Jim Brett

Highly skilled, proactive professional. Offering progressive and extensive experience in business management and project change/transitional management.
An articulate communicator with ability to work under pressure and interact effectively with people at all levels. Holds high personal standards and consistently leads teams to achieve objectives.

Skill set:
• Business development
• Strategic, operational performance and organisational analysis
• Merger and Demerger experience
• Identification of improvement opportunities and financial evaluation
• Development of business transformation programmes including: business process re-engineering, implementation, organisational and management skills development, managing creativity and innovation, profit improvement, improved operational control
• Presentational skills
• Managing multi-disciplined teams on major implementation programmes
• Developing client relationships and enthusiasm
• Organisational and culture change programmes
• Applications experience in all functional areas

Notable Acheivements:-
• Restructured and streamlined Trinity Mirror PLC regional newspaper group achieving an overall saving of £45M.
• Restructured and streamlined Northcliffe Media PLC regional newspaper group achieving an overall saving of £30M.
• Defined operational and financial benefits case for a major performance improvement programme for Emap Publishing House. Identified £3M saving and effected significant improvement in operational delivery and management control systems within Editorial.
• Worked with venture capitalist Hermes and Symington’s Foods Ltd. Objectives set and met. Identified and removed current waste of £5M. Set operating strategies across the business to accommodate an additional 33% increase in volume within 3 years whilst maintaining the saving benefit.
• Project Managed the implementation of the privatisation of the Swedish State Railway with regard to one of the three proposed business unit streams (cleaning and maintenance business unit).
• Interim Operations Director with specific brief to turn around loss-making SME (Plasmar Ltd). Stemmed £500K loss, regained lost major MOD customer, restructured organisation and systems, improved supplier relations, regained quality standards and facilitated company sell off.
• Interim Project Manager working for Group Manufacturing Director of Flint Inks Group to: 1. Improve site efficiencies, including reducing customer backlog and 2. Realign integrated site programme and installation of SAP. Delivered 15% increase in output, installed MCS including site balanced score card, reduced customer backlog by 45%, improved PPC, installed despatch procedures and prioritised SAP implementation to get operational.
• Re-engineered GM2 Logistics warehousing operational costs by 20% and increased delivering performance profile by 10%.
• Overseas Development Executive for LRC Products Ltd. Carried out feasibility study through plant/site design, and controlled shipping, installation and setup of the rubber glove manufacturing unit in Malaysia. £10M budget with 1 year timescale met.
• Project Managed OTC medicine brand sell off. Brief to improve product/s profitability prior to selling off brands whilst maintaining current stock levels and sustainable quality standards. This was achieved by sub-contracting and managing the existing 500 staff on site. All brands sold off, site sold and staff morale was maintained.
• Resolved Royal Worcester Spode declining sales orders. The old computer had effectively generated a 20 year backlog of part made up orders and the order processors were abusing their position and supplying their favoured clients. I released all held stock and fulfilled new orders first and worked back through the order book, thereby generating easy sales and generating cash. The order processors were released and I set about installing a new computer system. I also put in place a simple incentive scheme for the warehouse staff that would ensure efficient and cost effective turnaround of o