In manufacturing, few metrics are as critical—or as frustrating—as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). A stagnant OEE can signal rising costs and act as a barrier to growth. For COOs and VPs of Manufacturing, this isn’t just a number; it’s a daily battle against downtime, quality issues, and a lack of productivity.
Conventional wisdom says that significant innovation takes years, large teams, and a lot of money. At Bootleg, we respectfully call bull. We believe the key to millions in productivity improvements isn’t a massive, multi-year program—it’s a targeted, 90-day pilot. Our philosophy is to think like a bootlegger: we monetize the problem from the start. If the ROI isn’t there, we move on. This problem-first approach lets us focus on what truly matters: delivering a measurable financial impact in the shortest time possible. Learn more about our approach
The Bootleg Proven Recipe for Success
Our “Proven Recipe for Success” is a three-step process designed to deliver tangible results.
- Make More: Help companies uncover millions in productivity improvement. We begin with a rapid stop-loss study to identify the root causes of productivity loss, including minor stops, speed loss, and changeover time. We use on-site operations coaching to embed ourselves with your team, going shoulder-to-shoulder to implement behavior change. This approach helped a major client achieve 25% faster changeovers and a $1.5M annual gain. We provide OEE consulting and can facilitate a Kaizen event to kickstart your improvement plan.
- Break Less: Develop comprehensive 360° solutions that optimize labor, materials, and energy usage for enhanced maintenance and operational efficiency. We address the root causes of maintenance-driven downtime by developing preventive maintenance programs and implementing solutions for downtime reduction. For one client, we resolved a misalignment between their OT network and MES, which led to a “MES-lite” roadmap that saved them $3M annually from reduced scrap and downtime. Our approach focuses on tackling process optimization and improving First Pass Yield.
- Didn’t Spend: Remove pending capital expenditure through optimization. Many companies recommend new capital expenditures to solve problems through optimization. We challenge this by first conducting an OEE assessment and audit to find every ounce of efficiency in your existing assets. This approach helps gatekeepers like the CFO see the proof of ROI and ensures every investment is a strategic one.
Why Choose Bootleg?
We are a specialist operations transformation firm that bridges cutting-edge digital tools with the human behaviors needed for ROI. Our team consists of practitioners who have run plants—we haven’t just advised them. This means we deliver action in weeks, not slide decks in months.
If you are a manufacturer with a multi-site footprint and are struggling to convert digital investments into consistent frontline performance, we can help. Our 90-day pilot is a low-risk, high-reward entry point to a staged global roll-out.
Ready to improve OEE, reduce downtime, and create a more efficient operation? Click to speak to our Master Distillers today.