Manufacturing Case Study · Decorative Panels Ltd
From a Month-Long Process to Minutes
How Decorative Panels Ltd cut a month-long cutting optimisation process down to minutes — and reduced material waste by 8% in the process.
The headline
Decorative Panels Ltd cut a full-month cutting optimisation process down to under 30 minutes, reduced material waste by 8%, and recovered 10+ hours a week of management time — a confirmed annual saving of over £14,000.
The Problem: A Month-Long Process Every Time
Decorative Panels Ltd manufactures flat-pack furniture panels. Every month, they needed to optimise cutting plans — arranging customer orders across material sheets to minimise waste. The process took a full month of manual effort, involved multiple spreadsheets, endless back-and-forth between departments, and still left money on the table in the form of offcuts and wasted material.
The Solution: Ai-Powered Cutting Optimisation
We built a custom Ai solution that takes customer orders, material specifications, and waste constraints, then generates optimised cutting plans in minutes. The system learns from each run, improving waste reduction over time.
The Results: A Full Month Compressed to Minutes
- Planning time: From 1 month to under 30 minutes
- Material waste: Reduced by 8% (£8,000+ annual saving)
- Team capacity: 10+ hours per week freed up
- Decision quality: Better plans, fewer errors
The ROI Breakdown
| Item | Before | After | Annual saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| Material waste loss | 12% | 4% | £8,000+ |
| Management time optimising plans | 40 hrs/month | 2 hrs/month | £4,000+ |
| Ongoing optimisation & updates | Constant rework | Automated | £2,000+ |
| Total Annual Impact | £14,000+ |
“What used to take us a full month now takes minutes — and the optimisation cut our material waste by 8%. The ROI was obvious from day one. I genuinely didn’t realise how much we were losing until Ashley showed us the numbers.”Dale Meakin, CEO, Decorative Panels Ltd
Your Operation
Is your operation leaving money on the table?
Same-day or next-day availability. On-site or virtual. Full refund if no Ai opportunity is found.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What did this cost Decorative Panels?
A fixed-price Quick Win Sprint — typically £3,000–£5,000 total, with the £997 Business Walk credited against it. Full price agreed in writing before any build started.
How long did it take to go live?
The tool was up and live in 30 days. No drawn-out project, no creeping scope.
How big is Decorative Panels?
A UK SME manufacturer in the flat-pack furniture sector — the same profile as the 20–100 staff operations we specialise in.
What systems does the Ai integrate with?
It works alongside their existing order system and spreadsheets. We didn’t rip anything out — the Ai sits on top of what was already there.
Could this kind of tool work in our factory?
If you run monthly or weekly planning cycles that chew up time and leave material on the floor, almost certainly. A Business Walk will tell you exactly — in numbers — before you commit to anything.