You can't rely on hurried conversations with managers as your paths cross in the hall to help you guide your company to success. You need to answer several basic questions. Why do I exist? What's unique about my company? Where am I? Where am I going? How do I get there? How do I know when I get there? You need a strategic plan.
Planning combines a company's vision, mission, goals, objectives and accountabilities into strategies and actions that stretch several years out. Planning gives your company focus so you can concentrate available resources where they will benefit you most. A plan-well executed-can make the difference between an industry leader and a company that is struggling for survival.
To better help you in planning, CMC's specialists use a series of assessments depending on your specific needs. For example, a team of strategists scrutinized every inch of the Sprovieri Custom Counters. The fabricator of Corian counters was primed for growth but unsure of how to proceed. The CMC team suggested implementing its recommendations in three-month intervals. Immediately, President Charles Sprovieri says the company standardized its pricing, improved the sales process from the customer's viewpoint and improved profits by taking advantage of deeper volume discounts for materials. But that was just the beginning.
At the one-year mark, the company is investigating Lean. There are more visual aids in the shop, work stations are better organized, and things have been put in their proper place. "I can't put a dollar amount on it, but there has been significant improvement," says Sprovieri. What he can put a dollar amount on is sales growth: 20 percent in 2001 and 28 percent in 2002.
CMC's experts can help give you that invaluable outside perspective in these areas:
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