Operational Reality: Decisions
Operational Reality: Decisions
Most leadership teams are making decisions off numbers they don't fully trust.
They just don't say it out loud.
I've sat in those meetings.
Revenue looks right.
Inventory feels off.
Margins are "close enough."…
Month-End Close Shouldn’t Feel Like Damage Control
Operational Reality: Control
Month-end close shouldn't feel like damage control.
But in a lot of operations, it does.
Adjustments.
Reclasses.
"Fixing" numbers just to get through the close.
I've sat with teams where everyone knows the numbers…
Operational Reality: Business System Success
Operational Reality: Business System Success
I've been inside businesses where the system looked fine on the surface…
…but the operation was fighting it every day.
The difference isn't the system.
It's the conditions around it.
From what…
Why Your System ‘Sucks’ — And It’s Usually Not the Software
I've heard "our system sucks" more times than I can count.
Most of the time, the system isn't the first problem.
I wrote a longer article on why replacing a business system before the business is ready can turn into a six-figure mistake.
The…
Manufacturing Configuration Control & Operational Control
Configuration control is one of those things that sounds like an engineering problem until the business starts bleeding money.
One wrong revision in a BOM doesn't stay in engineering.
It moves.
Into purchasing.
Into inventory.
Into scheduling.
Into…
The Most Dangerous Operational Problem Isn’t the Fire Drill
The most dangerous operational problem isn't the fire drill. It's the silence.
No escalations. No complaints. No urgency.
Just people quietly figuring it out.
Buyers built a spreadsheet. Schedulers have a side system nobody documented. Production's…
Hidden Inventory: The Locked Cabinet Problem in Manufacturing
I've seen it more than once.
A locked metal cabinet on the production floor.
No label. No system record. Just operators quietly building their own private inventory because they stopped trusting the system to protect production.
Most owners…
The Secret Ingredient Missing from Most ERP Implementations
Operational Reality: The Secret Ingredient
Early in my career, my father told me a story I never forgot.
He worked for a major jet engine manufacturer as a final test mechanic — decades ago, when nobody was winning any ISO audits.
Machine…
The Implementation Launch Party: When ERP Success Was Already Lost
Operational Reality: Control
Your ERP went live two years ago.
There was a launch party.
The implementation partner sent a polished closeout email.
And somewhere between go-live and today…
your BOM became fiction.
Not all at once. It never…
Manufacturing Configuration Control & Operational Control
Operational Reality: The Drawing Was Right. The ERP Was Wrong.
I've seen this one play out more than once.
A component engineer gets word that an AMP connector is being superseded. The right people are notified. Electrical Engineering does exactly…
Post-Implementation: Why ERP Systems Look Good but Feel Broken
Operational Reality: Better Than Before
Walked into a company a few years after their Oracle go-live.
First thing I heard: The BOMs are much better than they used to be.
I'll be honest — that sounded like good news for about ten minutes.
Then…
What ERP Job Postings Reveal About Industry Struggles
Saw a job posting this week that told a whole story in three bullet points.
ERP Architect role. $120/hour. Must have three specific cloud ERP certifications — all verifiable.
That's not an HR posting. That's a hiring manager who came from…
Before You Add AI, Fix Your Process Foundation
Before you add AI, fix the process.
A plant manager showed me their new AI forecasting dashboard. Beautiful charts. Confident numbers.
Then I asked where the inventory data came from.
Three different spreadsheets, two people who usually update…
Factory Floor Blindness: When Leaders Don’t Know What’s Really Happening
The President of a $50M company walked his own factory floor and didn't know it was empty.
I was early in my career. Running Master Scheduling and MRP for a capital equipment manufacturer. The company had been bleeding margin and leadership…
Why Free ERP Cost Calculators Are Dangerously Misleading
A slick free ERP cost calculator showed up in my feed this week.
Three minutes. No email. Promises to tell you what your broken software is really costing you.
So I ran it. Here's the magic trick.
No matter what you put in, the math walks you…
Their inventory was accurate exactly two days a year.
Their inventory was accurate exactly two days a year.
The two days right after the semi-annual physical count.
By day three it was already drifting. By month two, the number on the screen and the part on the shelf had nothing to do with each…
From MADIC to Modern ERP: Manufacturing System Evolution
My first manufacturing system was called MADIC.
It ran on a mainframe connected to a handful of dumb terminals. Single-piece units — built to take a beating. But spend a few hours on that keyboard and your hands, wrists, and fingers paid for…
Why Software Selection Should Be the LAST Decision in ERP
Selecting software should be the last decision in an ERP project, not the first. That disappoints owners who ask which system I recommend, because my honest answer is usually I don't know yet.
I wrote up why for Manufacturing Tomorrow.
https://lnkd.in/dm2HtB8p
-…
Documentation Debt: When Process Knowledge Lives in Operator Heads
The process wasn't documented. It was being spit into the vat.
Early in my career I took night classes in supply chain. A lot of them were taught by working professionals, right inside their own plants.
One class was at a factory that built…
The Hidden Cost of Keeping Dead Systems Alive
We paid developers for six years to keep a dead system alive.
Support for our business system had ended. Couldn't upgrade — we'd customized it so heavily the vendor's own updates wouldn't take. So we did what a lot of companies do: kept paying…
I Walked Into a $200M Manufacturer That Was Drowning
I walked into a $200M manufacturer that was drowning. Inventory accuracy was a disaster. Expediting charges bleeding money every month. Quarter after quarter, massive PPV swings tanking the bottom line.
Everyone assumed the system was the problem.…
Do You Have the People to Own Your ERP System?
The question that usually doesn't get asked before picking an ERP: do you actually have the people to own it? Not the people to use it. The people to keep it standing.
Eleven years ago we learned this the hard way. Our design engineer pitched…
Why System Users Create Shadow Systems: The Notebook in the Drawer
Three months after the new system went live, I caught a buyer keeping his real numbers in a notebook in his desk drawer.
Not because the system was broken. Because nobody asked him what he actually needed before they built it.
I've watched this…
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