The Business Challenge
As a Global Lean Leader for a Fortune 100 chemical company, I was deployed to evaluate the designs of two major greenfield manufacturing projects—one in China and one in Germany.

Both projects represented significant capital investments. The objective was to identify opportunities to reduce construction costs while improving the long-term operability, maintainability, and efficiency of the facilities.

Traditional engineering design processes had already established the proposed plant layouts. My challenge was to question those designs and identify better alternatives before construction began.
 

The Approach

I facilitated an intensive, one-week Lean design review with each project's engineering team.

Using 3P (Production Preparation Process), Design for Lean principles, and practical layout optimization methods—including Paper Dolls and 7 Ways—we challenged the existing general arrangements and explored alternative configurations.

Rather than simply reducing construction costs, we evaluated how the designs could better support equipment access, maintenance activities, material flow, and efficient manufacturing operations.
 

China — Accelerating Design Optimization

Working with the Chinese project team, we challenged the proposed plant arrangement and identified opportunities to simplify the facility while reducing capital requirements.

The collaborative review produced an improved design in just one week.

The project team remarked that we had accomplished in one week what had taken them six months of design work—while achieving a lower-capital solution.
 

Germany — Redesigning the Plant Structure

The German project was based on a previously established plant design that was intended to be replicated.

Rather than accepting the existing design as the standard, we challenged the general arrangement of its five-level steel structure.

During the one-week review, we developed an improved layout that:

• Eliminated one entire structural level.

• Reduced the building footprint by 10%.

• Improved the arrangement for operations and maintenance.

• Reduced structural requirements and associated capital costs.

The redesigned general arrangement was subsequently adopted as the standard for future plants.
 

The Results

$24MM in Combined Capital Savings

Across the two greenfield projects, the Lean design reviews delivered:

• $24MM in combined CAPEX savings.

• One structural level eliminated from the German facility design.

• 10% reduction in building footprint for the German project.

• Improved layouts for manufacturing operations and maintenance.

• A new standard plant design adopted for future projects.

• Significant design improvements developed through two focused, one-week collaborative reviews.
   

The Executive Takeaway

Capital efficiency begins long before equipment is purchased or construction starts.

Traditional engineering approaches often carry forward assumptions, historical layouts, and established design standards without systematically challenging whether they represent the best solution.

By applying Lean Thinking during the design phase, we reduced unnecessary structural complexity, improved operating arrangements, and lowered capital requirements.

The benefits extended beyond the immediate projects when the optimized German design became the standard for future plants.
 

The lesson: The best opportunity to eliminate unnecessary capital is before it becomes part of the design.
 

Op X-MEN LLC — Design Lean. Build Smart. Invest Less.