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ponent of the system-driven philosophy, it has experienced 400 percent growth over five years in what is effectively a suburb of Detroit. Considering the economy the last five years, most owners had a better shot at winning the Powerball lottery than 400 percent growth.Howdid they sus- tain this extraordinary growth without imploding or break- ing apart from the G-Forces? The answer is in young, talent- ed management that looked to technology to fill the gaps instead of fallible human control points.Everyone had to trust the system and execute their jobs flawlessly without worry- ing that the last functional area fell short on the job (much like the assembly lines in Detroit). Prior to embracing the concept, sales orders could be entered, purchased and shipped without credit checks or money down.This violated amajor control point at the start of the process and happened more frequently with every exponential growth year.Most issues were caught just prior to shipping,but if the special order product was purchased and cash flow was diminished, it was too late to stop the margin erosion. Now, if a sales order is entered without proper credit or down payment, there's a technological barrier in place to prevent it from being processed and pushed down the line for purchasing, shipping and invoicing. It's also important to note that the only way to remove the barrier is with a clearance from management. The end result has been effi- ciencies down the entire line. Instead of checking credit worthiness before a special order,purchasing can now con- centrate on consolidating orders and maximizing free freight and discounts; and shipping can follow the paper- work, in lieu of its own credit backtracking. If a pick ticket prints, it ships. Finally, invoicing is now a clerical function and senior staffers no longer have to scour every invoice. (If they need to get involved, it's at the beginning of the process when something can be done about it.) This is one of the clearest examples of howa correctly posi- tioned control point can free up management's time and make "exception handling" truly "exceptions." It's all about doing more with less and giving management the opportu- nity to actually manage, not hiring another expert who can draft, sell, purchase, install and manage cash flow. Embracing the Concept How do you transform your company into a system-driv- en organization? The first step is an impartial evaluation of the current situation in your company. If possible,use a third- partywith no skin in the game to assess your baseline.Then, decide how you want the customer to perceive your organ- ization and work backwards from there. You would be amazed how helpful your current employees can be with examples of what can be done in the process (before it gets to them) to save time, money and look good for the cus- tomer. You had better have some thick skin, though, because what doesn't get blamed on the salespeople defaults to management/ownership. It's much like reverse engineering your own business as long as the interviewer is not a direct or indirect supervisor March/Apr il 201 2 43 of the staff (not including executive management).Timing can vary greatly from company to company, plan on two to three months to frame the big picture and a never-ending quest for better detailed results from there. If youwant to attempt the processwithout a third-party, look for the low-hanging fruit to get fast results and management buy-in. Start by mapping out the functional areas and the respective subsection process flows as you or the manage- ment team sees them. For example, the Sales functional area can be broken down into Floor Sales, Distribution Sales, Contract Sales and Sales Support. Even if you need one person in more than one box, it is best to divide the area accordingly. Next, conduct interviews of non-management staff in each of the areas to compare where they see things. In the inter- views, try asking the staff what someone (not in their depart- ment) could do to make their job easier. You might be shocked at what you find out. Once the map is complete, look for the top five control points that impact cross-functional areas like the Burkett example, which simplified sales, accounting, purchasing and shipping. Next, decide how to implement the control point through people, technology or a combination of both. Repeat this process until no more fruit can be found and then plan on another review in six to 12 months. Starting with the biggest, easiest to implement control pointwill garner faster results and continued on page 44