A midwest manufacturing company
Sarah, the Operations Director at a midwest manufacturing company, stood in her office overlooking the factory floor, her coffee growing cold as she pondered the challenge ahead. The company had just invested millions in a new digital manufacturing system, yet six months in, adoption rates were dismally low. The fancy dashboards sat unused, the mobile apps remained uninstalled, and her team still relied on their old spreadsheets and manual processes.
“There has to be a better way,” she muttered, remembering the countless other transformation initiatives that had started with great fanfare only to fizzle out. That’s when she received the call from RSG.
“Sarah,” George began, “before we talk about solutions, tell me about your biggest pain point right now.” The question caught her off guard – most consultants jumped straight into showcasing their latest technology solutions.
Over the next hour, Sarah shared her frustration about the failed digital transformation. George listened intently, then said something that would change everything: “What if, instead of adding new processes, we focused on replacing what isn’t working? Let’s start with one critical workflow that’s causing the most headaches.”
Sarah identified their quality control process – a labyrinth of paperwork, duplicate data entry, and delayed responses that frustrated everyone involved. Rather than proposing an immediate factory-wide transformation, the RSG team began with a focused evaluation of this single process.
They spent time with quality inspectors, line operators, and supervisors, understanding not just the process but the people. They discovered that previous initiatives had failed because they ignored the team’s tribal knowledge and added layers of complexity instead of simplifying workflows.
The transformation began small but meaningful. They didn’t just digitize the existing process – they reimagined it. Each change was purposefully designed to replace an existing pain point, not add to workers’ responsibilities. The team participated in designing the new workflow, ensuring it addressed their real needs rather than theoretical improvements.
The results were immediate. Quality reports that once took hours now took minutes. More importantly, the team embraced the change because they could see direct value in their daily work. Success with this initial process created momentum and believers throughout the organization.
Building on this foundation, Sarah and the RSG team gradually expanded the transformation. Each phase followed the same principle: identify what needs to be replaced, understand the human impact, and ensure immediate value delivery. They weren’t just implementing technology – they were establishing new habits that made work easier and more effective.
Eighteen months later, Sarah stood in that same office, but the view was different. The factory hummed with efficiency, not just from the technology, but from the engaged teams who had embraced the changes as their own. The transformation had succeeded not because it was revolutionary, but because it was evolutionary – building on each success, replacing friction with flow, and putting people at the center of every change.
“The difference,” Sarah would later explain to her colleagues, “wasn’t in the technology we chose, but in how we implemented it. We stopped trying to add new layers and instead focused on replacing what wasn’t working. We built our foundation first, moved at a pace our team could absorb, and made sure every change delivered immediate value. Most importantly, we recognized that sustainable transformation isn’t about the systems you install – it’s about the habits you help people build.”
The story of this midwest manufacturing organization became a testament to the power of purposeful change. It showed that successful transformation doesn’t require organizations to leap into the future – instead, they can build it systematically, one replaced process at a time, creating new habits that stick and delivering value every step of the way
