Plan B Business
Industrial

Stop firefighting on the shop floor.
Build a manufacturing business that compounds.

We work with small manufacturing owners doing $2M-$15M in annual revenue (machining, fabrication, assembly, contract manufacturing) who are tired of margin erosion, late shipments, and customer-quality fire drills. Our 12-month engagement gets you to disciplined contract margin, lean operations, and ISO 9001 readiness.

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Industry Reality

9 patterns we see in >70% of small manufacturing

85%
frequency

Quote-to-actual margin variance at 8-15 points (target is under 3)

Root cause: Estimating uses outdated labor rates and material costs. No job costing during production. Owner discovers true margin only at job close-out.

What we do: Real-time job costing in NetSuite, Fishbowl, or Global Shop Solutions. Standard cost updates quarterly. Estimate-vs-actual variance reviewed weekly with shop foreman. Variance drops to under 4 points within 9 months.

80%
frequency

Contract margins at 12-18% when target for the work mix is 25-35%

Root cause: Customer relationships old. Pricing hasn't kept up with material inflation, energy costs, labor costs. Margin assumed, not measured.

What we do: Annual price increase discipline (5-8% baked into contracts). Material surcharge clauses (steel, aluminum, copper) for volatile commodities. Customer-by-customer margin review - drop the bottom 15% of customers.

75%
frequency

Shop floor runs on paper travelers and tribal knowledge

Root cause: Owner-machinist set up the shop 15 years ago. SOPs in his head. Travelers handwritten. Quality issues invisible until customer complains.

What we do: Deploy ERP/MES (NetSuite, Fishbowl, or shop-floor-specific like ProShop or SteelEdge). Digital travelers. Real-time WIP visibility. SOPs documented for top 30 part numbers. Cycle time visible to all.

75%
frequency

On-time delivery at 70-80% when customers demand 95%+

Root cause: Scheduling done on whiteboard. Hot jobs jump the queue. Setup time underestimated. Material arrivals not tracked.

What we do: Capacity-constrained scheduling in ERP. Material arrival tracking integrated with production. Bottleneck analysis - usually one machine or one operator. Drop OTD from 78% to 96%+ within 9 months.

70%
frequency

Lean operations spoken about but never implemented

Root cause: Owner read 'The Goal' once. Tried 5S, gave up. Setup times still 45-90 minutes when they should be 10-25.

What we do: Structured lean rollout: 5S in 3 cells over 90 days, SMED on the top 5 setups (cut by 60%+), daily Gemba walks, weekly continuous improvement (CI) huddles. Productivity lifts 20-30% within 12 months without capex.

65%
frequency

ISO 9001 / customer-quality audits are panic events

Root cause: Quality system documented but not lived. Records incomplete. Calibration overdue. Customer audits expose gaps every time.

What we do: ISO 9001 readiness program: quality manual cleanup, document control discipline, calibration tracking, internal audit cadence. (Note: we connect you with vetted ISO 9001 / AS9100 / IATF 16949 consultants - we don't certify directly.)

70%
frequency

Customer concentration risk - top customer = 35%+ of revenue

Root cause: One large customer built the business. Now you're dependent. Their pricing pressure is existential.

What we do: Aggressive customer diversification. No customer over 20% of revenue. Industry diversification (don't be 100% automotive or 100% aerospace). Active prospecting for mid-market accounts ($100K-$500K annual).

70%
frequency

Operator retention at 50% annually - skilled machinists leaving for $5K signing bonuses

Root cause: Below-market wages, no production bonus, no certification path, no clear growth track.

What we do: Tiered operator comp: base + production bonus (tied to OTD + quality) + certification stipend. Defined Operator → Setter → Lead → Cell Manager path. Apprenticeship program with local trade school.

75%
frequency

Sales cycle is owner-only - no documented sales process

Root cause: Owner makes every sales call. No CRM. No proposal template. No follow-up discipline. Sales pipeline lives in owner's head.

What we do: Defined sales process: prospect → RFQ → quote → close. CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, or NetSuite-native) deployed. Owner hires sales engineer or trains internal estimator to own pipeline. Owner shifts to strategic accounts only.

