Manufacturing operations consulting · On-site nationwide
XLR8 Performance puts an experienced plant leader in your operation to run it, fix it, or start it up, without the overhead of a large consulting firm. Nearly 30 years in high-speed manufacturing, rooted in food and beverage.
Services
I take on five kinds of work. Each one comes from jobs I've already done inside major plants.
Run
When a plant manager leaves, a plant is underperforming, or a site needs steady hands through a transition, I step into the seat and run it. I've led up to three plants at once and taken a struggling site to Plant of the Year.
Fix
Move from reactive firefighting to planned, proactive maintenance: PM programs, operator-based maintenance, predictive tools, and the routines that make them stick. CMRP and CPMM certified.
Find and remove the losses that keep a line below its rated speed: downtime, changeovers, minor stops, waste and quality rejects. Measured with OEE, MTTR and MTBF, and fixed at the root cause.
Build
New lines, new equipment and newly acquired plants, brought up to speed. That includes a turnkey Krones hot fill line, KHS fillers, Angelus and Ferrum seamers, and an acquisition that came with all-new product lines.
Supervisors and managers who can hold the line after I leave. I coach plant leadership teams on safety, accountability, daily management and leading people through change, including mergers.
I also help with
Track record
Took an underperforming plant to Plant of the Year across a 25-plant network, judged on safety, quality and performance.
Cut lost-time incidents from 12 a year to zero within two years using a bottom-up safety program. Held zero for 5+ years at another site.
Delivered $1M a month in EBITDA contribution across a multi-plant operation.
Led a Six Sigma project that cut filling waste 5%, with the savings reinvested in new fillers.
Reduced the consumer complaint rate 20% through quality at the source.
Moved a brewery's maintenance program to planned, proactive work and met Reliability Excellence standards and all asset management audits.
Equipment & line experience
Few consultants have run this many line types. I've commissioned fillers, seamers and labelers, and I know where new lines tend to fight back during startup.
About
I started as an engineer on the plant floor, ran maintenance and reliability, and went on to lead as many as three plants at once. Over nearly 30 years I've worked at Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, National Beverage, Ventura Coastal and Refresco.
I'm as comfortable presenting to a VP of Operations as I am working a line at 2 a.m. during a startup. XLR8 (say it "accelerate") is how I bring that experience to plants that need it now.
A short conversation about what's going on at your plant and what a win looks like.
A written estimate with clear hours, rates and travel, so there are no surprises on the invoice.
I work on your floor with your people, with regular updates to plant and corporate leadership.
Your team keeps the gains: documented routines, trained leaders and a clear list of next steps.
Contact
Tell me about the plant, the problem and the timing. I'll reply within one business day.