James Whitfield

James Whitfield

Operations & Strategy Director · Multi-site P&L

London, UK https://james.aboutstack.com

I take operations that have stopped working and make them boring again — network, cost base, planning rhythm, and the management team that has to run it after I've gone.

LinkedIn Personal Website

About

Operations and strategy director with eighteen years across consulting, food manufacturing and multi-site services. Currently accountable for a £180m network of six sites and 900 people. My last three roles have all been the same brief in different clothes: the numbers stopped adding up, fix the operation without breaking the team.

Experience

Operations Director

Feb 2021 – Present

Halcyon Group (London)

Accountable for a £180m, six-site network and 900 people, reporting to the CEO. Took EBITDA margin from 6.1% to 10.3% over three years without a site closure: redesigned the network, rebuilt S&OP as a weekly cadence, and renegotiated the top twelve supplier contracts. Voluntary turnover fell from 31% to 14% over the same period, which is the number I am proudest of.

Head of Strategy & Planning

Apr 2016 – Jan 2021

Braewick Foods

Owned the three-year plan and the annual budget for a £90m chilled manufacturer. Led the post-merger integration of three acquired brands onto one ERP and one planning process, twelve weeks inside the transitional services deadline.

Engagement Manager, Operations

Sep 2009 – Mar 2016

Ardent & Co.

Cost and operations work for consumer and industrial clients across the UK and Benelux. Ran teams of four to nine; the recurring brief was a footprint review or a zero-based cost programme.

Education

MBA

2011 – 2013

Warwick Business School

Distinction · Executive route, part-time

BSc (Hons) Economics

1997 – 2000

University of Bristol

First Class Honours

Away from work

Two seasons into restoring a 1978 Contessa 32, which has taught me more about critical paths than any Gantt chart. I coach under-14s rugby on Sundays.

Selected programmes

Six-site network redesign

Re-cut a six-site manufacturing and distribution footprint around demand rather than history. £6.4m annualised cost out, service level up 3.1 points, no site closed and no compulsory redundancy.

  • Network modelling
  • S&OP
  • SAP

Turnaround: −£4.1m to breakeven

Fourteen months on a loss-making division. Zero-based the cost base, exited two unprofitable contracts and rebuilt the weekly operating review. Held the management team through it.

  • Zero-based budgeting
  • Lean
  • Contract exit

Three-brand post-merger integration

One ERP, one planning process and one operating model across three acquired brands, delivered twelve weeks inside the transitional services deadline.

  • PMI
  • ERP consolidation
  • Change

£12m automation programme

Business case through to commissioning across two sites. Unit cost down 22%, payback inside four years, and no headcount reduction beyond natural attrition.

  • Capex
  • Automation
  • Business case

Credentials

Chartered Director (C.Dir)

Institute of Directors

2022

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

British Quality Foundation

2015

PRINCE2 Practitioner

AXELOS

2013

Non-executive & advisory

Northgate Trust

Non-executive director, 2023–

Board of a 2,400-home housing association in the north west. I chair the audit and risk committee.

Operating Cadence

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A short letter on running the week

Fortnightly, about 800 words, on operating rhythm and the meetings that earn their place. Around 2,600 readers, most of them operators.