Case Study
Global Engineering, Aftermarket and Upgrade Services Specialist Reinvents and Repositions Its Service Business to Improve EBIT Margin and Growth
£12.7M
EBIT Improvement
Strategic Imperative
To drive EBIT margin from 4% to 10% by improving operational efficiency, upgrading the service delivery model, and growing revenue through service-driven price and share gains
Client Background
- Global specialist delivering engineering, aftermarket, and upgrade services to thermal power, nuclear, oil and gas, petrochemical, and process industries
- Client possessed best-in-class technical expertise and industry-leading project management capability across complex asset environments
- Company built, maintained, and extended the life of customer assets worldwide through specialized technical and delivery expertise
- Service model performance depended on complex bids, subcontractor control, project execution, and customer asset reliability
- Leadership sought to increase EBIT margin from 4% to 10% through efficiency, service upgrades, and growth
- Profitable business faced medium-term decline and was not fully maximizing its profit potential
Key Issues & Barriers
- High overhead costs relative to business size limited profit leverage from revenue growth
- Organizational structure remained siloed and did not meet business needs despite claims of matrix management
- New business development focused too slowly on growth sectors targeted for repositioning
- Flawed bid and proposal processes created underpriced contracts and significant commercial losses
- Project delivery management was not consistently converting the company’s industry-leading capability into expected margin performance
- Departments lacked detailed strategies to translate overall goals into accountable execution priorities
Key Implementation Components
- Combined bid teams into a single, streamlined organization to reduce overhead costs and duplicated effort
- Assigned clear accountability for each bid and matched resources to bid value, complexity, and required skills
- Implemented a simplified, bid-specific process to improve preparation speed, cost, and commercial discipline
- Enhanced risk management and subcontractor controls to reduce commercial exposure and improve delivery performance
- Embedded daily and weekly project delivery reporting using earned versus used hours, master resourcing schedules, and standard planning norms
Benefits & Results
£2.7M
Annualized Bid and Proposal Margin Improvement
£10M
Annualized Project Delivery Margin Improvement