About Us
180 OPEX was founded on the belief that recurring problems aren't inevitable - they're a sign that execution can be strengthened.
Our Story
180 OPEX didn’t start with a business plan. It was inspired by a question from a quality manager. It was July and we were set to miss our quality target for the year. The quality manager wanted to know if I had any ideas that could help. I wasn’t sure that I did but I wanted to try.
I'd just read the book, The Power of Habit, and I was enamored with the idea of using habits to improve process. So I set about building a method that I believed would build positive habits and inspire the quality improvements we were looking for.
After some work and tweaking I had a process and a database to drive and record a series of engagements that would inspire, train, and build habits in the team. We launched the first week of August that year.
One quality inspector. One scheduled set of interactions. One hour a day. No more, no less.
Instead of inspecting for failure, we used each interaction to discuss standards. We used the database to record answers. When someone got one wrong, we retrained on the spot and documented it in the database.
The results were immediate. The first month we saw quality deviations decrease by 66%. I asked a quality inspector how the extra workload was hitting him. He told me they'd saved so much time not chasing rework and deviations that it had actually made his job easier.
We quickly noticed we weren’t just improving quality. So I expanded the scope of the interactions without increasing the workload. I introduced the process to other departments and developed a more robust set of interactions within the database.
It didn’t take long for everything to change. Productivity went up, safety issues fell off, quality improvements held. The entire facility started running at a level we had never dreamed of. While we were focused on the details, output doubled.
That's when I realized I hadn't built a quality program. I had discovered a better way for organizations to execute.
That realization became 180 OPEX.
Today, we help manufacturers build operational systems that reinforce standards, capture organizational knowledge, and make consistent execution repeatable.
Because when execution becomes consistent, quality improves, safety improves, downtime decreases, and organizations start surpassing their goals.
Everything we build at 180 OPEX comes back to the same idea we discovered during that first quality project:
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Organizations already have standards.
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Lasting improvement comes from reinforcing those standards consistently.
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Systems - not reminders - create sustainable execution.
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When execution improves, quality, safety, and productivity improve with it.
MacKenzie "Mac" Davis
Co-Founder
Mac spent more than 15 years leading maintenance and operational improvement in manufacturing, where he experienced firsthand the challenges of recurring downtime, quality issues, safety incidents, and constant firefighting.
While working to turn around struggling operations, he became increasingly interested in a simple question: Why do organizations keep solving the same problems? That pursuit led him to develop the operational system that became 180 OPEX - a methodology designed to capture organizational knowledge, reinforce standards, and help manufacturers improve execution long after the consultant is gone.
Today, Mac helps manufacturers build organizations that become stronger every time they solve a problem.
Meet The Founders
Matthew Lyon
Co-Founder
Before co-founding 180 OPEX, Matt built and optimized complex systems as a product manager in the mobile gaming industry, where success depends on understanding human behavior, analyzing data, and designing systems that consistently improve performance. He is also a licensed attorney and certified mediator.
At 180 OPEX, Matt leads business development and helps manufacturers connect operational challenges with practical, data-driven solutions. His background in analytics, system design, and communication complements 180 OPEX's operational expertise and supports the company's mission of helping manufacturers build organizations that execute consistently.