Insights

A global manufacturer engaged Kormac for assistance in achieving sustainable inventory management. Our analysis and collaboration contributed to a $20 million (10%) reduction in inventory in the first year….

Read More

A leading door hardware company is seeking candidates to lead its national distribution center in Dallas, Texas….

Read More

A leading manufacturer of industrial safety equipment turned to Kormac for assistance in improving forecast accuracy, demand/supply alignment, inventory turns, and product delivery performance….

Read More

Karmic is how we work, how we serve our client partners, and how we treat others along the way. …

Read More

Insights from Kormac’s resident MedTech Quality, Regulatory, & Compliance expert and four other healthcare consulting thought leaders….

Read More

While 2023’s anticipated recession never arrived, geopolitical uncertainty poses continued challenges to forecasting, planning, and execution….

Read More

Says Stan, “Karmic Selling reflects my lifelong approach to business, and Kormac brings that same spirit of kindness to consulting.”…

Read More

From factories and foundries to machine shops and robotics labs, Kormac’s elite teams delivered big results in 2023 with a wide variety of client partners. …

Read More

As an expression of our gratitude, we’re supporting five nonprofits dedicated to saving lives, supporting families, and fostering kindness….

Read More

Kormac is helping MedTech firms increase the statistical sophistication of Design Quality measurement at the component, subassembly, and product levels….

Read More

If exit uncertainty has shifted your private equity value creation strategy from exit and acquisition to organic growth and productivity, we can help. …

Read More

Kormac and Compliance Group are helping MedTech organizations improve the operational and technological dimensions of quality assurance….

Read More

Manufacturers are on the move, with many pursuing facility consolidations and transfers. We recently supported an aerospace and defense supplier in consolidating several manufacturing sites following a series of mergers….

Read More

Companies that grow rapidly or by acquisition eventually reach a day of reckoning when they are forced to grapple with their disparate collection of facilities, manufacturing platforms, or product lines….

Read More

When leaders are struggling with operational challenges, some belatedly recognize the need for outside help….

Read More

Kormac recently helped a global industry leader scale their production machine shops to meet consumer demand….

Read More

Excessive caution stifles innovation, hiders agility, and obscures promising investment opportunites….

Read More

To improve cash flow while mitigating risk, many companies are reevaluating their approach to inventory management. Excess materials and persistent shortages remain despite the overall recovery from pandemic constraints. When times were tough, gaps in inventory management discipline magnified the impact of constrained supply chains. As conditions improve, discipline gaps still leave...

A leading supplier of metal components to the mining industry was struggling with manufacturing variability in its foundries. The president turned to Kormac for help in improving operational stability and predictability, including maintenance, operations management, and employee training and retention. Our initial foundry analysis revealed an understaffed and undermanaged maintenance...

No one wants to work with jerks. Unfortunately, some industries are rife with them, and consulting tops the list. Kormac’s founders previously served at several firms with abusive colleagues and/or leaders. They decided life was too short for toxicity and committed to creating the kind of heart-led organization they always...

Driven by federal incentives, geopolitical risk and pandemic aftershocks, reshoring and nearshoring continue apace. For manufacturers compressing supply chains, nearshoring to our southern neighbor provides a comfortable, cost-effective option. Companies of all size are feeling the pull – even 88% of small and medium sized businesses are “reshuffling their supply...

CNBC’s recent “State of Freight” updates reveal “High inventory levels are limiting [warehouse] capacity, and combined with less new square footage coming into the market due to higher interest rates, are keeping prices up even as the economy slows.” Kormac has sensed those headwinds as many manufacturing leaders have recently...

As supply chain disruptions ease, many organizations are left holding excessive inventory accumulated during the turmoil. Our Inventory Intelligence Surgical Strikes provide a path out of the wilderness toward optimized inventory and availability. While inventory executives can typically slice and dice data to reveal relative performance and volumes, they often...

As home value appreciation and pandemic risk prompt more seniors to permanently exit the labor market, companies are facing an experiential “brain drain.” Many teams rely on informal knowledge and know-how trapped in the heads of tenured employees. When we analyze organizations, we often find huge gaps between processes as...

