Streamline Your Supply Chain for Growth: How to Unlock Efficiency in Your Business

Brandon Gano:

Welcome back to another episode of Harmonious at Lunch, the show that fuels your business success. I'm Brandon Gano, your host and guide through the world of harmonious business growth. Today, we're unlocking powerful strategies with industry experts to help your business thrive. If you're a business owner, entrepreneur, or executive, you are in the right place. Join me and our incredible guest today on the journey to clarity, growth, and success. It is time to revolutionize your approach to business. Let's dive in with another episode of Harmonious at Launch.

Welcome back to some more bite-sized business advice. And we got one of those episodes today where I'm probably just going to nerd out with our guests, so fair warning. But we're talking about operations, we're talking about supply chain management and how to streamline your supply chain for growth. I argue it all starts with operations. I'm a fractional COO. We're ops nerds over here, so please bear with us. But also you're going to learn a whole lot about how to grow your business efficiently with my very special guest, Greg Williams. So before we go any further, Greg, welcome to the show. Thank you for being here.

Greg Williams:

Thank you. It's great to be here today.

Brandon Gano:

So we've scared away mostly everybody. It's just you and me now listening. I assume nobody else is still here. But we're going to talk about operations. What got you into being an ops nerd, if you will? And I'm just going to put that title on you, so I hope that's cool with you.

Greg Williams:

That's fine. Yeah, that's fine. So I've had a career in the software business for almost 25 years now. Just out of college, started in that business. When I got into ERP software or accounting software, you either had to know accounting or operations or the IT development side of it, and the operation side was just what I gravitated to.

Brandon Gano:

That's fair enough. I love it. So tell me, what are you seeing in terms of working with your clients? What parts of the operations are you usually working on when you're implementing the software?

Greg Williams:

Yeah, in the last few years we've seen a large increase in demand for warehouse management systems. It used to be enough to just take a piece of paper and go out in the warehouse and then pick your items and then take it over the computer and print the UPS label and ship it out. And now customers are wanting a lot more automation there. They're wanting to use a barcode scanner to pick things in the warehouse. They want to double check that the right items are in the right box, what we call package level detail. And then customers also, as soon as they place an order online, they're looking for that tracking number and they want to see that it's on the truck and coming towards them. So the consumer behavior has really driven a change even in small businesses to have to have more advanced systems, especially in their warehouses.

Brandon Gano:

Yeah, I always find that so funny. I do the same thing. I'm sure if you do, but you place the order on Amazon, it's like where is it? Is it here yet? And then we work with small businesses and we do the same thing and they're not as efficient, which is totally fine. You shouldn't be as efficient as Amazon. And we're constantly checking for updates on our order.

But I do want to dive into this because it's an important conversation. I actually come from two businesses in the manufacturing world, and this was one of those things where we knew in both cases if we could just streamline our operations, be more efficient in everything you're saying, packing, creating, picking the orders, and fulfilling them to the customers, we would ultimately make more money just because there's less waste in terms of how that whole thing comes together.

So not that we can't extrapolate what we're going to talk about here to service-based businesses or other in-person retail businesses, but in terms of the economy moving towards manufacturing overseas or leveraging 3PLs for even small businesses, I mean, what are some of the criteria to bring in software like this and technology like this to a small business? I mean, how much product do you have to be moving in order to really consider a solution like this?

Greg Williams:

I think if you want to graduate beyond what I call the QuickBooks stack, which is QuickBooks, and then some people have a ShipStation software or something like that, and they're running disparate systems, but each of those systems has advantages in its own right. Once your business gets to 5 million in revenue and sometimes 10 million in revenue, you should really start looking at a more holistic system that has it all in one. And a lot of small business owners don't know that that exists out there, but it does. I mean, you can get systems from Microsoft, or Oracle in some cases. Where you can get it all in one system and then you don't have to maintain multiple systems anymore.

Brandon Gano:

Yeah, I mean that's probably what causes more errors than anything else is just the duct tape solutions where you're trying to integrate multiple different solutions. So I want to talk about what are, because we're not all there, so what are some things we can focus on and do before that point to make sure if nothing else, that transition is seamless, but how do we really maximize our operational efficiency if we're not quite ready for that sort of a software upgrade yet?

