This business consulting story shows how a small, overlooked problem can hold back an entire company.
Years ago, a consulting team worked with McCabe Powers, a 42-year-old manufacturing company facing serious financial troubles. The company’s new president struggled with management issues—supervisors lacked training and problems plagued every department from bidding to inventory control.
The consulting team discovered that machines frequently sat idle, and supervisors couldn’t manage equipment failures effectively. One consultant was assigned to the production floor with over 200 machines. He noticed an absence of noise—a red flag since these were loud industrial machines. “This is the problem,” he told the president. “More than 200 highly paid production workers should produce more noise, it’s that simple.”
Using clipboards to track downtime, the team discovered the root cause: operators constantly needed cleaning rags but the tool cage operator ordered them sparingly. Workers would spend over an hour searching for supplies instead of operating equipment. The solution was straightforward—stock abundant rags and place bags at each machine station before shifts began.
The results were dramatic. Production increased 37% within six months simply by eliminating this bottleneck.
The message to business owners: “little things can make a huge difference.” Audit your practices regularly, seek outside opinions, and identify daily inefficiencies that waste money and productivity.
Lessons from this business consulting story
The turning point in this business consulting story was careful observation. A consultant noticed that a floor full of machines was too quiet, tracked downtime with simple clipboards, and found a root cause that no one had been measuring: operators were losing time hunting for supplies. The fix was inexpensive, and the article reports that production rose 37% within six months.
You can run the same kind of audit in your own business. Walk through your workday and note where people wait, search, or repeat work. Ask the people closest to the work what slows them down, and track the answers for a week or two before you decide what to change. Start with the cheap, fast fixes before you consider large investments.
Big results do not always require big projects. Whether you run a factory, an office, or an online business, a short list of small obstacles may be costing you more than you realize.
Related reading
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Learn more: Wikipedia: Inventory control and Goodreads.
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