The Midland co-creator of a 'lean' management software package claims he can improve any manufacturer's productivity by at least 30 per cent.

Telford-based Greg Simpson, a business troubleshooter who helped to achieve efficiency improvements for big name firms such as Cadbury, BMW, and Alcan with his previous employers, says that his new software package, FirstLine, can make a big difference even to the most well run firms.

"It has taken three years to develop this package and I know that there is no factory, company or organisation in the Midlands or anywhere else that it would not make at least 30 per cent more efficient," Mr Simpson said.

Greg and his partner, Glen Walmsley, cofounders of Bubblequest, the Telford firm that developed the FirstLine software package, say that it is the world's first fully integrated, visual management system and it is already attracting interest from major manufacturers around the world.

"Companies everywhere know that lean manufacturing techniques can radically improve their bottom line performance.

"The problem is that up until now there has been the lack of a co-ordinated monitoring system to assist with the implementation of the programme. Our FirstLine package gives the user all the information they need in one place," Mr Simpson said.

"The success or failure of a lean initiative comes down to implementation and, in our experience, the traditional lack of consistency in the presentation of output data can often lead to failure of the programme. The ease of access to information in FirstLine overcomes this problem," he added.

The FirstLine software captures, cascades and displays management information and data - performance measures, skills audits, root cause analysis, value stream mapping and other improvement tools - in striking visual displays said to render conventional paper displays obsolete.

"The system is aimed at first-line managers because they are the people who make the biggest difference to the day-to-day efficiency of any company, but the availability of the data helps to engage the whole workforce as the programmes ultimate success will be down to how they change their way of working.

"With FirstLine, the visual displays are the there for all to see," said Mr Simpson added.