Manufacturing · Value building and exit planning

A business less dependent on its owner.

Revenue had plateaued and the owner was central to day-to-day production. After about a year of implementation, the owner stepped away from the floor to focus on strategy and preparing for a future sale.

Discuss your growth priorities About the program

What changed

ObservedOff the floorowner moved from production to strategy
ObservedPaper to digitalmanual admin replaced with streamlined systems
ObservedNew managera rising star promoted to run production
Observed5-yearstrategic plan built on customer research

Client: Manufacturer within a franchise group, business and consumer customers
Sector: Manufacturing
Program: Growth and Value Building, with exit planning
Our work: Growth strategy, exit planning, and workflow and team redesign

The starting point

Sales had stalled and everything ran through the owner

An established manufacturer with seven staff and revenue of about $4 million a year. Sales had flattened, manual systems and patchy processes limited what the team could produce, and the owner wanted to build value and prepare for a sale in about five years.

Key challenges

Revenue had plateaued, and more sales would have needed more staff
Manual, paper-based systems and patchy processes limited capacity
Unclear roles and weak production leadership kept the owner on the floor

What we did, and what changed

Three phases, one plan

The redesign was implemented over about 12 months.

Growth strategy and exit plan
A deep-dive diagnostic, interviews with 15 customers and mystery shopping of key competitors shaped a five-year plan built around the owner’s goal to sell.
ResultA clear plan, backed by several months of owner and management mentoring.
Workflow redesign
We found the root causes: bottlenecks, double handling, paper-driven admin, an awkward assembly layout and tool shortages. Quick fixes came first, then proper systems and procedures.
ResultA paper-heavy operation replaced with streamlined processes and digital systems.
Right person, right seat
We redesigned the team so roles were clear and production had proper leadership.
ResultA rising star was promoted to production manager, and the owner stepped out of day-to-day production.