Global manufacturing and services organisation: Unlocking £20M+ in OPEX savings

1 min read

Our client, a global manufacturing and services company, was experiencing high OPEX levels and below-peer operational efficiency across regions. We partnered closely with leadership to assess resourcing models, identify inefficiencies and develop a comprehensive productivity playbook. This enabled over £8M in year-one OPEX uplift, with a clear pathway to more than £20M in savings by Year 2.

Outcome 1: Delivered £8M+ in operational profit (OP) uplift in Year 1
Outcome 2: Established a clear pathway to £20M+ in OPEX savings by Year 2
Outcome 3: Created a resource productivity playbook adopted across regions to standardise efficiency and resourcing decisions

The challenge

The manufacturing and services sector is facing rising operational costs, increasing labour constraints and growing pressure to demonstrate cost efficiency while maintaining service quality. Many global organisations have evolved complex regional structures over time, often resulting in inconsistent resource utilisation and unclear return on OPEX investment.

For our client, Gross Profit and SG&A performance lagged peers, signalling deeper structural inefficiencies. Leadership recognised the need to rethink organisational models and understand where low-value activities, duplicative work and process inefficiencies were inflating costs. A more strategic and data-driven approach to resource allocation was required to unlock sustainable improvements.

Our client suspected that its OPEX expenditure was disproportionately high relative to its commercial output, but lacked visibility into how resources were being deployed across regions. Indirect hours were not well understood, low-value work consumed significant capacity, and organisational structures had evolved without alignment to productivity goals. Without clear data or a standardised way to evaluate return on resources, the business risked continued inefficiency and missed value. Our client needed a rigorous assessment to pinpoint cost drivers, reshape resourcing models and ensure that every hour spent was aligned to high-value activity.

The approach

We worked closely with regional and global leadership to understand strategic priorities and current resource deployment. Through a detailed bottom-up analysis, we evaluated indirect hours by function, identified low-value work categories and quantified improvement potential across processes. We developed alternative organisational and resourcing models designed to reduce cost without compromising service delivery. These insights were consolidated into a practical, actionable ‘resource productivity playbook’ that defined tactics, process improvements and operating model changes. We then partnered with leaders to prioritise the most material actions and establish a clear implementation roadmap.

The impact

By integrating the most impactful initiatives into a unified productivity playbook, our client achieved over £8M in operational profit uplift in Year 1. Clear resourcing models, transparency into low-value activity and region-specific playbooks equipped teams to make more informed and consistent decisions. The analysis also identified significant additional opportunity, creating a robust pathway to £20M+ in OPEX savings by Year 2. The work reshaped how the organisation evaluates the return on its resources, enabling a more efficient and scalable operating model aligned with long-term productivity goals.