Benchmarks

The numbers we hit

KPIMarket avgPlan B targetAfter 12 mo
Quote-to-actual margin variance8-15 pts<3 pts3-6 pts
Net profit margin5-10%15-20%12-18%
On-time delivery rate70-82%96%+88-97%
Setup time (average top 5 setups)45-90 min10-25 min20-40 min
Customer concentration (top customer %)30-45%<20%18-28%
Operator retention (annual)50-65%85%+72-88%
Owner-operator weekly shop-floor hours30-45<108-18
Engagement Model

What working with us looks like

  1. 01

    Month 1: Shop + financial deep-dive

    We pull 12 months of job data. Every job's quote-to-actual variance, every machine's utilization, every customer's true margin, OTD by customer. You leave with a written 90-day plan and the 2-3 highest-leverage levers.

  2. 02

    Months 2-3: ERP + job costing

    ERP/MES deployment begins (NetSuite, Fishbowl, or shop-floor-specific). Digital travelers replace paper. Real-time job costing live. Standard cost update across all part numbers. Annual price increase rolled out.

  3. 03

    Months 4-6: Lean + ISO readiness

    5S rolled out in 3 cells. SMED on top 5 setups. Daily Gemba walks established. ISO 9001 readiness program kicks off with vetted consultant. Sales process and CRM deployed.

  4. 04

    Months 7-12: Diversification + compounding

    OTD crosses 92%. Margin variance under 5 points. Customer diversification underway. Operator retention program live. Owner-operator shop-floor hours below 15/week. We shift to quarterly cadence.

Common questions from small manufacturing owners

What size shop is this for?−
Sweet spot: $2M-$15M annual revenue, 8-50 employees. Below $2M, you're owner-operator and need different help. Above $15M, you typically need full-time COO + Plant Manager - we'd hand off.
Machining, fabrication, assembly, or contract manufacturing - which do you work with?+
All of them. CNC machining (turning, milling, multi-axis), sheet metal fabrication, welding, assembly, contract manufacturing, plastics injection, light electronics assembly. We do not work with food/beverage manufacturing (different regulatory environment), pharmaceutical manufacturing (different regulatory), or commodity manufacturing where pricing is dictated by global markets.
NetSuite vs Fishbowl vs ProShop - which ERP do you recommend?+
NetSuite for $5M+ with multi-location or complex supply chain. Fishbowl for $2M-$8M with QuickBooks tie-in needed. ProShop ERP for machine shops specifically with strong shop-floor focus. We help you choose based on your situation. We don't sell software.
We're not ISO 9001 certified. Does our customer base really care?+
Depends on your verticals. Automotive Tier 2/3 - they care (IATF 16949). Aerospace - they care (AS9100). Medical device - they care (ISO 13485). Industrial / general manufacturing - ISO 9001 is becoming table stakes for $500K+ contracts. We help you assess whether certification opens enough new revenue to justify the investment.
Our operators don't speak English well. Can we still implement lean and quality systems?+
Yes - and the best lean implementations we've seen are in shops with multilingual workforces. Visual management (5S, color-coded travelers, andon lights) works in any language. Documented SOPs translated. The principle: make the right way obvious without requiring reading.
What about CNC programming, tooling, machine selection - can you help?+
No - those are technical decisions that belong to your master machinist or process engineer. We focus on business strategy, operations management, financial discipline, and customer development. We won't tell you what insert to use or how to program a 5-axis op.
Can you help us find skilled machinists / welders?+
We help you build the recruiting framework: job descriptions, comp structure, interview process, partnership with local trade schools, apprenticeship program. We don't recruit for you. The talent shortage in manufacturing trades is real - the agencies that solve it have systems, not luck.
Who does the work?+
Ligal Frish and Eitan Eshtemaker - the two co-founders. Direct access, no associates.
What's your fee structure?+
Diagnostic: $1,500 one-time. Advisor: $3,500/month (most shops, 12-month engagement). Partner: $8,500+/month (multi-location or M&A prep).

Stop running on tribal knowledge. Build a shop that compounds.

30-minute strategy call. We'll diagnose your top 2 levers and tell you if we're a fit. No pitch. No pressure.

Book My Free Strategy Call