. These capabilities are applicable to both buy and sell sides of the deal, as well as for bid defence or takeover situations.

Long Term Sustainable Improvements Secured by Bespoke IT Product

A Kiln Car Tracking System has been designed and built to support an existing improvement project at a European brick factory. Impressive results were delivered during the project (News Article August 08), and a new IT product was required to help sustain these results. This was an excellent project for the newly formed technology unit within Newton, who delivered an outstanding piece of work in a very short space of time.

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August 2008

Record month in a record year for growth

Newton is delighted to announce that August has been a record month in a record year for recruitment and growth in the business. This scale of growth has been driven by consistently successful projects across all sectors of industry and a strong demand for Newton work. A number of industry specialists have been recruited to drive growth in niche areas within the company, and the next few years will be a very exciting time for all involved with Newton.

Kiln Upgrade as a Result of Improved Shop Floor Performance

Work has been completed with a production constrained European brick manufacturer to increase the setting and dehacking machine capacities. The speeds of the setting and dehacking machines have increased by 14.8% and 11.2% respectively. This releases the necessary capacity to support a kiln upgrade worth several million euros per year. Click here for more details on how this was achieved

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July 2008

Newton Challenges Design Progress

Newton has been working with a world class naval dockyard using production methodology to increase the throughput of the design to build process. By measuring the flow of information to uncover and challenge the process bottlenecks, Newton has made a significant impact in reducing the design to build time across a number of projects.

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June 2008

Newton Creates Technology Unit

Newton is delighted to announce the launch of its specialist Technology Unit to create bespoke manufacturing IT and reporting solutions. Our IT Specialists will work on-site along side our Industrial Consultants to increase our ability to deliver outstanding results under the rising technological demands faced in manufacturing.

The creation of the Technology Unit means that Newton can now offer highly stable, robust and distributable applications that draw data either from legacy systems such as SAP, or from a specially created database, along with an automatic data capture capability if required.

Associate Director Ian Quest returns from a Sabbatical to South America

Ian Quest left the UK in January this year to take a six month sabbatical to South America

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May 2008

Impressive and Sustained Results Delivered at Ready Meal Packaging Plant

Changeover time between products and the performance of sealing machines were the challenges at this ready meals packaging plant. Impressive and sustained results were delivered by Newton, giving an 18% average increase in shop floor efficiency over the 14 production lines.

Operational Improvements in Defence Aerospace

Newton has successfully delivered a pilot project with a defence aerospace company in the last two months. Shop floor improvements in the depth maintenance areas of the site have been identified and implemented with significant results. The project has now been extended into flight line areas where similar opportunities have been identified.

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April 2008

Energy Generation from Biogas in India

EWB is a student-led charity that focuses on removing barriers to development using engineering. Their programmes provide opportunities for young engineers in the UK to learn about technology's role in development.

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March 2008

Success in the UK transferred to the US

Following the conclusion of a successful efficiency improvement and waste reduction project at a premium flooring manufacture, a subsequent project has been started at two further factories in the United States. Learnings from the first project have been used to rapidly increase outputs from the factory by more than 15% in the first 5 weeks.

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February 2008

Supply Chain Improvements deliver a 30% Increase in Productivity

By implementing supply chain and production planning improvements to reduce missing parts, Newton has delivered to a manufacturer of Industrial compressors a 30% increase in productivity on their most problematic line.

50% Increase in Running Speeds whilst Increasing Quality

Working with a well known manufacturer of jam and condiments, Newton has delivered a 28% increase in output over a 3 month period. This was achieved through large reductions in packaging downtime and increases in running speed of up to 50%, whilst increasing the quality of output.

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January 2008

Increasing the Throughput of NHS Operating Theatres

Newton have successfully completed a pilot project with an NHS Trust, demonstrating that Newton’s methodology can successfully be applied to increasing the throughput of a group of 5 orthopaedic theatres.

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December 2007

Significant Yield Benefits from Operator Training

By modifying cutting programs and developing training packages for over 50 operators, Newton has implemented a £800k yield saving at a major food packing plant. Sizeable reductions in both offcut waste and giveaway have been achieved.

Improving the Quality and Availability of Tools on the Shop Floor

Newton is currently leading a team aiming to improve the quality and availability of tools used by a major naval refitter.

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November 2007

30% Delivery Failure Reduction for Cargo Airline

A leading cargo airline working with Newton has achieved a 30% reduction in delivery failures. Following a successful project involving the freight handling and planning departments, the project has been extended into the new year to include the freight reception and storage areas of the business.

Efficiency Increases in Tea Manufacture

A 25% reduction in direct labour cost in high volume areas and a 35% efficiency increase in low volume areas has been achieved at a major supplier of supermarket packaged tea products.