We all lose our heads sometimes, but it’s big trouble if a factory does. When a leading manufacturer of aerospace fabricated assemblies lost its facility general manager, executives knew it could take months to find a qualified replacement. Unfortunately, their 50,000-square-foot integrated contract manufacturing facility needed a leader immediately. Kormac...

Leaders engage consultants for countless reasons, but how often do they actually enjoy the collaboration? We frequently hear stories of client trauma inflicted by consultancies that left behind unresolved problems or cultural damage. Why? Too many consultants prioritize their own business needs over their clients’. Inverting that myopic approach, Kormac’s...

As US manufacturers consider reshoring, they’re often prompted to reevaluate the configuration of existing facilities, including storage. We help such leaders develop detailed plant scenarios and models to guide recommendations on combining, consolidating, redesigning, and/or automating plants, including estimated costs and savings for each scenario. To follow is a chemical...

𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴: “Geopolitical risk and the advantages of domestic manufacturing are motivating more and more companies to move production back to the U.S., driving job announcements to record-breaking highs.” Assembly Magazine’s October assessment reflects our own experience: reshoring’s proximity to end-use customers provides compelling relief from logistical issues, risks, and costs....

Got whiplash? We went from a ferocious “battle for talent” to talk of widespread job cuts in the span of just a few weeks. A recent CEO survey found that 80% of leaders are or will consider downsizing their employee base in the next 6 months. But before we resort...

The R-word is everywhere, and advisors are touting tips to make businesses “recession proof.” Unfortunately, that concept is more myth than reality. Instead, our objective – in good times and bad – is to cultivate resilience. A “recession resilient” business has implemented comprehensive sales, inventory, and operations planning (SIOP) to...

A leading automotive aftermarket manufacturer was facing large impending order volumes and turned to Kormac for help in improving throughput, quality, and facility flow. Together, we developed a future vision for one-piece flow through their entire operation. Because new equipment proved cost prohibitive, Kormac and the client team sought to...

As the labor and supply cost rollercoaster continues, we are working with several clients to identify new management levers. Among them: Increasing the frequency of cost reviews to ensure faster customer price adjustments and/or tying customer pricing to component market indices Executing Value Analysis and Value Engineering efforts to drive...

Customer delight begins with honoring our commitments. With that truth in mind, a leading healthcare services company turned to Kormac for help in improving its on-time delivery to customers. From forecasting and purchasing to inventory management and product delivery, our client sought to deliver an outstanding experience for its pharmaceutical...

Inside most companies – no matter how successful – are underperforming units or subsidiaries. When ignored, these underperformers cost more than just money – they consume resources better invested elsewhere. For one recent automotive aftermarket client, Kormac analyzed an underperforming business unit contributing only 3% of company revenue. The unit...

As manufacturers grapple with rising material and labor costs, we’re seeing renewed interest in Lean. Kormac has decades of experience in employing Lean/Six Sigma/Kaizen methodologies to boost quality, productivity, and speed while reducing cost, backlog, and facility floor space. We begin each Lean engagement by analyzing our client’s product line...

Supply chains have proven a compelling scapegoat, but many of the recent challenges reveal underlying dysfunction that preceded the pandemic. For one medical device manufacturer, supply chain (SC) complexity was creating costly overages in materials and finished inventory. Their build-to-order SC process optimized part and component costs, but did so...

Trust is a gut feeling – not easily earned nor restored. We earn and maintain our clients’ trust by delivering on our word. If we say, “You will have it by 5 pm,” we’ll deliver it by 4:30. Trust is the lifeblood of consulting because our product lacks tangible form....

Is your organization suffering from SIOP myopia? In our client assessments, we find that 90% of supply/demand discussion focuses on the near-term, neglecting longer term risks and opportunities. Optimized SIOP extends the horizon of forecast accuracy to increase agility and avoid looming constraints. Kormac’s supply chain convergence approach powers an...

Continuing our discussion of current supply shortages and bottlenecks, Kormac excels at helping clients cultivate supply visibility and reliability amidst challenging conditions. For example, a global manufacturer of vehicle seats sought to maintain 100% OTIF (On-Time and In-Full order fulfillment rate) but suffered from inadequate visibility to component suppliers’ capacity...

