Black Fern LLC · Dan Schaffer · Atlanta, GA
Production is behind plan. Overtime is covering the gap. The last improvement effort didn't hold. I embed with your existing team, find the constraint that limits your plant, fix it, and coach your people so the gains hold after I leave. Most engagements require little or no capital.
Engaged directly by manufacturers and through advisory firms including Crowe, Proudfoot, Synergetics, and Tri-Vista.
Sound Familiar?
“We acquired this plant to increase performance. We're not seeing it yet.”
Production and EBITDA catch up to the investment thesis, backed by data a buyer will trust. Post-acquisition improvement, carve-outs, and pre-exit value creation.
“We won the project. Now we need someone on the floor who gets results and keeps the client happy.”
A senior operator deployed solo or alongside your team. The same firms keep bringing me back. That's the proof.
“We live on overtime. My supervisors still come to me for every decision.”
A team that owns its numbers and runs the plant without you standing over them. The same resource advisory firms deploy, available directly.
What Changes
Not a report. Measurable changes in how your plant runs, delivered by your own people.
Selected engagements. Client names kept confidential; industry and results only.
How We Get There
I don't write a report and leave. I map two things, the process and the management system that runs it, then work alongside your team to fix both.
A process operational map combines block flow mapping with Lean value stream mapping to trace every step from raw material to finished product, using up to three years of your own plant data. I also map your management operating system: the meetings, metrics, roles, and routines your leaders use to run the plant.
We fix the constraint first, and rebuild the management routines around it. Most gains come from better flow and better systems, not new machines.
Frontline teams get clear goals for every shift, broken into short intervals. They see actual against goal as the shift runs, so they can fix problems in the moment instead of reading about them in next week's report.
Facility consolidation and equipment relocation, on time and on budget.
Clearing bottlenecks without adding proportional headcount or capital.
Building accountability habits that last after I'm gone.
Mapping the work, cutting waste, and redesigning work areas.
Regression-based baselines and zero-capital savings.
North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Why It Lasts
“Leaders follow the system they're given. Fix the system, and they succeed.”
I never drive change by giving orders. I give the people closest to the work clear goals and the information to act on them, then coach them to use it. When people understand the why, they take ownership and improve performance themselves. When performance falls short, I look at the management system before the people in it. Most leaders are doing exactly what their system asks of them. Give them the right system, and they succeed.
Clear production targets for each shift and each hour, set with the team so everyone knows what good looks like.
Actual against goal, posted at the front line and updated through the shift. Problems show up in minutes, not days.
Operators and supervisors fix the cause while the shift is still running, and every miss becomes a lesson for the next one.
Get in Touch
PE sponsor, advisory firm, or manufacturer, start with the problem. We'll know quickly whether I'm the right fit.
dschaffer@black-fern.com