Greg Williams:

Right. Well, one of the things you can do is you can get a software like the Microsoft Business Central one that we do, and start off with that, just with a smaller footprint. And it's not going to cost you that much more than a QuickBooks solution but then when you do scale, you can just grow that system to add more capabilities. So one of the really interesting things I've seen happen a few times is serial entrepreneurs have come to us and they've said, "Hey, we're going to buy an ERP as we start the business pre-revenue, because we don't want to go through that pain three or four years from now of replacing QuickBooks." But these are guys that know how to scale businesses very quickly, so maybe they're an exception to the rule.

That's one way to do it. Another way is just even if you're running a system like QuickBooks is focus on having good processes. So focus on documenting some of your processes and knowing those, because then when you do outgrow it and decide to go to a larger system, the first thing that any consultant like us is going to ask you for is, "Where's your process documentation? What are your requirements? What do you want this system to do?" And if you say, "I don't know. I just know I have a mess," then you're going to spend a lot more consulting fees.

Brandon Gano:

I'm laughing because I've never heard that before. So let's take a step back and really walk people through that for a minute because I've come across times where people think they have processes or systems documented, solid SOPs, whatever.

Greg Williams:

Yeah.

Brandon Gano:

And they have notes on a whiteboard or something.

Greg Williams:

Right.

Brandon Gano:

So what are you looking for, what makes that transition easy in terms of processes, SOPs, value chain analysis, all that fun stuff in order to efficiently upgrade your systems or go into a full-scale ERP? What should that operation look like?

Greg Williams:

Yeah, so I'm a big fan of cross-functional process flowcharts that show handoffs between departments, at a high level, and then have more detail underneath there in a Word document or somewhere. But I like to build a process flow that says, "Hey, when an order comes in, sales takes the order, and then they hand it off to operations and they fulfill the order and here's the steps they go through, and then they hand it off to accounting and they invoice the order." And maybe operations actually posting the invoice but still you want accounting in that flow, so they verify that it's hitting the right way and that the revenue's hitting the right accounts.

That's missing in a lot of small businesses in my opinion. They say, "Hey, my accountant uses the QuickBooks accounting system and then my operations people have something they use and then at the end of the month, we just try to figure it out." So it's very common. So one of the ways to do that is just to have good processes documented so you can check things at an order by order basis or more on a daily basis, and then at the end of the month, you're not going to have those messes to clean up and you're going to spend a lot less with your external accounting firm too.

Brandon Gano:

Yeah, to me, I went through this process with my last business when I was at my wit's end. I couldn't understand why people would come to me and be like, "What do I do when I'm done with this part or at this step of the process? Where does this thing go?" And I was like, "Why can't you people wrap your heads around this?" I thought everyone was an idiot. Turns out I was the idiot because I had never fully explained the value chain.

Greg Williams:

Right.

Brandon Gano:

And for me, that was the biggest benefit of doing that work because I could lay out any process, any one of our products or services, you lay out the value chain and then beneath that, of course you have the SOPs laid out and who touches what, and then of course how to do that. But what was missing is we had all the SOPs. People didn't know where they went, and in what order, to leverage them.

Greg Williams:

Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Brandon Gano:

So there was just mass confusion and people were like, "Well, I don't have what I need yet, so why would I start on my thing?" And I'm like, "It's a parallel process because you can both do it at the same time and then meet at the end versus waiting for it and delaying the rest of the process." So what are some of the tips that you have for, if any, I'm just curious, effective ways to create the value chain maps and then also tie SOPs to it to really give the whole organization clarity?

Greg Williams:

Yeah. So what I've done as a consultant is I just really play dumb and I get everyone in the same room and I put Vizeo up on a projector and we step through it. And it doesn't take that long but really taking that process-based approach, like order to cash for example, all the way, what's every step that can happen? And I make sure that I have all the departments in the same room. You'd be surprised how often they don't get in the same room together. They're just in silos and they don't know what the next step is in the process.

Brandon Gano:

Yeah, no, it's crazy how disconnected businesses are and then the leadership or C-suite is trying to figure out why nothing's working. Well, nobody's talking to each other.

Greg Williams:

Yep.

Brandon Gano:

It kind of makes sense.

Greg Williams:

I had a go live years ago where we kept having orders we couldn't ship in the warehouse because data wasn't entered correctly by the sales team. So the CFO had the VP of Sales come down to the warehouse and pack orders for half a day and we didn't have those problems anymore.

Brandon Gano:

Yeah, right. Imagine that. Well, I mean there's also value in that. Do you incorporate that into your process too, to have executives come down to the floor and see how things are done? Because I think I've seen that as organizations grow, you get more separated and the C-suite really stays in their offices. They don't even know what's going on on the floor and that's where most inefficiencies come in.

