There is a significant difference between Cost Reduction and Cost Takeout. All companies should have cost reduction as part of their business strategies. It only makes good sense. At one time or another, just about every C-suite and boardroom has had the discussion regarding Cost Takeout as a Strategy.   Continuous Improvement and Lean Business concepts tell us that there are always ways to take out cost and those tools do a good job of reducing cost gradually.  Cost takeout as a strategy is a completely different approach. The first thing is to make sure that everyone is clear on what a cost takeout strategy really is.  Let’s start with what it isn’t.

It is not: (more…)

Over the last few months, none of us have been operating as usual. Swift action has taken place in all parts of every business.  Actions that typically would take months of reviews and decision making have been done in weeks, days and hours.  In trying times, we bypass the strict regimen of decision making and discard many of the minor concerns that get in the way of quick decision making. That is possible because business teams have (more…)

Group50 sponsored this webinar which focuses on Recession Planning and Fine Tuning a company’s business plan in turbulent times. Subject matter experts in Finance, Leadership and Operations discussed best practices and the Do’s and Don’ts they learned during their corporate and consulting careers and multiple economic cycles with hundreds of companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies such as GE, Black & Decker, Deloitte, Underwriters Laboratories and (more…)

We are in a recession as declared by multiple well known business and financial leaders in a recent Forbes article. I completely agree and believe that this will parallel the financial crisis of 2009. Given that this atypical recession is here with unprecedented speed, Group50 has put together a Recession Planning Workshop that is designed to provide senior leaders and stakeholders with a full view of the inherent recession risk in a company.  The workshop has an elapsed time of 1-2 (more…)

Every company is faced with some type of restructuring activity during its history.   The restructuring process is painful and often unsuccessful.  There are two basic types of restructuring:  financial and operational.  Financial restructurings are often a result of poor operational performance and the reality that the management team has not responded quickly enough to changing business dynamics. In this case, a wall to wall cost takeout is called for. Often, the need to restructure is a gut reaction by senior management in response to perceived weaknesses in the business.  This article focuses on operational restructuring and the process for planning and successfully implementing it.

(more…)

For most of us, 2015 has been one of those years where business leaders were continuously faced with new obstacles to progress. Tepid demand, a strengthening dollar (+13%), the first interest rate increase in 8 years, a slowdown in China’s growth rate (-30% to – 50%, depending on who you listen to), oil down (-30.5%), volatile stocks on the DOW which is down (-2.2%) for the first time since 2008, geopolitical turmoil, a decline in the manufacturing index (-14%), etc. etc. etc. 2015 should be a reality check for (more…)

The Group50^® series on Anti-Strategy, characterizes situations wherein talented, driven and well-intentioned employees unintentionally act against their company’s best interests. Anti-Strategy often occurs when strategy is unclear or information is lacking. Is there another cause that feeds Anti-Strategy? Is it possible, to have Anti-Strategy designed into the company’s own processes or policies? Absolutely! Let’s consider how this can happen in sales compensation systems.

(more…)

• Plant production increased from 7,500 Grilles/day to 22,000 Grilles/day.
• 60+ products were redesigned and implemented with an average 12% cost reduction per unit.
• Units/employee tripled.
• Incident rates per hundred grilles were reduced 85%.
• Sales increased 7% and P&L improved by $30M, a 15% improvement year over year
• Service levels increased from 48% of 96%
• Completed in 11 months

(more…)