Turning rapid growth into long-term success

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After a series of acquisitions, a global fresh food manufacturer operating across multiple categories approached us to help turn its rapid growth into long-term success. To meet consumer demand for lower prices, it needed to drive excellence across its business functions to unlock tens of millions in savings. All while managing rising costs and maintaining its prized people-first culture.

We partnered closely with the company over four years to achieve operational excellence. Working side by side with our client at every level, we helped implement the transformation and create a culture of continuous improvement across the business.

As a result of our collaboration, the manufacturer achieved its highest-ever levels of operational and financial performance, improved staff engagement and more than £65 million ($87.3m/€74.4m*) profit improvement. With deeper capabilities, the company is now ready to face future challenges from a position of strength and confidence.

“I regard Newton’s work as the best piece of professional service support that I have seen over my career. It has been absolutely pivotal to our success as a business. Newton has a single-minded focus on making change happen and a combination of great insight that’s rooted in a real understanding of our business. A big thank you to the Newton team for not only making the business successful but also helping me personally succeed.”
Chief Executive Officer

Making a strong business excellent

Our client, a multi-billion-pound fresh food manufacturer operating across multiple categories, has long upheld a “people-first” culture, taking pride in both the quality of its products and the longevity of its relationships with retail partners.

Following a period of rapid growth through acquisitions, the company sought to drive excellence across its core business functions—manufacturing, engineering, procurement, and commercial. Alongside this ambition, there was a critical need to unlock tens of millions of pounds in savings to meet consumer demand for lower prices, all while managing rising costs.

Newton partnered closely with the company over a four-year period, beginning by establishing a clear vision of what operational excellence would look like and continuing through to the implementation and embedding of transformative changes. This collaboration delivered the meaningful impact the organisation needed to thrive in a competitive market.

As a result of our collaboration, the manufacturer achieved its highest-ever levels of operational and financial performance, positioning it to face future challenges with renewed confidence and strength.

A meaningful food manufacturing transformation cannot happen without good data.

Success begins with people

Engaging the 5,000-strong workforce was crucial to meeting the challenge. We began by helping to articulate a vision of success for employees, the business and its customers. We then brought that vision to life by outlining the critical roles each team member would play and backing this up with clear performance management processes and balanced, motivating KPIs at the outset. With metrics designed to flow seamlessly throughout the company, we ensured everyone was aligned to common objectives and understood the path to achieving them.

It takes an understanding of all levels of the process to effect a food manufacturing transformation.

Intense collaboration from the ground up

Our first focus was on delivering Manufacturing Excellence. Hundreds of hours spent on the shop floor, working shoulder-to-shoulder with colleagues, gave our team an understanding of their complex operations and drivers of performance. The deep insight we gained allowed us to identify key opportunities for improvement and design solutions to deliver meaningful impact.

Making it easier for colleagues to consistently make the right decisions was fundamental. When line workers struggled with weighing ingredients both quickly and accurately, we reprogrammed the algorithms behind the yield management system. By optimising guidance based on ingredient value and labour intensity, workers were able to strike the perfect balance.

Applying Newton’s forensic, evidence-based methodology, we were able to solve longstanding challenges and unlock hidden opportunities. In total, we implemented over 100 changes, resulting in £38 million ($40.3m/€43.5m*) in cost savings per annum.

“I’ve been with the business 16 years and I’ve never seen a change quite like this”
Production Line Leader

Delivering real, measurable results
The transformation then expanded to include Engineering, Procurement and Commercial Excellence, strengthening core business functions and driving significant financial savings. We delivered a raft of tangible results, setting the company up to navigate a challenging and fast-changing future market.

Manufacturing Excellence: £38 million ($40.3m/€43.5m*) in cost savings
Over 100 changes implemented, resulting in £38 million in cost savings per annum. Plus a 15% reduction in fresh food waste, a 22% increase in output on a capacity-constrained production platform, and successfully embedding a culture of manufacturing excellence in the company’s DNA.

Engineering Excellence: £8m ($10.7m/€9.2m*) savings
An innovative solution now automates a highly repetitive process found across 17 production lines. Designed and trialled in collaboration with a third-party robotics company, the solution significantly reduces costs while improving product consistency.

Procurement Excellence: £12m ($16.1m/€13.7m*)savings
Using our proprietary cost-analysis approach, we delivered significant savings. By redefining the technical specification for bought-in cooked proteins alone, our client was able to reduce unnecessary yield loss and make £1m in savings.

Commercial Excellence: £7m ($9.3m/€8.01m*) margin growth
The redesigned product development process prioritises products that either attract new shoppers to the category, generating incremental revenue, or improve margins when sales transfer from existing products. This approach has delivered substantial growth in both sales and margins.

Creating ongoing, lasting impact
Achieving buy-in from the entire business and ensuring changes would stick was critical to the company’s transformation. To help land the change we established a dedicated business improvement team across the 20+ site network, recruiting a 50-strong team from both internal and external talent pools.

Current and new employees attended a newly-designed bootcamp, tailored to the company’s specific challenges, and were given well-defined career pathways with clarity on upskilling opportunities. Training and onboarding courses, combined with communication initiatives to engage staff at all levels, ensured change was fully embedded and employees had the resources they needed to succeed.

(*Currency conversions are correct at 21/01/26)

Creating a future-ready business

Savings

£65m ($87.3m/€74.4m*)

Of annualised savings delivered

Emissions

5,000 tonnes

Of CO2e emissions prevented

Manufacturing Excellence

100 changes

Implemented embedding a culture of manufacturing excellence