Newton Achieves Record Growth

Newton have recruited and developed more consultants in 2006 than in any other year of their 6 year history.
The company's growth over the last 3 years has been limited by their ability to find enough people with exceptional technical and interpersonal skills, who also thrive in a manufacturing environment.
Partner Tom Wedgwood commented that 'this year we have found more outstanding people with a wider variety of backgrounds than ever before. It means our breadth of skills, language abilities and experience has grown along with our headcount.'

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October 2007

Newton involved with Nuclear Submarines

A defence contractor, building major components for the next generation of Nuclear Submarines, called on Newton to improve their throughput and delivery performance.

Flooring manfactures project a succes

A 4 month project at a premium flooring manufacturer, returned a forecasted £500K working capital reduction, plus an additional annual P&L saving of £188K, by the end of financial year 2.

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September 2007

Flexible steel and plastic conduit

Newton, working with the production team in a world-renowned company producing flexible steel and plastic conduit has seen machine speed increases of up to 86%. Changes in the distribution of manning saw a 32% increase in labour efficiency in one area of the factory, whilst also providing additional flexibility in reacting to emergent orders.

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August 2007

15% downtime reduction on a car assembly line

Newton has achieved a 15% downtime reduction on a car assembly line at a world top 50 company. The top 3 line problems were reduced by over 50% in only 4 weeks. In addition to the downtime reduction, the on site team are developing further the analysis used to remove the need for a £1million capital project.

Small Rescue Craft

Newton has completed work with a leading manufacturer of small rescue craft. The project achieved a rapid increase in labour efficiency resulting in a reduction of labour hours per craft.

Director Andrew Hawes and Associate Director Ian Quest completed Ironman UK event

Newton would like to congratulate Director Andrew Hawes and Associate Director Ian Quest on their successful completion of this year’s Ironman UK event. The event involves a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike race capped off with a full marathon. Both completed the event in approximately 12 hours, you’ll have to ask them who came in first! They follow Principal Consultant Duncan Robb who completed the event last year in a similar time.

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July 2007

Project with a world leading military vessel manufacturer completed

A Newton team has successfully completed an engagement with a world leading military vessel manufacturer. As part of the project systems for improving material flow and the effective management of tools and equipment were implemented. These ensured that the correct parts were in the correct place at the correct time and that the shop floor workers had the equipment they needed resulting in a significant reduction in lost time and a corresponding increase in throughput.

Over 20% Efficiency Increase Meets Demand Growth

Newton was brought in to deliver real improvement to the bottom line of a premium crisp manufacturer. The aim was to do this by improving productivity both in the cooking and packing facilities, reduce waste and by increasing output to meet the impressive growth in sales. The project delivered ongoing annual savings in excess of £400k.

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June 2007

Acceleration in Automotive Production Rate

Work within an ancilliary area with one of the world's leading automotive companies has exceeded the expectations of those on site. 15% improvement in throughput of the facility in only 8 days has taken pressure off the line. 12% of further improvements have been identified and will be implemented within the next week.

Newton Director Interviewed in Trade Press

Production Agility.

Newton Director Andrew Hawes has been interviewed by The Manufacturer magazine about production agility.

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May 2007

Another Newton Project Reviewed in the Trade Press.

Opportunity Found in New Areas at Old Client

An assessment within a leading chilled food supplier has identified £500,000 p.a. of potential yield savings including one hidden opportunity of over £150,000 p.a.
A previous Newton efficiency project within another part of the company had improved efficiency within the packing hall by 48% and sustainability tools installed on site has seen a further 23% improvement.

Output Increased and Waste Reduced at Leading Building Materials Supplier

This article examines how Celotex, working with Newton Industrial Consultants, realised a 20% increase in their production efficiency and a 10% reduction in yield loss. Improvements to stock management and production planning, combined with increased production efficiency allowed them to achieve a 40% growth in sales over the financial year. This was realised with no capital expenditure. Results were attained by assessing the potential within the factory and then rigorously tackling the largest areas of opportunity with methodical problem solving tools...

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April 2007

15% Output Increase on Production Constrained Line

One of the main lines within a leading quality flooring manufacturer was production constrained. As a result 1/3 of the raw materials required for subsequent production processes were being imported from Europe. £380k worth of additional profit would be realised by increasing the output of the line by 15%. How was this achieved?

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March 2007

Consultants' Achievements Extend Beyond the Workplace

Anyone who has worked with a Newton consultant will know the high levels of commitment and energy that they put into their work. Recently consultants have also clocked up a string of achievements outside of work.

In the last year we have seen consultants sail across the Atlantic, make the first British Ascent of the Himalayan 7,000m mountain Kanjiroba Himal, help a growing manufacturing business in the Sudan, complete the UK Ironman Triathlon and swim over 40 miles between the islands of Malta!

