Helping Manufacturers Improve Operational Performance and Increase Profitability

Experience built in demanding operating environments.

OpEx Group UK works with manufacturing and asset-intensive businesses where operational performance depends on the interaction between people, processes, assets and management systems.

Our experience has been built in environments where reliability, availability, production, quality, safety and cost are closely connected — and where weakness in one area can quickly affect performance elsewhere.

The industry may change. Many of the underlying operational challenges do not.

Manufacturing & Asset-Intensive Operations

Our experience includes:

• Petrochemical

• Speciality chemicals & coatings

• Fibres and advanced materials

• Power generation

• Steelmaking

• Paper and pulp manufacturing

• Building products

• Food and ingredients

• Other manufacturing and asset-intensive operations

These environments vary considerably in technology, scale and operating requirements, but many share common performance challenges.

Assets need to be available when required. Work needs to be properly identified, prioritised, planned and executed. Operating processes need to be understood and followed. Responsibilities need to be clear. Technical capability needs to support the operation.

When these elements become disconnected, performance suffers.

Where complexity crosses functions

Some of the most difficult operational problems do not sit neatly within one department.

A production issue may involve equipment condition.

A reliability issue may originate in operating practices.

Increasing maintenance demand may be driven by process conditions, equipment strategy or how work is managed.

Rising cost may be the consequence of lost production, recurring failures, inefficient work, excess inventory, contractor dependency or operating complexity.

This is why our work frequently crosses Operations, Maintenance, Reliability, Engineering, Technical, Quality, Supply Chain and other supporting functions.

The objective is not to optimise one function at the expense of another. It is to improve how the operation performs as a whole.

Established operations, growth and change

Operational challenges do not occur only in underperforming businesses.

Growth, new equipment, organisational change, acquisitions, new technology and changing production requirements can all introduce complexity into an operation.

Processes that worked at one scale may no longer be effective at another. Responsibilities can become fragmented. Maintenance demand can increase. Informal workarounds can gradually replace standard ways of working.

Growth and change should not automatically result in greater operating complexity and hidden cost.

Our experience can support both established operations seeking improved performance and organisations adapting to significant change.

From individual sites to wider operations

The work can be focused on a particular performance issue, an individual site or a broader operational requirement.

Engagements may involve assessment, development of improvement priorities, specific work processes, implementation support or a wider programme involving multiple operational functions.

The approach is scaled to the business and the problem — rather than requiring the organisation to adopt a predetermined programme.

Different operations. Familiar challenges.

Every operation is different.

The equipment, products, technologies and regulatory requirements may change, but the fundamentals of effective operation remain remarkably consistent.

Clear responsibilities. Capable assets. Effective work processes. Appropriate technical capability. Consistent execution. Management processes that support performance.

That is the operating environment in which OpEx Group UK works.

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