Case Study

Establishing a PMO to Accelerate Innovation for a Global Foodservice Equipment Manufacturer

A global foodservice equipment manufacturer designs and produces high-speed ovens used by operators worldwide. To sustain growth and accelerate innovation, the organization needed a stronger system to manage new product development, improve on-time launches, and align investments across R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, and Commercial teams. We helped establish a PMO to create focus, transparency, and discipline in portfolio delivery.

Project Highlights

Industry: Foodservice equipment manufacturing
Scope: Portfolio Management Office (PMO) setup and implementation
Focus Areas: New product development, governance, portfolio prioritization, cross-functional alignment
Results: £2.6M CapEx/OpEx savings, 100% leadership trust restored, 4× ROI uplift

Challenge

Projects were being approved locally with limited visibility and inconsistent governance. Reporting was manual and often late, and teams struggled to balance priorities across functions.

Key issues included:

  • Inconsistent stage-gates and lack of standardized approval processes

  • Limited visibility into capacity and resource allocation

  • Conflicting priorities and delayed launches

  • Manual reporting and late data updates

Solution

We set up a central PMO to integrate new product development and change initiatives, ensuring a single view of priorities and performance. The approach improved coordination, sped up delivery, and strengthened cross-functional alignment.

Key actions included:

  • Establishing the PMO as the integrator for NPD and change, introducing standard stage-gates and portfolio scoring

  • Creating a cross-functional prioritization forum across R&D, Operations, Commercial, and Finance

  • Implementing a PPM tool and single dashboard for schedule, spend, risk, and benefits

  • Introducing stop/continue reviews and a change-freeze window for critical launches

  • Coaching project leads to build delivery capability and consistency

Results

The new PMO brought structure, visibility, and confidence to portfolio delivery. Teams were able to coordinate effectively, accelerate innovation, and improve return on investment.

Key results included:

  • £2.6M immediate CapEx/OpEx savings

  • 100% leadership trust restored in PMO reporting

  • 4× ROI uplift through better prioritization and resource alignment

  • Improved on-time launch rate for new product development initiatives

Over time, the manufacturer established a scalable PMO model that continues to drive faster innovation, stronger governance, and sustained business growth.

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