Job Shop
This project is a job shop run by two brothers who were very involved in the operation of their company. With more than $20 million in volume the business was being run the way it always had been run. Changes in the industry and procedures, however, were catching up to it, even though the owners didn't realize it.
Our business analysis alerted the owners to what was happening. In fact, the performance of their company was found to be declining over the past three years.
The George S. May International Company analyst showed the owners that their most pressing need was to get better organized for the future. The company was stuck with old procedures and their clients were seeing the old-fashioned procedures and going elsewhere.
Changing the owners' perspective from a day-to-day view to looking at the future would have an immediate benefit for each of the 19 employees, as well as the company's customers. Aiming at the future would mean the business would need to get organized. This, in turn, would improve the quality of the products and the general flow of work through the shop.
The brothers had some gut feelings that the business was not doing as well as it had been. However, it was our analysis of the Job Shop that graphically presented them the facts that their sales growth was flat and profits actually began dropping over a period of three years. This was due to a lack of cost and expense controls. The business also had recently hired a new sales representative to replace a previous person. But they did not develop an improved sales and marketing program for their new sales rep.
To compete in their market, the owners needed a company that had direction. They needed a means to determine accountability for work done by the employees. This would give the owners more time to spend on setting goals and monitoring the overall progress of the company.
Unfortunately, this is not an unusual situation for businesses. Too often owners become so involved with the daily work that they lose the overall view of how the company is performing. To cure this situation, management consultants from the George S. May International Company got the client ready to face the future.
Among the actions accomplished by our staff were:
- Establishing accountability for key personnel highlighting what is expected and how it will be measured.
- Creating job descriptions for the people at the business. These set standards for the positions and provided a written record of responsibilities and accountability.
- Developing a series of company policies to provide guidance for all employees about the expected standards for the company and the specific jobs.
- Providing an employee performance evaluation system to measure the performance of each employee.
- Reviewing and revising the current chart of accounts to more accurately reflect the line items necessary for effective planning and management of the company.
- Developing with the owners an annual budget and establishing cost centers.
- Creating a flash report on key performance indicators for the business to give owners and managers indicators in the business to use on a weekly basis.
- Preparing a complete sales planning and control program including setting sales strategy, marketing and organization for better sales results.
Our overall direction in this project was organizing the client to be successful today and preparing the company for success in the future. An organized business is one that can meet today's needs, as well as be ready for the business requirements of tomorrow.
As the following excerpt from the closing letter states, the completed project was a great benefit for the brothers and their company.
The May Company was hired to help us get back on track. An organization has been put in place. Our accounting software has been organized to provide us with monthly reports and weekly updates, not just yearly reports. Areas that were causing lost productivity in the shop were identified and corrected. Many of the issues, which we did not know how to do or get started, now are accomplished.
