Case Study:
How Buffalo River Truss Achieved A 20% INCREASE IN LABOR EFFICIENCY & REDUCED 38% OF CUSTOMER ISSUES In Six Months
Executive Summary
Buffalo River Truss partnered with Work Heartily in January 2024 to address production inefficiencies and quality issues hindering their growth. By engaging Shane Sloan as a fractional Chief Operating Officer, BRT implemented strategic improvements, including optimizing inventory management, consolidating shifts, and enhancing quality control.
These actions led to a 20% increase in labor efficiency and a 38% reduction in customer-reported issues, significantly improving their operational performance and setting the stage for future success.
Background
Founded in 2014 and based in the community of Lobelville, Tennessee, 75 miles outside of Nashville, Buffalo River Truss began providing steel trusses for agricultural and small commercial construction. Over the past decade, the company has expanded to 50 employees and generates over $12 million in annual revenue.
To support future growth, Buffalo River Truss (BRT) recognized the need to optimize production, but wanted to engage a leader that could be embedded on the team and drive accountabiliy. A trusted friend made a referral to the fractional executive leadership firm Work Heartily (WH), and BRT Leadership engaged them to provide expertise and guidance.
In January 2024, Shane Sloan, a Work Heartily executive and fractional Chief Operating Officer, engaged at Buffalo River Truss as an embedded leader. His objectives were to:
- Review and enhance production processes.
- Define and measure critical production and quality KPIs.
- Optimize and scale production lines to maximize capacity.
Assessment
After a thorough review of BRT's production processes, Work Heartily identified several immediate improvement opportunities:
- Jig setters were responsible for collecting their own components, causing production delays when parts ran out.
- Daily production was delayed due to extended clean up time after 2nd shift.
- The 2nd shift had management challenges, resulting in significant quality issues and lower production throughput.
- Quality issues were often detected only after customer orders were completed and sometimes delivered, requiring on-site corrections.
- High employee turnover on the production line caused inconsistency in throughput and quality.
- Frequent defects occurred due to human error in measurements provided to welders and jig setters.
Recommendations
Shane presented his findings and recommended the following actions, which were approved by BRT leadership and implemented by Shane:
- Assign a production team member to monitor and replenish inventory at each workstation, ensuring continuous production.
- Increase hourly wages to market rates to reduce turnover, increase production throughput, and maintain target margins.
- Shut down the 2nd shift, which was the largest contributor to quality issues, and move the 5th production line to the 1st shift to manage increased demand.
- Hire a Quality Assurance manager to improve processes, monitor QA issues, and identify problems before final product delivery.
Results
The implementation of Work Heartily's recommendations led to significant improvements. Within a few months BRT achieved:
- A 20% increase in labor efficiency, measured as the weekly average footage of trusses built per labor hour.
- A 38% decrease in reported customer issues with delivered orders.
"Shane’s leadership and skills had an immediate impact on the organization. His analysis and recommendations were exactly what we needed. Most importantly, he became part of the team, managed the initiative, and drove the results." – Mahlon Miller, CEO / Founder, Buffalo River Truss, LLC
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Meet The Work Heartily Team
Meet Shane Sloan
With over 15 years of experience (tech and services), Shane excels at crafting and communicating visionary strategies, leading teams, and delivering innovative solutions for complex enterprises. His expertise spans various business areas, and he drives enhancements in internal operations and customer experience. His track record of on-time, budget-conscious project delivery with measurable ROI underscores his commitment to excellence and high-performing teams.
Meet Jonathan Barnes
Jonathan has a rich background across multiple industries, beginning as a recruiter and later leading branch offices for Maxim Healthcare Services. Transitioning to data and analytics in 2012, he led sales efforts at Care Technology Systems, earning two patents. In 2014, he founded Staffing as a Mission (SaaM), growing it to make the Inc. 5000 list in 2019. Now, he leads Work Heartily, providing fractional executive leadership and coaching to a wide range of clients.