Temporary supply shortages are making economic headlines as drivers of inflation and order backlogs. Kormac addressed the same uneven supply availability during the last recovery. One of our clients, a global Oil & Gas heavy equipment manufacturer, lost critical suppliers when the 2008 economic crisis drove many small machine shops...

Kormac is assisting a client partner in identifying exceptional candidates to serve as Plant Manager of an innovative new battery ‘gigafactory.’ This role offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join a fast-growing company that is shaping the future of advanced energy storage. The factory will be a greenfield or brownfield startup...

While some aspects of life and work are returning to the “new normal,” others are more disorienting than ever. Kormac is helping organizations cultivate resilience, foster innovation, and identify new talent to face the continued onslaught of complex disruptors. If you feel flat-footed when you ponder some of the trends...

“As companies try to tempt workers back to the office … a huge uncertainty hangs over them: will enough people come? Even as vaccinations progress, workers have been slow to return. In early May only one in 20 buildings in America had occupancy levels above 10%.” – The Economist, June...

Last week, I introduced “The Hidden Factory,” the notion that all organizations have the potential to deliver more output from existing assets. Easier said than done when demand is spiking, so here's a story of how we released capacity hidden within a bedding manufacturer’s warehouse operations. A bed-in-a-box manufacturer urgently...

Calling all world-class S&OP executives! Covance by Labcorp, a leading global life sciences company and friend of The Kormac Group, is seeking candidates for an Associate Director of Sales & Operations Planning role.

Contact Kormac at +1.704.266.3555 for more information…

Read More

The US and global economies appear to be accelerating at breakneck speed. Many companies are suddenly faced with high demand for products and services, but it’s not yet clear if this represents a spike or sustainable volume. As executives consider whether to add capacity – through new facilities, machinery, employees,...

Can you feel the economy kicking into high gear? We can. Consulting has long proven a bellwether, and Kormac is seeing an unprecedented level of new initiatives. Accordingly, we’re hiring! After an intense year, we know some executives are ready to step off the corporate track. Consulting with Kormac offers...

Remember when the status quo was good enough and straight-line forecasts proved accurate? Neither do we. While our current moment feels more uncertain – with our business, political, and cultural worlds in flux – it was always uncertain. But uncertainty need not be paralyzing, especially given the opportunities to embrace...

Kormac is assisting a client partner in identifying small acquisition opportunities in the Aerospace & Defense sector, specifically aircraft lighting, avionics, cabin electronics, and related products. Our client’s intent is to acquire a more robust aircraft electronics portfolio to complement its existing energy storage offerings. The client is open to...

Open the floodgates: innovation is for EVERYONE! Kormac is working with a top manufacturer in the commercial vehicle sector to foster innovation across its global workforce. At an inflection point with electrification, digitalization, connectivity, and autonomous driving, our client needs every employee to find new ways to learn, work, and...

Fifth in our series of sales effectiveness tips is Securing Commitment. After demonstrating value comes earning the client's wholehearted commitment. Why wholehearted? Because lasting success requires their engagement and advocacy, especially if their decision may face internal resistance. Related Insights Sales Gift #1 Sales Gift #3 Sales Gift #2 Sales...

Next in our series of sales effectiveness tips is Prove Your Mettle. After qualifying and confirming a client’s need, the next step is demonstrating qualification to meet that need. Below are a few prerequisites for a compelling value proposition. The Kormac Group meets clients at their point of need with...

Next in our holiday series of sales effectiveness tips is Qualification of Need. After listening and establishing credibility with the client, the next phase of relationship development requires thorough investigation of client needs, expectations, and motivation. Ideally, this exploratory process engages both buyers and authorizers to qualify the need. Related...

Sales is the watchword this winter, so we’re continuing our series of sales effectiveness tips as holiday gifts to our network. Beyond listening as a superpower, here are critical ways to establish credibility during the sales process. Related Insights Sales Gift #1 Sales Gift #4 Sales Gift #3 Sales Gift...

Sales is the watchword this winter. As companies strive to rebuild momentum, many executives are realizing that their sales teams consist of more “farmers” than “hunters.” Teams that performed well in a favorable market are now struggling to deliver fruitful new relationships. Therefore, we’re sharing some sales effectiveness tips as...

