Michael Rimmer

Interim Management - MR Interim Solutions (Reforest UK Limited) June 2006 – Present

Managing Director of Reforest UK Ltd and set up MR Interim solutions (Interim Management, Project Management and Consultancy) specialising in business turnaround and continuous improvement projects.

Darron SBO – Interim Production & Supply Chain Manager January - August 2008

• An assignment to take control of the sites manufacturing, scheduling, planning and materials control operations as Interim Production & Supply Chain Manager.
• To develop and manage the manufacturing strategy to achieve a budget increase from £18m to £29m for 2008.
• Designed and implemented system generated scheduling reports used to reduce operational delays from >1000 to <100 days by appropriate rescheduling of resources. Developed the Planning and Scheduling team to utilise this new facility to further improve schedule adherence.
• During the course of the assignment, generated significant increase in revenue and achieved above budget half year sales & profit.

Darron SBO – Interim Production Control Manager April – September 2007

• A 6 month interim assignment to provide improvements in the production scheduling of a £14m turnover manufacturer of drilling products to the Oil & Gas sector.
• Increased throughput from <£1m to >£2m per month through lean systems deployment to the MIS scheduling system.
• Developed and led a team of Production Schedulers until they were sufficiently capable of running the department stand alone.
• Optimised purchasing strategy, materials supply and developed improved relationships with key suppliers.

Biffa Waste Services Ltd – Recovery, Treatment & Transport Division – Interim General Manager
January 2007 – April 2007

• 3 month interim project to provide process improvements to BWS Ltd Customer services function and outsourcing of their internal transport logistics to a third party supplier.
• Process mapped the current quotation methods and through value stream mapping identified key operational improvements within the laboratory, technical and customer services that reduced customer quote times from 1 week to 3 days.
• Developed costings and leads with several key logistics companies which has set the framework for BWS to outsource, integrate or dispose of its non core transport fleet.


Biffa Waste Serviced Ltd – Environmental Services Division - Interim General Manager
July 2006 – December 2006

• Initial 3 month interim project extended to 5 months.
• Developed and implemented new working systems for STW contract generating significant performance improvement to include:

- Increase response time to emergency blockages (reactive work)
- Reduction in invoiced accrual value from £450,000 to <£120,000
- Increased Delivery attainment of planned maintenance work from 33% to >85%
- Reduced WIP accrual from £850,000 to <£50,000
- Developed and implemented organisational strategy involving recruitment of a senior Operations Manager and STW contract office manager
- Created and performed Road Show presentations to STW designed to highlight the improvements achieved towards securing the STW Sewerage contract

Business Turnaround Manager – Fixed Term Contract Febuary 2005 – May 2006
Concord Lighting Limited

A €50m turnover manufacturer of speciality lighting products to the retail and private sector, serving hotels, hospitals, educational establishments and museums.

• Responsible for leading the company wide turnaround programme involving Cost Reduction,
Service Improvement, Leadership, Lean Manufacturing, Portfolio Rationalisation, NPD&I
and Quality.
• Drove Cost reduction programme to achieve €2.5m (5% COGS) savings.
• Improved service levels from <80% to >95% within the first quarter.
• Implemented Lean Manufacturing, including Cellularisation, 5S, Kanban to attain labour productivity improvements of >95% (from <85%).
• Project managed the outsourcing of key products to the Far East giving cost savings of €450,000 to commence January 2006.
• Co-ordinated and constructed the company budget for 2006 to include €2.6m cost savings, sales forecasts, overheads, capital expenditure and stocking policies.
• Steered an Inventory Reduction Team generating savings of €1.2m of combined inventory by the end of 2005 whilst ensuring service levels remained optimum.
• Optimised safety stock levels and developed costings for relocation of the finished goods warehouse to provide improvements in materials handling and delivery performance allowing an increase in customer serviceability.

Head of Operations April 2003 – Febuary 2005
Whiteghyll Plastics Limited

A £4m turnover POS manufacturer of visual fabrications and printed display products to the Retail Sector.

• Aided in the development of the 5 year company strategic plan for growth, investment, financial management and market development.
• Improved gross profit from a loss of £130,000 to a profit of £170,000 combined with an increase in turnover from £3.5M to £4.4M 2002-2003. Turnover is predicted at £10M for 2005.
• Developed and put in place benchmarking and key performance indicators to cover OTIF, Overproduction, Delivery Attainment, Scrap, Rework, OEE, People Productivity, Slow Moving Stock, customer complaints and transport costs that were not previously measured.
• Defined and set up kaizen teams and used problem solving tools to identify solutions to delays in order processing and production scheduling systems.
• Developed and implemented an electronic production planning system that reduced customer lead time from 1 week to 2 days.
• Improved process throughput, typically by 50% by implementing process mapping, single piece flow and kanban techniques.
• Reduced overproduction in Plastics Fabrication Department from 15% to < 0.1% generating a projected saving of 150,000 units.
• Implemented cellular manufacture in the Plastics Fabrication Department, employed lean manufacturing techniques and 5S resulting in processing time savings.
• Introduced a philosophy of change towards lean thinking through training, awareness posters and newsletters covering shop floor operators and senior management.
• Implemented sales operating and inventory planning (SOIP) meetings with the sales and production teams, improving communication flow and production scheduling.
• Produced a skills matrix for all shop floor operatives enabling a training plan to be developed.
• Developed and implemented an electronic quotation system that has allowed for improved response times to customer enquiries.

Business Process Team Leader - SAP R3 Implementation 2001 - 2003
Rhodia Consumer Specialities Ltd

• Implementation of SAP R3 system across three UK sites to replace PRMS legacy systems on-time and within budget with no loss of business and financial transactions.
• Involved in the design, specification, prototype testing, development and training of end users.
• Acted as ‘go-live’ Team Leader at one of the production sites.
• Developed ‘To Be’ process strategies for SOP, POP, QM, IM and Finance through process mapping techniques.

Production supervisor/Plant Manager Semiworks/Pilot Plant 1999 – 2001
Rhodia Consumer Specialities Ltd

• Reduced working capital by approximately 57% saving £550,000 through disposal of obsolete and slow moving stock.
• Implemented production and sales liaison planning that provided plant capacity improvement from approx. 170 to 340tpa for research pilot facilities.
• Implemented ISO9000 system to research pilot plant and achieved accreditation.
• Instrumental in the implementation of shift pattern re-organisation which reduced fixed costs by 50% equivalent to approximately £120,000 pa.





Production Supervisor, Phosphine/THPX Plants 1996 – 1999
Rhodia Consumer Specialities Ltd

• Managed 5 COMAH Regulated, high value production plants, employing 20 operating staff with operating profits of >£20M.
• Implemented and led asset management team which developed preventative maintenance plans, production scheduling and process improvements that increased process on-time from 40 - >80% with the first year and increased production from 3400 to 4800tpa with a further identified potential to >5500tpa. This generated an extra £535,000 of pre tax operating profit.