We also wish consultants Richard Jones and Ruvan Mendis good luck when they compete in the Mongol Rally in July this year. They will be driving for charity from London to Mongolia, covering 10,000 miles, 7 mountain ranges, 3 deserts and bandits with roads ranging from bad to non-existent and all in a sub 1-litre car!

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February 2007

Waste reduction reduced by a third

Waste Reduction of A Third at Premium Flooring Manufacturer A high quality flooring manufacturer scrapped more than 10% of product due to various defects, the biggest of which contributed to more than 5% of total waste, costing more than £660K per annum in production costs. A recent Newton project reduced this by a third.

New Production Planning Model Prevents Short

UK Frozen Dessert manufacturer avoids shorting on major product lines through focused throughput improvement project.

New Project Start in Germany

On 29th January a team from Newton kicked off a project near Frankfurt, Germany in the machining area of a plant equipment factory. This area is a bottleneck to the assembly process and so is the first area to be tackled in a plan which is aimed at increasing capacity to meet sales demand and improving the manufacturing costs.
Following two months focussed in this area, the next phase will involve the assembly lines themselves to improve delivery dates and reduce the cost per unit of manufacturing. The third phase is planned to be a project to reduce the Total Cost of materials, including unit price, cost of WIP, cost of transport and impact on production to ensure that all procurement decisions offer the best value to both themselves and their customers.

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January 2007

Output Increase Preserves Lucrative Contracts

An aerospace components factory was unable to produce enough good quality parts to supply all of their customer requirements. As the production backlog was rapidly building from weeks to months, a real improvement was needed quickly to ensure the client retained key contracts.

Newton Grows by 20%

Newton has increased the size of its consulting team by over 20% this year in both its UK and Canadian offices. On both sides of the Atlantic this is in response to the demand for Newton’s common sense approach to achieving a step change in results and installing sustainable improvement systems.

Tom Wedgewood on Growth

Tom Wedgwood, Director says: “The strength and breadth of our consulting team continues to expand. Our growing reputation amongst students at Cambridge now surpasses the reputation of many much larger consultancies. Over 200 engineering graduates took our exams, from these we selected 6 exceptionally talented people. In addition we have recruited a number of experienced people from industry who have contributed to some exciting new methodology on stock control and procuremen
2007 promises to be another excellent year as our pipeline of work is brimming with challenging and exciting projects. I would envisage a further 20% growth in our consulting team.”

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December 2006

Reduction in Non Value Activities Reduces Reliance on Contract Labour

A major marine outfitter, employing around 400 workers, enlisted Newton to improve labour efficiency throughout the outfitting process.

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November 2006

£400k Increase in Profit for Aerospace Manufacturer

The client is part of large engineering conglomerate making machined components for the engineering, automotive and aerospace industries. This factory produces carbon fibre components for the aerospace industry.

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September 2006

Increasing Production Rates by Systematically Removing Process Bottlenecks

A key aim of Newton's recent project with an insulation board manufacturer was to increase the plant capacity in line with the increase in demand created by tightening Government Regulations. An assessment indicated that there was potential increase production by raising line speeds.

25% Reduction in Waste for Building Products Manufacturer

This £10 million turnover site makes over a dozen different products, in a highly competitive market. Waste had averaged over 13% and this was contributing to high energy bills.

Newton Help DML to Deliver £40M Saving in Efficiency Blitz with the Ministry of Defence

When launched in February 2003, the Support Upkeep Improvement Programme (SUIP) was the first joint project of its kind in the country between the MoD and a private company. The SUIP team have recently been awarded the prestigious Chief Defence Logistics Commendation Award as recognition of the success of this pilot scheme. Since the start of the programme, Newton have been working alongside DML teams to tackle the problems that reduce productivity in production, design and facilities maintenance, as well as overseeing projects to reduce material costs. Please read the attached scanned article from The Link, the monthly newsletter of the DML Group.

Canadian Manufacturers Feeling the Squeeze

It is generally accepted that the 30% shift in currency exchange rates between the US and Canada is here to stay and Canadian manufacturers have been urgently looking for ways to remain competitive. There are many options presented to business leaders, but it is becoming increasing apparent that a radical look at the existing manufacturing process is an essential piece of a successful overall strategy. Newton’s Canadian office has been actively working with Canadian Manufacturers to address these business issues.
In August 2006 a major improvement project was initiated at a third steel mill in Canada following excellent results at other mills including a 20% increase in productivity. In September 2006 the second factory wide improvement project was successfully completed at a major Automotive supplier based in Canada. The results have been dramatic and have included increases in efficiency of more than 50% on key lines.

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August 2006

Malcolm Wheatley on Lean

How do you get lean, and then make sure there's no backsliding?
Malcolm Wheatley examines the secrets of successfully sustaining lean...

