You might give us a call if...

• It seems very hard to ship orders on time. Engineering ran late in the first place and puts the blame on Sales, Manufacturing got documents too late, Assembly did massive Overtime to catch up, and the field crew had to do miracles during Start Up.
  
  
• Margins are there, but they melt away in: Overtime; last-minute subcontracting or O/P; rework; customer interference and last minute special requests; financial charges due to late receivables…
  
  
• With the US dollar so weak now (Euro currencies went down 33% between 1996 and 2001, then up by some 60% since. . .), the Italian, Spanish, and German is handicapped, while possibly Taiwanese and Korean competition is really hurting you. You ask yourself how can you take advantage of these situations, cut cost and compete?
  
  
• You can't find good recruits: it seems nobody wants to be an engineer or a salesman in the machinery business anymore, nobody want to live and work in Mishawaka, Indiana or in Stockton, California or in Cedar Rapids, Iowa or elsewhere in the boonies anymore (yes, all machinery manufacturers are in the boonies, and they are right, we can explain you why).
  
  
• You don't know how to better motivate your executives. They are experienced, loyal, qualified, intelligent, and yet they never volunteer an initiative, never know what to do facing an unexpected crisis, and always wait for the CEO's directions.
  
  
• Your market is cyclical (all capital good markets are), so are your profits, and you hesitate: should you concentrate on one market, or should you diversify? In both cases, how does one preserve profits during a market downturn?
  
  
• Your European competitors are here on the US market which is big, single language, single regulations, and attractive currency-wise. You too should go global and take market shares in Europe, Asia, Latin America… but each one of these markets is small, speaks a different language, has different currencies, banking systems, regulations, standards… And you have only 100 or 500 employees to design, manufacture, sell and service the whole world!
  
  
• You want to understand how to convince your bank and investors that it makes sense to invest in your business. They don't trust a machinery business: cyclical market, never know how long the downturn will last, profits one year, losses the next, key assets walk away to the competition…
  
  
• Your Engineering Department came out with a fantastic idea which would bring a break through to your customers in terms of: throughput; return on investment; quality; savings on raw materials; on labor costs; whatever. But it takes money to build a prototype of the new equipment and more money to test it. How can you invest in R&D, find the financing, all this without hurting your cash flow?
  
  
• You have problems "getting bonded", need financing for bid bonds and performance bonds to qualify with public tenders issued for major engineering projects overseas.