"The goal of executive coaching is the goal of good management: to make the most of an organization's most valuable resources." (HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW)

Business professionals are finding that using a professional, confidential, unbiased business coach can help them:

• Increase performance
• Develop better strategies - both personal; and professional
• Better manage their time
• Become more creative
• Set and achieve more aggressive goals
• Better use existing skills and identify dormant ones
• Make better and quicker decisions
• Improve forecasting

A Financial Analysis can show a company where it may be able to cut costs or increase sales. It will examine your current financial statements and compare them to other companies in your industry to uncover areas for improvement. Various product lines or company divisions can be analyzed to determine their profitability. By using a financial analysis, an organization will appreciate the following benefits:

• Put in place a strong financial management and control system so you can monitor your company's financial situation.
• Develop reliable budgets and cash forecasts.

Strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next year or more, how it's going to get there, and how it will know if it got there or not. Far more important than the strategic plan document is the planning processes itself. There are a variety of perspectives about strategic planning and a variety of approaches used in the strategic planning processes. Quite often, an organization's strategic planners already know much of what will go into a strategic plan (this is true for business planning as well). However, development of the strategic plan greatly helps to clarify the organization's plans and ensure that key leaders are all "on the same script." Organizations that implement a strategic plan often realize the following benefits:

• Clearly define the purpose of the organization and establish realistic goals and objectives consistent with that mission in a defined time frame within the organization's capacity for implementation.
• Communicate those goals and objectives to the organization's constituents.
• Develop a sense of ownership of the plan.
• Ensure the most effective use is made of the organization's resources by focusing the resources on the key priorities.
• Provide a base from which progress can be measured and establish a mechanism for informed change when needed.
• Bringing together everyone's best and most reasoned efforts have important value in building a consensus about where an organization is going.
• in place a strong financial management and control system so you can monitor your company's financial situation.

Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management is the planning, strategizing, and long-term management of the group of companies that supply material and services to the customer company. If the customer company purchases greater than half of the cost of its product from outside suppliers, those suppliers add value; they are not just commodity suppliers. Nationally, small and medium-sized manufacturers account for more than half of the total value of U.S. production and employ two-thirds of all manufacturing workers. In addition, they are an integral part of large manufacturers' supply chains, making them fundamental to the productivity and competitiveness of the entire manufacturing community. Organizations with an effective Supply Chain Management system readily realize the following benefits:

• Reduced Cost of Manufacturing product by helping the Supply Base become more efficient
• Reduce New Product Development time through collaborative design and manufacturing activities

Statistical Process Control is a significantly misunderstood and underutilized business improvement tool. It's a key component (and requirement) of ISO 9000, Six Sigma, and Total Quality Management systems. However, progressive companies also frequently use SPC techniques for monitoring and improving financial performance, safety, environmental, maintenance, employee attendance, and other processes and programs. Used correctly, SPC allows us to predict performance and take corrective actions prior to unacceptable performance occurrences.

One major hindrance to growth in smaller companies is the lack of cash or credit to support that growth. The combination of debt, long-term receivables, and lack of credit history sometimes makes it difficult to launch advertising campaigns, develop new products, or even purchase the raw materials and labor required to expand the business.

The MEP uses a variety of techniques to assist companies with cash flow issues. We begin by determining exactly why the company needs to improve cash position. The solution to the problem may be different, depending upon this specific need(s). For examples; we may be able to (a)reduce lead time, effectively shortening the amount of time from customer order to invoice, by implementing Lean Manufacturing, (b) identify opportunities for bartering or cooperative purchasing in order to reduce the cost of raw materials, (c) help restructure receivables or use factoring and other techniques to eliminate receivables older than a certain period, or (d) solve a quality problem or other issue that's been draining cash, material, or labor from the organization.

Assessments and Benchmarking

Assessments
A company assessment is a fast way to identify your company's strengths and weaknesses through a comprehensive review of your operations. The assessment gathers information about many different areas and aspects of your company and then gives you an idea of where you have a need for improvement or an area to capitalize on new opportunities. Most importantly, the assessment allows you to "see the big picture" and then put priorities in perspective. With an assessment, an organization soon realizes the following benefits:

• Enables you to use time and money in a cost-effective manner
• Develops a plan for implementing positive changes in your company

Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a detailed process of measuring your company's performance with other similar companies within your industry. This process is done by answering questions about your company and comparing them against other companies nationwide. Benchmarking can also be done to compare your suppliers to see how they stack up to their competition. Organizations who benchmark readily realize the following benefits:

• Know how you stand on each marketing factor relative to excellent small manufacturers
• Analyze your firm's strengths and weaknesses
• Develop a series of projects that can be undertaken to improve your marketing performance to increase sales and profits

Accounting

 [UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

 [UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

Theory of Constraints (TOC) is the result of Eli Goldratt's work introduced in his book The Goal. TOC is used to help companies identify and overcome barriers to maximizing profits, whether these barriers are production bottlenecks, company policies, business strategy, ineffective marketing, supply chain issues, labor shortages, cash flow restrictions, etc. As Goldratt states in the above book, the goal of any for-profit organization is to generate more profits, now and in the future. An overriding philosophy behind TOC is the focus on increasing revenues instead of reducing costs in order to increase profits. There is a finite limit to how much a company can reduce costs, but there is no real limit to how much revenue a company can earn. From a practical standpoint, it's not realistic to attempt to reduce costs (labor, material, or overhead) by more than about 20% without impacting the ability to generate revenue. MEP will help you identify those constraints limiting your ability to generate revenues (and profits) and develop a strategy to eliminate them. One significant benefit of using TOC methodologies is that the elimination of constraints generates both incremental and breakthrough improvements. Another significant benefit is that much of the improvement can be realized with little or no capital expenditures.

 [UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

Theory of Constraints (TOC) is the result of Eli Goldratt's work introduced in his book The Goal. TOC is used to help companies identify and overcome barriers to maximizing profits, whether these barriers are production bottlenecks, company policies, business strategy, ineffective marketing, supply chain issues, labor shortages, cash flow restrictions, etc. As Goldratt states in the above book, the goal of any for-profit organization is to generate more profits, now and in the future. An overriding philosophy behind TOC is the focus on increasing revenues instead of reducing costs in order to increase profits. There is a finite limit to how much a company can reduce costs, but there is no real limit to how much revenue a company can earn. From a practical standpoint, it's not realistic to attempt to reduce costs (labor, material, or overhead) by more than about 20% without impacting the ability to generate revenue. MEP will help you identify those constraints limiting your ability to generate revenues (and profits) and develop a strategy to eliminate them. One significant benefit of using TOC methodologies is that the elimination of constraints generates both incremental and breakthrough improvements. Another significant benefit is that much of the improvement can be realized with little or no capital expenditures.

Article - A Review of Goldratt's Theory of Constraints
A Review of Results from TOC Application in 77 Companies
      by: Steven J. Balderstone and Victoria J. Mabin 
           School of Business and Public Management
           Victoria University of Wellington
           New Zealand