Andrzej Nowakowski

Practice brought straight from the production floor

Andrzej joined Baltic Bridge Consulting in September 2015, but his history with industry began 28 years ago. He started as a maintenance mechanic, so he knows exactly what a machine sounds like when it's about to generate a loss. In our team, he is responsible for making sure processes don't just look good on paper but actually work when the shift manager goes home. Numbers don't lie – in 2024 alone, Andrzej helped three plants in Pomerania increase efficiency by 16.4% without buying new machines.

His approach is simple: we look for waste on the shop floor, not in an air-conditioned office. During an audit in March 2024 at a factory near Kwidzyn, Andrzej spent 14 hours directly at the packing line. He noticed that employees were taking 483 unnecessary steps on every shift due to poor rack positioning. Moving two stations and changing internal logistics shortened the cycle time by 19 seconds per piece. This was a concrete result that brought the client 43,200 PLN in savings per month.

Andrzej specializes in the SMED method, which is reducing changeover times. In June 2023 at a plastic processing plant, he reduced mold change time from 117 minutes to just 34 minutes. Thanks to this, the machine could work 3.2 hours longer every day. He doesn't promise miracles, but he guarantees that after his visit, every minute of work will be better utilized. We recover your time and profit, eliminating what is unnecessary.

In relations with the crew, Andrzej doesn't use difficult terms. He speaks the language of people who stand at the machines because he stood there himself for a decade. He can convince the most skeptical operator that the new 5S standard is not extra work, but makes their day easier. He leads Kaizen workshops that end with a real change in tool settings, not just signing an attendance list. Concrete instead of theory is the norm for him, not a marketing slogan.

Privately, Andrzej is a fan of classic motorization. In his garage in Gdynia, he has been restoring a 1962 Junak M10 motorcycle for 4 years. He claims that in an old engine and in a modern factory, the principle is the same: every part must have its place and must be functional for the whole thing to start off with a bang. He is honest to a fault – if he sees that investing in a new line makes no sense with the current mess, he will say it straight out, saving you money.

Heads-up: Andrzej is rarely at his desk because he spends most of his time at clients' plants. If you need an urgent line audit, it's best to call directly after 3:30 PM. He will always find time to discuss a specific technical problem without beating around the bush.