Heavy equipment overhaul, sub-Saharan Africa
Overhaul ran at twice the standard time whatever the headcount. No plan sequenced parts, tools and lifting kit. The floor designed one.
130 → 30 hoursHalf the manufacturer's standard
Operational transformation for defence and industry
Building enduring operational capability
Thread is an operating system for continuous improvement. It turns information into coordinated action across maintenance, repair and overhaul and the functions that support them, and it stays with your organisation when we leave.
Purpose
People
Process
Technology
The challenge
The problem is not a lack of information.
- Information
- Understanding
- Decisions
- Action
- Learning
Organisations start to fail when systems, people and processes become over-extended. The usual response is another report, more governance or new technology. Whether information becomes improvement is decided by the operating system underneath: its structures, behaviours, management disciplines and leadership routines. That is what we install.
The method
Eight stages, from shared purpose to lasting capability
Purpose comes first and technology comes last. The cycle repeats, and each round of reflection sharpens the purpose for the next.
- Stage 1
Create True North
Every role sees how it serves the mission.
- Stage 2
Understand value
Map how work really flows, and where value and waste sit.
- Stage 3
Coach
Replace assumption with shared understanding, at the gemba.
- Stage 4
Empower
Teams closest to the work design the future state.
- Stage 5
Test
Rapid experiments prove the benefit before deployment.
- Stage 6
Execute
Deploy against measures and a tight interval of control.
- Stage 7
Confirm
Daily management makes the future state normal work.
- Stage 8
Reflect
Learn how we improved, and set the next True North.
Technology, last
The Transformation Management System
The method, made visible at scale. Boards, andons, huddles, escalation, A3s, Kamishibai audits and benefits move from paper and whiteboards onto one live system across every unit and shift.
- Runs on your own infrastructureOne application and one PostgreSQL database per deployment, inside your estate. No data leaves the site.
- Works with the AI switched offThe method, the records and escalation never depend on it.
- The AI proposes; people decideNothing is saved or becomes standard until a named person accepts it.
- Connects to what is already thereMaintenance, ERP, HR and sensor feeds become andons on the board.
- Nothing that counts is typed inAndons, True North and benefits are calculated from readings, never claimed.
Team board · Hangar 2, B shiftHuddle 07:30
| Measure | Target | Actual | Andon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety · lost-time incidents | 0 | 0 | Green |
| People · shift attendance | 95% | 97% | Green |
| Quality · right first time | 95% | 91% | Red |
| Delivery · aircraft returned on time | 4 | 4 | Green |
| Cost · parts awaiting (hours) | ≤ 6 | 11 | Red |
Open issues
Torque tool calibration overdueEscalates in 6 h
Hydraulic seal kits short at storesEscalates in 19 h
Benefits tracking
Return that is proven, not claimed
Stage 1
Potential
Identified in an A3 or improvement event. Estimated, not yet counted.
Stage 2
Confirmed
Signed off by a named finance approver, with evidence attached.
Stage 3
Realised
Seen in the management accounts. Only this is reported as a result.
In the Transformation Management System, return on investment stops being a claim and becomes a query.
Results our team has delivered
Different organisations. The same method. Consistent results.
77%MRO turnaround cut, 130 hours to 30
86%Grid connections, 3.5 years to 6 months
<30sBackup switchover, down from 17 minutes
20:1Measured return, RAF programme
3,200+People retrained across 49 sites
350+Multi-functional teams established
$1bn+Client savings identified and delivered
70%Fewer lost-time injuries
Results delivered personally by members of our team in current and previous roles. None came from software, restructuring or added headcount. They came from developing capability, improving how value flows, and handing ownership of improvement to the people doing the work.
Case studies
The capability was already there. The operating system released it.
Irish electricity grid
Connections took 3.5 years, with fines of €3M+ a year. No new technology: the work was mapped and end-to-end ownership made clear.
3.5 years → 6 monthsAn 86% reduction
Global energy major, six continents
No full shutdown had ever been tested. Each switch to backup lost 17 minutes and £100,000+. Rapid changeover, rehearsed on every shift.
17 min → <30 sBusiness as usual, in any condition
The cost of getting it wrong
Another consultancy removed an air traffic control shift at a major airbase to save about £3 million in wages. The other shift was deployed overseas, and aircraft held in the air with nobody to land them. One part was optimised. The system was not.
Our team
Operational depth, and the technology to carry it
Lead Transformation Coach
Ben Hawley
Twenty years leading operations and transformation, delivering lasting gains in safety, quality, delivery and cost while running daily operations. Ben develops leaders from board to operator level and connects board-level management reviews to the daily work on the floor.
As a Senior Managing Consultant with IBM Consulting he led enterprise transformation across 49 sites, retraining more than 3,200 people. Before that he held operations leadership roles including Interim COO, Operations Director on a £90M turnaround that built pit facilities for Formula One teams, and Head of Operations in manufacturing.
RAF New Year Honours award (2018) for contribution to organisational change. LCS Lean Transformation Leader and Lean Expert, Cardiff University. BA (Hons) Business Studies and French, De Montfort University.
Chief Technology Officer
Mark Hewitt
Thirty years building the software organisations run on, with a focus on line-of-business systems in legal, insurance, engineering and manufacturing. Mark founded Rebmark, which was acquired by Verisk Analytics.
Mark is the architect of the Transformation Management System and is accountable for its deployment inside the client's own estate and its integration with existing maintenance, ERP and HR systems. He is also CTO and partner at Yorkshire AI Labs, where he leads work on sovereign, on-premise AI.
Designs for outcomes over technology: systems sized for their real users, readable by whoever maintains them next, and built to keep working when the consultants have gone.
We do not leave behind recommendations.
We do not leave behind dependency.
We leave the capability to continuously improve.
Tell us where your operation is over-extended. We will come back within two working days to arrange a conversation.
hello@acaciatech.co.uk