Production Support 56 was never meant to be our name. It was a place holder that was funny to us and just until we worked out a better one.
The name was originally our department’s from our last company. The department was established to productionise a new technology, integrating new designs and initiatives from Engineering, Technology, Commercial and Finance departments. We hated the name, it had no history, it did not mean anything to us, you don’t aim to become the production support manager.
The name was given to us to remind us that our job was to support production and everything we did had to support production. We had the freedom to do what needed to be done and was not restricted to a single discipline. We utilised world leading industrial expertise from a range of sectors to ensure the right solutions were put in place. Each initiative was assessed in terms of its technical and economic suitability before implementation to the process. We managed the development of production capability in line with the business plan ensuring sustainable growth within tightly defined budget constraints. The team delivered a full functioning demonstrator line capable of showcasing the new technology.
We (James Deane & Mike Stephenson) successfully worked together for over ten years, saving the business more than £10M, implementing new production processes and systems, and compressing delivery times. In 2019 we knew that the company was in trouble and was likely to end up in administration. So, we started planning our own business. It would have the same mission of supporting production and it would use all the tools we found useful, namely process improvement and manufacturing simulation.
We knew the mission and we knew the service; we just did not have the name. We went through the usual process of deciding on a new name, we went through Latin and Greek words, we went through buzz words, and lean tool names, nothing stuck. We were close to choosing Productivity Boost, but no…
Then when it came registering on companies house, we knew we wanted to continue as Production Support and so we kept the name. And the 56, that was our department cost centre. Read more our work in Chemical Solutions.
‘If you want to beat your rivals and need a better fix, supercharge your processes with Production Support 56.’