Straight answers on cost, fit, timeline, and what actually happens in an engagement.
A fractional COO runs operations at the C-suite level — part-time, without the cost or ramp-up time of a full-time hire. I embed with your leadership team, get visibility into EBITDA and cash flow across your sites, and implement the fix directly. I don't hand off a deck and leave; I run point on execution until the systems hold on their own.
A fractional engagement runs a fraction of a full-time COO's total comp — typically embedded part-time (weekly, on-site or remote) rather than a six-figure salary plus benefits and equity. Most clients recover the cost multiple times over in the 30-Day Assessment alone, before the retainer even starts. Exact scope and pricing depend on the number of sites and the size of the gap — that's what the discovery call is for.
Two different signals, and you only need one of them. Sometimes leadership already knows exactly where the gap is but nobody owns closing it across sites — that's an execution problem, and a consultant handing you another deck won't fix it. Other times nobody can even agree on why the numbers don't add up in the first place — that's a diagnosis problem, and it's just as much the fractional COO gap. Either way, if you can't get a straight, agreed-on answer for where EBITDA and cash are leaking, and nobody's directly accountable for closing it, that's the signal — whether or not your team can name the cause yet.
Mid-market manufacturers — typically multi-site operations where EBITDA plans keep missing and cash is tied up in inventory, expediting costs, or inconsistent execution between plants. If you're a single-site shop with a hands-on owner in the building every day, you likely don't need this yet. If you're managing performance across multiple locations and can't get a straight answer on where the cash is going, that's the fit.
It's a rapid, focused diagnostic — not a slow audit. I run a rapid operational and supply chain review across your sites, identify the root-cause inventory and cash flow constraints, and leave you with a leadership alignment session and a 90-day execution plan. Most clients find enough opportunity in the assessment alone to fund the full engagement several times over.
The 30-Day Assessment identifies where the money is within a month. Meaningful EBITDA and cash flow movement from the retainer engagement typically shows up over the following quarter as inventory, procurement, and accountability systems take hold — this isn't an overnight fix, but it's also not a multi-year consulting engagement with no visible progress.
Both — weekly embedded leadership time, on-site or remote depending on what the engagement needs, across as many sites as the engagement covers. I've run P&L and operations across 10 manufacturing facilities simultaneously; multi-site is the normal case, not the exception.
22+ years inside complex manufacturing environments — Johnson Controls, Parker Hannifin, and IDEX Health & Science — leading operations, supply chain, finance, and sales across multi-site organizations. $1.75M+ in documented cost savings, an 11% labor cost reduction while sustaining 15% annual growth, and a 30% administrative cost reduction sustained over 24 consecutive months. Full detail is on the About page.
The first call is a no-cost, no-obligation discovery session to see if there's a fit.
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