Okay, I have been handed the reigns of a department that sales plumetted from 3.2M to >1M in a year, Two engineering, two assembly, two managing, and one clerical resources dropped to One managing and 1/3 of a clerical resource. Quote backlog had grown to over three months, (due to the requirement of all quotations going through the engineering department) lead times had tripled, and the hit rate had dropped to an all time low of >7%.

By monopolizing our clerical resource, working long hours, and pulling the quotations out of engineering the quote backlog had dropped to less than a week a month later. Whithin three months I met my personal goal of three days.

Taking the quotations out of engineering freed up enough time in that department to drop the project engineering lead time by more than a week. Adding my quotation research to the engineering project also gave them more time to actually engineer the custom components reducing the actual engineering time. Putting pressure via deadlines reduced it even more.

From: 90 days quote turnaround + 3 weeks engineering + 7 weeks purchasing + 2 weeks assembly + 3 days ship time = >6 month delivery.

Dropped to one week quote turnaround + 2 weeks engineering + 7 weeks purchasing + 2 weeks assembly + 3 days ship time = about a 50% decrease in turnaround time. Just by taking the quotation load off engineering and shouldering it myself!

The next area to concentrate on was purchasing. Since I was in purchasing before, and my turnaround from MRP to order was under 3 days and I insisted on a four week or less turnaround from my vendors I tasked purchasing with similar dates. I used weekly meetings to keep the pressure on purchasing for faster deliveries. The Purchasing response under Sandy Freed was very good. Average procurement time was cut by two weeks.

With the drop in new machine sales following the 9-11 attacks (and our lengthened lead times) the assembly floor had an abundance or resources. This opportunity shortened turn around for assembly and shipping.

The six month results ended up with averages of quote turnaround 3 days + engineering time >2 weeks + procurement time >5 weeks + assembly 2 days + shipping 1 day. total average customer service went from over 6 months lead time to less than two months!!!!!

The resulting increase of orders and profits helped our company weather the two hard years following the 9-11 incident. Sales increased to <3M with an average profit margin over 40%. Hit ratio had increased to about 30% and six to eight week turnarounds where the norm.

Another reorganization and management change resulting in my assistant resigning. Now a one man operation, I was responsible for not only the sales, marketing, and project management portions of my "group" but now had to take care of all the paperwork and meetings that I didn't have time for. Add in the a management with a low service priority, rumours of going down, and the fact that we were again on the market to be sold and there is no doubt that sales again started to drop.