Unlocking the Black Box
To people outside of a processing environment, the plant is all too often a black box. Some grain or other raw material goes in the front end, and some food ingredients or other finished products come out the back end, but what happens inside is a bit of a mystery. Even for skilled operators, there's a lot to wrap your head around when trying to get the most out of your grain processing business.
As part of a continuous improvement initiative at a previous employer, I earned an Executive Lean Certificate from Lean Sensei International. I've been through the process of implementing lean manufacturing, assessing operations, developing improved culture...and seeing the company I was with at the time earn the Manitoba Exporter of the Year award as a result.
As a business consultant, I've developed an analytical model that draws on the image of "unlocking the black box" - 6 distinct views into your company operations, with the intent of identifying opportunities to improve the business. Operational improvement initiatives are challenging, but you live in a competitive world, and the status quo isn't enough to keep your business thriving.
We can provide support with data collection, analysis, reporting and program development.
Buying and Selling
Sometimes you're better to buy an asset rather than building. Sometimes an asset you own is no longer a strategic fit for your business and you're best to divest. In either case, you need to undertake a financial transaction that is probably outside of the normal course of business for your operations. How do you manage such a process, and who can best support your deal?
Deals tend to have good legal and financial scrutiny, but are sometimes less well managed from an operational perspective. A recent Harvard Business Review report noted M&A failure rates are 70% - 90%, and that one of the key contributing factors was inadequate due diligence. Because operational due diligence expertise is more industry specific than legal and financial expertise, the due diligence area most likely to have inadequate support is operations.
After having been involved in several agri-business asset transactions, both on the buy and the sell side of deals, I have the experience to help you acquire or divest agri-industrial processing assets. While my primary expertise relates to asset due diligence, I can also assist with business valuation, integration strategy, and other aspects of the transaction.