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July 2006

Private Equity continue to use Newton to increase the value of their manufacturing portfolio businesses

Newton’s ability to add £500,000 to £5,000,000 of profit to manufacturing businesses is allowing Private Equity businesses to significantly increase the value of their portfolio companies. Newton have recently begun working with several businesses, one of which will increase its value from £80m by £90m due to efficiency and material yield improvements. The Finance Director said ‘Everyone benefits - the managers with a stake in the business, the workforce have a more reliable plant to run and obviously the main shareholders are delighted.’
One major Venture Capital business also works with Newton at the due diligence stage. A partner said ‘we have not found a business like yours before that deliver guaranteed results and have such a track record of success. The insight you offer, and the support that you offer our manufacturing businesses, makes us better equipped to find successful deals’.
Newton works with Frederick's Dairies, the UK's second largest ice cream manufacture, to achieve a 30% increase in efficiency and 50% reduction in waste over 6 months.

This involved no capital expenditure but was achieved by rigorously prioritising, then solving, the detailed production problems. Achieving this required the entire organisation to support and drive a fact based, challenging and action orientated culture.

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June 2006

Finished goods stocks reduced by 20%-30% with less changeovers and no reduction in SKU's

Newton recently completed a successful Warehouse improvement project. This case study demonstrates how substantial stock holding reductions are achievable in a short timescale.

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May 2006

Second project with food manufacturer brings savings to in excess of £4,000,000 pa

Newton has successfully completed its project at the second site within a division of a major food manufacturer. The savings across the two sites have exceeded £4,000,000 per annum. The initial project scope was to save £1,100,000 in temporary labour and £1,800,000 in controlling giveaway. In addition to these savings and additional £1,200,000 of hidden opportunity in yield was identified and achieved during the project.
The improvements were achieved by developing an integrated planning and measurement system which was complicated by the short shelf life of the product and complexity of manufacture. Developing the correct measures and management systems with the local teams across 6 departments resulted in an efficiency increase of between 24% and 55% in each area.
The project on the first site was completed in August 2005. The performance has increased further by as much as 15%, demonstrating the sustainability of the improvement systems and culture which was introduced.

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April 2006

Step change in profitability for frozen foods manufacturer

Work at one of the UK’s largest frozen foods sector organisations continues with 2 lines showing efficiency increases of over 25% and waste reduction of over 30%. £130,000 of savings are already visible on the P&L after only 3 months. This has been achieved through the reduction in material variance, with annualised savings of over £950,000 expected. Buy-in from teams from the shop floor has meant high value problems have been dealt with promptly and permanently, boding well for long term sustainability.

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March 2006

Building material manufacturer targets a multi-million pound opportunity

One of the largest building products businesses in the UK is currently working with Newton to deliver multi-million pound bottom line savings across their UK plants. Although the sector has seen difficult trading over the past 12 months, the first two plants in the improvement programme (where projects were completed over a year ago) have actually increased their profits by 25% year on year, despite falling volumes. This is an exciting programme which will have a significant impact on the group’s profits over the coming years.

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February 2006

Newton's gets acclaim in the Private Equity marketplace

Newton's gets acclaim in the Private Equity marketplace for generating substantial increases in financial performance and enterprise value on exit Rutland Partners, a well known Private Equity partnership, known for adding substantial value to businesses, has just published an article in the journal of the Society of Turnround Professionals acknowledging the direct contribution made by Newton to increasing the financial value of one of their businesses, Interfloor, which was sold late last year to a Management Team backed by EAC.
This was achieved by working with the in house teams to improve efficiency on the shop floor. The techniques were centred around prioritising issues purely by financial impact on the business, fixing them, and then putting in the measures and support to make sure that the profit increases stay on the bottom line.

Newton Welcomes New Staff to their Manufacturing Team

Recruitment News : Newton Welcomes New Staff to their Manufacturing Team
To meet Newton’s growing client base, 5 more Engineers joined the manufacturing team between November 2005 and January 2006. With a further 7 recruits planned to join over the coming months, this will be Newton’s fifth consecutive year of double digit growth

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December 2005

Newton opens new office in USA

Adrian Butler, President North American Operations was pleased to announce the opening of Newton's new office in the USA. This office has been set up to meet the increasing needs of our multi-national clientelle.ts.

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November 2005

Newton invited to speak at the Institute of Clay Technology

Newton were recently invited to present a paper on operational efficiency with specific reference to the the building materials sector. The event was organised by the Institute of Clay Technology and the Building Materials Committee of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining at their 4th Joint conference and was a great success. The event also served to launch the new International Clay Technology Association.

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October 2005

Andrew Hawes invited to speak at the 2005 Institute for Manufacturing Symposium

Newton Director Andrew Hawes was invited to talk on Improvement as part of Manufacturing Strategy at this years Institute for Manufacturing Symposium at Cambridge