From assumption to clarity. A 15.9% profitability uplift in 17 weeks
How a 35-person manufacturer replaced spreadsheets and assumptions with clear, trusted visibility.
The Problem
Growing manufacturing businesses often have plenty of data, but limited clarity.
At Lindhurst Engineering:-
- Performance was only visibile at leadership levels
- Insight relied heavily on manual Excel analysis
- Leaders packed confidence in which business units were truly profitable
- Decisions were delayed or based on assumption
“What we thought was our most profitable area, turned out to be the least!” – Martin Rigley OBE, MD (Jan 2023)
Dashboards were updated automatically each week via structured Excel uploads, eliminating manual work.
The solution
APS worked with the leadership team to create a shared, decisions-ready view of performance.
The focus was not reporting for its own sake, but clarity leaders and managers could trust and act on.
This included:
- Clear visibility of margin and performance by business unit
- Agreed metrics linked directly to profitability
- Data embedded into regular leadership discussions
The benefit
In just 17 weeks, Lindhurst achieved:
- £250k increase in annual profit
- 15.9% uplift in profitability
- Gross margin improvement from 44% to 51%
- 200+ hours saved on manual reporting
“It’s one of the few things I’ve implemented that everybody fully embraced.”
When clarity replaces assumption, confident decisions follow and performance improves.
Prefer a one-page summary you can share internally? Down the Lindhurst Engineering customer success summary (PDF)