Multi-Site Metals Transformation
All-time-high plant output delivered across 15+ metal manufacturing sites in Czech Republic and Poland — while cutting material and service costs by 6% and reducing overtime by 28%. Achieved during the highest demand period in the company’s history through a Partner engagement that shifted the reactive-to-proactive work ratio by 25%.
- Client
- Multinational
- Location
- Czech Republic & Poland
- Duration
- Partner engagement
- Industry
- Metals
- 01
High demand for technical availability due to COVID — imports of foreign competitors' products were blocked.
- 02
Highest output demand ever during 2021 on all sites in contract scope.
- 03
Customer had financial issues in another business segment, requesting a maintenance budget cut of 10%.
- 04
Preventive maintenance was not part of company culture — step change had to be done in record time.
- 01
Preventive maintenance instructions have been created for assets with highest priority.
- 02
Standardized Planning & scheduling process has been introduced with the support of a CMMS system.
- 03
Tight spare part, service and overtime cost control implemented (weekly review of spendings).
- 04
Shared OPEX team created.
- 05
Multisite Continuous Improvement (CI) teams were created for best practice sharing.
- 06
LifeCycleAnalysis carried out to support customer in prioritizing CAPEX investments, and OPEX costs.
- 07
Standardization was top priority to facilitate networking between sites and allow rapid implementation of processes.
- 01
Overtime reduced by 28%.
- 02
Material + service costs cut by 6% while reaching all-time-high output — demonstrating that cost discipline and capacity growth are not mutually exclusive.
- 03
Reactive/proactive work ratio shifted: reactive work decreased by 25%, proactive work increased by 25%.
- 04
Plant output all time high (all plants in scope).
Operational accountability across eight areas.
Throughout the engagement we owned end-to-end maintenance operations at the Czech and Polish sites — as part of daily work, not as outside consultants. We also supported the client's CAPEX decisions with life-cycle cost analysis.
- 01Health and safety
- 02Organizational development
- 03Productivity (OEE)
- 04Maintenance cost control
- 05Reliability-centered maintenance
- 06Asset condition assessment
- 07Digitalization
- 08Maintenance planning and scheduling
Across all sites in contract scope.
Material + service costs while reaching all-time high output.
Proactive work increased, reactive work decreased by 25%.
The paradox of peak demand: the conventional response is to suspend improvement initiatives and focus solely on output.
By maintaining structured improvement through the peak — standardising processes, sharing best practices across sites — cost reductions and output records were achieved simultaneously.
Cross-site CI teams and standardised planning processes were the multipliers — enabling rapid implementation across 15+ sites rather than reinventing solutions at each location independently.
Reshaping the maintenance work mix
Reactive maintenance — repair after failure — fell 25 percentage points, while proactive, preventive work climbed by the same amount. Not just efficiency: a cultural shift toward more predictable production, lower costs, and longer equipment life.
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