Expanding on last week’s post, to follow are Kormac’s best practice supply chain features by function. From demand planning through execution and logistics, we apply our proven framework to optimize client processes and improve service performance. For one global manufacturer of optical and ceramic products, we delivered an actionable, comprehensive...

As we face the greatest supply chain challenge in modern history — the global rollout of a coronavirus vaccine — we felt compelled to share our best practices. Below are some of the critical features Kormac designs and incorporates into supply chains to ensure seamless, sustainable, agile performance. Next week,...

Akin to the U.S. election underway, organizations must embrace constituent voices and vision during their own inflection points. Kormac understands change management, and we know that sustainable change requires employee ownership and participation. Our collaborative model involves early employee engagement, frequent check-ins, and close collaboration for final project design and...

Aerospace & Defense Industry Insights: As a former unit president at General Electric Aircraft Engines, I enjoy keeping abreast of the sector and collaborating with A&D executives. To follow are my take-aways from a recent A&D private equity panel discussion: Companies and investors are looking for resilience in their product...

The Kormac Group meets clients at their point of need with a fully customized engagement approach, project scope, and elite team. We have no minimum or maximum engagement size, so we can engage to address any client requirement. We can serve as: Leaders and drivers of the change initiative Member...

Sur·gi·cal [/ˈsərjək(ə)l/] adj. – characterized by extreme precision or incisiveness. Kormac’s laser-focused Surgical Strikes target specific client needs and deliver accelerated results. Clients are consistently impressed by the speed and scale of results achieved by our small teams of experts that do more with less. For detailed case studies describing...

"It's not what you know, but who you know." We’ve all heard the old maxim, and executive connections are among The Kormac Group’s most meaningful gifts to the business world. Leading with our hearts, we seek to genuinely help every executive we meet, and we NEVER charge for introducing leaders...

Remote work is common now, but transforming organizations from afar remains a challenge. To help executives struggling within the current constraints, Kormac has composed a checklist for remote engagement success based on our collective experience. We hope these tips for “Achieving Real Change with Virtual Teams” support you in achieving...

We’re grateful to all the executives who entrust us with their organizations, especially those who engage us year after year. As an implementation consultancy, Kormac works side-by-side with client staff at the point of execution — nowadays, often virtually — to achieve and sustain results together. Thank you, Chuck, for...

Kormac is helping several leading organizations to grow revenue despite the challenging market conditions. Some are expanding through strategic acquisition – especially vertical integration – while others are focused on shifting from transactional sales to subscription/annuity models. For those with B2B salesforces struggling to find traction, to follow are a...

COVID-19 laid bare systemic weaknesses around the world, especially in functions and processes requiring physical proximity. Given this tragic catalyst, Kormac is witnessing and supporting dramatic accelerations in automation and technology adoption. Artificial intelligence, robotics, big data analytics, and IoT (Internet of Things) are among the powerful tools available to...

Affordable consulting?! According to one of our current clients, Kormac is “the best money ever spent for consulting services.” Our laser-focused Surgical Strike Methodology™ empowers us to meet targeted client needs at a lower investment point, ensuring client ROI of 3:1 to 9:1. Our smaller teams of highly qualified consultants...

Regardless of how well your organization planned for 2020, this year’s surprises demanded constant recalibration and innovation. As we approach the Fall planning season, continued uncertainty demands a robust process to shape 2021 strategic direction and objectives. Engaging “outsider voices” in your plan development will help your executive team avoid...

Pandemic retail disruptions have prompted many manufacturers to dramatically scale up direct-to-consumer sales. Kormac recently helped a consumer packaged goods manufacturer to transform its B2B logistics operations to support rapid, cost-effective B2C delivery. With our guidance, the client improved warehouse throughput from 3,500 packages per day to 24,270 per day...

Since our formation, Kormac’s Surgical Strike Methodology™ has empowered us to meet client needs with exceptional speed and precision. In today's volatile environment, we have seized market share from many of the large consultancies by fielding smaller teams that deliver big results. We have a shiny new website, but our...