Operations diagnostic
Four weeks on site and in your data, ending in a ranked list of constraints with sized impact.
Plant floor work since 2016
We spend week one on your floor, not in a deck
Kestrel works with manufacturers between $10M and $150M in revenue on lead time, scheduling and throughput. Every engagement has a fixed scope and a fixed fee.
10 yrsin operations
61engagements delivered
4 weeksto first findings
Fixedfee, no hourly creep
Engagements
Three ways we typically start
Each engagement has a written scope, a named deliverable and an end date.
Lead time reduction sprint
Twelve weeks working the top two constraints with your team until the change holds.
Scheduling and capacity rebuild
Rebuild finite scheduling and capacity planning, including training the planner who runs it.
S and OP implementation
Stand up a monthly sales and operations planning cadence that survives after we leave.
Fractional VP of operations
Two days a week on site for companies between operations leaders, three month minimum.
Second opinion review
One week review of an ERP selection, capital request or an outside firm's recommendation.
How we work
Former plant managers, not career consultants
Kestrel was founded in 2016 by two operations leaders who had each run plants before advising them. That shapes the work: we start on the floor with the schedulers and the shift leads, and we do not present a recommendation we have not watched someone try. Engagements end with your people running the change, not with a binder.
•Fixed fee and fixed scope agreed before we start
•Findings presented to the floor, not only the boardroom
•We name what we cannot fix as clearly as what we can
Reviews
From our clients
“Their diagnostic told us our bottleneck was not the machine we were about to spend $800,000 replacing. That one meeting paid for the whole engagement.”
Rick H., COO, metal fabrication
“The difference was that they trained our planner instead of running the schedule themselves. Eighteen months later it still works.”
Sandra V., plant manager, injection molding
“They walked us off a project in week two because the data did not support it. That is the reason we hired them again.”
Tom B., president, contract assembly
FAQ
How engagements work
How do you price the work?
Fixed fee against a written scope. You know the number before we start, and it does not change unless you ask for something outside the scope, which we would quote separately. We do not bill hourly.
How much of my team's time will this take?
The diagnostic needs roughly four hours a week from an operations leader and access to your schedulers and shift leads. Implementation sprints are heavier, closer to a day a week from two or three people, because the point is that your team owns the change.
Do you work with companies outside the Midwest?
Yes. The diagnostic requires two on site weeks regardless of location, and the rest can run remotely. Travel is billed at cost and estimated up front so it is not a surprise line item.
What if the diagnostic says we do not need you?
That happens and we say so. You still get the ranked findings and the sizing, which is what you paid for. Roughly one in six diagnostics ends without a follow on engagement.
Contact
Start with a call
A thirty minute call is usually enough to tell whether a diagnostic makes sense for your situation. If it does not, we will say that on the call.
Phone(414) 555-0173
Address633 W Wisconsin Ave, Suite 1410, Milwaukee, WI 53203, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
HoursMon to Fri 8am to 6pm Central
AreaUpper Midwest, remote engagements nationwide