All manufacturing companies need to grow over time in order to remain competitive. But there’s growth and then there’s growth. Some firms — like PE-backed firms and emerging firms — have a mandate to figure out how to accelerate business growth more aggressively than the average manufacturing company. Firms with aggressive growth goals not only face pressure in delivering above-market performance, but they also struggle to develop the right internal processes and scale their talent along the way. The truth is you can’t reach more ambitious growth goals with a “business [...]

Your manufacturing company’s leadership team is invested in getting the most value out of your annual strategic planning process. After all, it’s your most focused opportunity to take stock of your company’s current performance, introduce new ideas, set goals and formalize your direction for the coming year and beyond. The thing is, every company approaches strategic planning differently, with varying degrees of formality and consistency from year to year. Some organizations approach strategic planning without enough structure in place to guide the process toward truly strategic outcomes. Others are so bogged [...]

If you’ve been in manufacturing for any length of time, you already know that it’s no longer enough to maintain the status quo if you want to grow your business — or even just defend your existing market share. You want your manufacturing company to stay ahead of the curve. To do that, your corporate growth strategy will need to be aggressive and seek to outperform market conditions as well as your equally hungry competition. Successfully achieving that sort of growth isn’t a one-person sport. It’s an orchestrated effort that will [...]