Why Hawkeye Consulting Advisors?

What does it mean to be a Hawkeye? Raised on an Iowa farm, my background tells me to help where I’m needed. A boy scout, a Little League baseball pitcher/outfielder and a 4-H member as well as doing my chores as soon as I could lift a 5 gallon bucket is how I grew up. A faith in God and a Christian tradition with a moral compass that points to “do unto others…”, you know the rest. Like my father, my uncles and cousins, when someone in the community was in trouble, we ran to help; that’s how the farm community reacted when there was trouble - running into the fire. Today, it’s old fashioned to describe yourself as someone with morals and integrity but that’s how I was raised.

Getting an education in Iowa meant a quality, well-rounded education. A graduate degree from the University of Iowa, an MBA from Tippie School of Business was a good start. During my early career, I studied Eliyahu Goldratt’s “The Goal” and his 5-step process of ongoing improvement. Over the years, I’ve applied these focusing steps and my Iowa education to solve problems. To me, being an Iowa Hawkeye means helping others solve the primary business issue, then starting over to solve the next biggest issue until I’m done.

Hired to turn-around a WOSB, woman-owned small business, and defense contractor that had lost its quality privileges for the Department of Defense. Eighteen months after the founder’s passing, the company had lost 90% of their government contracts and the company needed recovery help. The company was losing money for two years following 26 years of prosperity.

My mission was three fold: to re-establish the company’s quality credentials, maximize their operational performance and grow the business into new markets. Manufacturing improvements were introduced, new marketing brochures were created to highlight the company’s military contract and metals manufacturing capabilities. The company’s personnel was evaluated and upgraded where needed.

The result was a doubling of the new business pipeline to a three year high. The company earned ISO 9001:2008 certification within a few months and the negative earnings situation was turned-around to 10% EBITDA plus.

Hired to turn-around a multi-million dollar parts and service organization of a billion dollar equipment manufacturer that needed Chapter 11 leadership. During the fall of 2001, the company filed for bankruptcy protection; 20% of the employees left the company and major customers were extremely angry since the company had 75% market share in an industry with daily deadlines.

The business unit required direction and leadership. Applying Goldratt’s 5-step process of ongoing improvement, our team identified and resolved the most important issues one after the other. During the Chapter 11 recovery, there problems were many; either bankruptcy related, from competitors taking advantage of the market leaders fall or managers within the company “helping” their customer friends find new competitors to my troubled company.

After more than a year, the company obtained new funding for the business, exited from bankruptcy protection after dissolving the old company and forming a new one. Twelve months after a difficult reception from an angry mob of large customers at a Las Vegas industry conference, my biggest critic led a round of applause in appreciation for the operational turn-around a year later. The company was able to re-establish its industry leadership and continues in a very competitive marketplace.

What does Hawkeye Consulting Advisors mean? It means helping a company make more money, now and in the future. It means taking what I’ve learned over my career and solving complex business problems: to apply a focused process of ongoing improvement, to solve operational problems that will lead to new business growth and to help out where I’m needed.

Hawkeye Consulting Advisors works with small to medium size companies, both public and private, either on a time and materials basis or to share in the improvements uncovered by an initial analysis and recommendation set. Call today to learn how an Iowa Hawkeye can help your company make more money now and in the future. Call Allen at (630) 800-7545 for more about these and other case studies.