Greg Williams:

I've seen some great leadership before that way, and in one case, there was a lot of resistance to change from a new picking and shipping process. And a lot of grumbling about how it wasn't going to work. It was just nonstop. And the CFO three days before go live said, "Hey guys, I'm going to wear my jeans on Monday and I'll be in the warehouse working with you." And all the complaints went away and they got the work done. This was a big company, this was a three or $400 million company, and he did that. So that's definitely a lesson in leadership.

Brandon Gano:

Yeah, absolutely. I love that. I'm curious, what's your passion with this line of work? We've discussed, I don't know if it was while we're recording or right before, but a lot of manufacturing is obviously gone overseas. Even the packing and shipping is from other countries because it's just more efficient. Do you have a passion to bring that back on shore back to the United States? Or are you just trying to help people be as efficient as possible?

Greg Williams:

I do have a passion for that. I realize we're in a much more global economy now, but as a kid that grew up in the Rust Belt in Pontiac, Michigan, and have seen the effects of the global economy on our state, I would definitely love to see more and more manufacturing come back to the United States. But if it doesn't, then I want to help companies be more efficient and be able to do things in the most efficient and also sustainable way possible.

Brandon Gano:

Yeah, no, that's cool to hear. I'm curious though, you've been in a number of different companies, you've probably seen a thing or two. What's your favorite story from working with a client? It could be a horror story of just this place was such a disaster or a transformation of implementing software, optimizing their ops, and then rapidly growing their company. What do you got for us?

Greg Williams:

I'll give you one kind of semi horror story. I was supporting a go live of a warehouse management system. And we turned on the scanners and started picking things with barcodes and nothing was where it was supposed to be in the warehouse. We couldn't find it. The inventory was inaccurate. And we finally started asking around and someone said, "Oh, I wanted to get a head start so I came in this weekend and staged all those orders." But they did it outside the system before we turned it on so we had to put everything back and recount the entire warehouse and then go live. The lesson learned there is make sure everyone's educated knows what the new system's going to do because they were just assuming they were still going to be a manual component.

Brandon Gano:

Yeah, you got to give them a pat on the back for trying, right?

Greg Williams:

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it was a really expensive mistake for everyone involved, but was an honest mistake.

Brandon Gano:

Yeah, no, that's a funny story actually. I like that. So I put your website on the screen here, wherever you're watching or listening it's down in the show notes below. Tell me a little bit about what you guys specialize in, and you already said that five to 10 million range is about where people should be starting to think about implementing this type of software. But who do you love working with and what do you do?

Greg Williams:

We love working with emerging consumer brands. We love working with small to midsize manufacturing companies, really anyone that has inventory and assets that they need to manage. We have several hundred small to midsize business customers that we deploy different Microsoft ERP and CRM solutions for.

Brandon Gano:

That's fantastic. I love it. I have such a passion for manufacturing type businesses and this type of work where you can go in and optimize the operations and really watch a company be able to grow because that's usually the bottleneck. You can always make more sales, if you're already making sales, very easy to make more of them, much harder to fulfill more of them if your ops aren't streamlined.

Greg Williams:

That's right.

Brandon Gano:

This is a cool topic. We could nerd out on this for hours.

Greg Williams:

I'm sure we could.

Brandon Gano:

But we got places to be and so do you as a listener. So I like to end these episodes, Greg, with a question. I have question for you to provide a question. So in terms of the listener, thinking about whether they have a manufacturing business, a product-based business, or even maybe a service business just in terms of optimizing their operations, we believe that powerful questions gets you powerful answers. So what is that one question you love for the listener to just think about until they got that powerful answer for their business to help them get to that next level?

Greg Williams:

Yeah, it's really where do you want your business to be three years from now? That's what I ask. Where do you see that? And do you have the systems and processes in place to get there?

Brandon Gano:

That's a good question. People don't usually look that far ahead.

Greg Williams:

Yeah.

Brandon Gano:

I love that. Greg, this was fantastic. Thanks for being here. I appreciate you coming.

Greg Williams:

All right, thank you. Appreciate it. Bye-bye.

Brandon Gano:

Those of you watching and listening, thank you for being here too. We love putting these episodes on every single weekday for you. Make sure you subscribe wherever you are so you keep getting Harmonious at Lunch in your ear holes five days a week. We'll see you on the next episode.