Case Study Company D:
Western Integrated Technologies
Company Profile
Company D is a full line distributor of mobile and industrial hydraulic and mechanical products. Company D supplies their customers throughout the Western United States with world class products and systems from the industry's leading manufacturers. Company D carries a wide range of fluid power, pumps, motors, valves, filters, cylinders, Industrial Drives, and much more. They strive to be a valued resource for superior products, technical support, applications assistance, system design and fabrication, and component selection. Company D has been providing fluid power solutions to industrial customers in Washington and Oregon since 1969. Company D has built a reputation as an innovator in the fluid power industry, while providing our customers with technical expertise and exceptional customer service. Company D has embraced technological advances and better business practices in order to remain the best choice for our customers. Expanding on their success in Washington and Oregon Company D now serves customers in California, Nevada, Idaho, and Utah through our branches in Portland, Sacramento, Boise, and Salt Lake City.
Annual Revenues: Available upon request
Employees: Available upon request
Locations: Available upon request
Situation
Two acquisitions in the previous year put added pressures on the operational teams in 2007. The CEO recognized the need to get his team focused on common goals and strategies. The company's attempt to institute Management By Objective goals had met with limited success. The CEO and his business partner and COO retained CEO Services to assist them in formalizing their strategic plan and organizing their teams' efforts to deliver their 2007 goals. Their plan to grow their business organically and by acquisition required them to have everyone in the organization focused on delivering specific objectives during the remainder of 2007.
Solution
Barry MacKechnie, founder of CEO Services, initiated his proven methodology and process for helping CEOs and business owners to get their business rallied around a strategy for delivering strong growth and higher profits. MacKechnie met with the CEO and COO and reviewed their objectives for 2007. They also identified areas where they felt their organization did not perform well during the post acquisition operations in 2006. With that information in hand a MacKechnie created a one-page strategic plan that provided the business owners with a clear roadmap as to what they wanted to achieve in 2007 and where they wanted to take the company in the next 5 years.
From the one-page strategic plan 5 key initiatives (objectives) were identified that needed to be completed throughout the 2007 year. Those objectives were then expanded into several smaller objectives that would need to be delivered by the key operating divisions that comprised the organization. MacKechnie then worked with the COO to refine his approach with each of his direct reports and to identify specific goals they and their teams needed to accomplish during 2007. The COO met with each of his team leaders and reviewed the goals and objectives they needed to accomplish in 2007. Those team leaders then repeated the same process with their individual team members. The end result was the every employee in the organization had a set of clearly defined objectives that they needed to accomplish in 2007.
The COO then set up regular weekly meetings with his department leaders using a meeting format that focused on their goals and objectives. The initiatives/objectives were reviewed each week allowing the COO to keep his teams focused on their goals for 2007.
In addition, a post-acquisition plan was developed by MacKechnie for Company D. When it was put in place it allowed the COO to review each of his current operating divisions based on what they would have to do to make the next acquisition successful. That plan revealed to the COO other areas inside of the company that could be improved for not only current operations but to improve the transition of an acquired company into the operations and culture of Company D.
Client Comments
“As my business expanded both in revenue and geography I realized that I needed to change my management style from that of a controlling top-down approach to more of a collaborative style. Barry advised and guided me through a systematic process to truly manage my staff. I began somewhat overwhelmed with management challenges and Barry showed me how to organize my staff, set attainable goals, and then to deploy them to my group in a simple and effective way.”
“Barry's techniques of taking high level operational goals and segmenting and departmentalizing each of them has helped to bring a sense of clarity and direction to the entire staff. Additionally, he assisted by taking complex goals and breaking them into smaller, short-range objectives, which in turn has resulted in more quick wins and lead to a higher sense of accomplishment for my staff.”
“Simply put, Barry's process allowed me to take a complex operational structure and put some manageable parameters around it. His expertise in operations was of great assistance as I set direction for the business.”
“I have worked with a number of consultants through the years and never have I worked with one that was so engaged in my business as Barry. His enthusiasm and encouragement during the process was the driver of my success. He kept me to task, guided me through difficult decisions, taught me powerful techniques, and shared in our wins.”