Your Plant is leaving millions on the floor.
We find them.
Steve Baumgartner brings 32 years of operational leadership to manufacturing plants where teams are misaligned, margins are leaking, and leaders aren't leading.
The FORGE Operating System finds what's bleeding and builds a plant that runs without you.
32
Years Finding what’s bleeding.
42
Plants. Same Problems.
1
System that fixes them.
The Forge Operating System
Most manufacturing plants don't have a performance problem. They have a system problem. The equipment runs. The people show up. But somewhere between the shift change and the budget meeting, millions of dollars disappear.
FORGE is a five-phase business transformation system built to find those millions and recover them. Not a consulting program. Not a framework with a binder. An operating system — installed inside your plant and built to run without the consultant when the engagement ends.
The problem is almost never what leadership thinks it is. Every plant is leaving money on the floor. The gap number is always bigger than expected. A real fix produces a plant that can run without you. Dependency is not a deliverable.
See How It Works
The plant owner / ceo
Your margins have been eroding for two or three years. You've tried things. They didn't stick. The problem isn't your people - it's that nobody has been honest enough to name what's actually broken.
FORGE names it. Then fixes it.
the VP Operations / coo
One plant is underperforming and you need defensible ROI to present to leadership. FORGE produces documented dollar recovery — sourced, attributable, and built to survive a CFO's scrutiny.
the plant manager / gm
You know where it bleeds. You've known for a while. What you need is outside validation and a structured path to fix it that doesn't expose you in the process. FORGE gives you the numbers, the plan, and the credibility to take it upstairs.
THE OPERATIONS LEADER READY TO ACT
You don't need more data. You already know something is wrong. You need someone who has stood where you stand — on the floor, in the numbers, in the difficult conversations — and knows exactly what it takes to fix it. That's the only reason to call.
forge operating system - five phases
f
fault lines
Find what's bleeding before you build anything. Two to three days on site. Six assessment domains. You walk away with a picture of your plant most leadership teams have never seen.
ownership
o
Install accountability where excuses used to live. Culture diagnostic. Leadership alignment. A four-component accountability infrastructure that holds without a strong personality driving it.
rigor
r
Build execution discipline that makes results non-negotiable. Close the Maintenance-Operations gap. Install the KPIs that tell the truth. Standard work that is repeatable, owned, and non-negotiable.
gain
g
Recover the millions already inside the operation. Not new money — your money. Already in the building. Documented, sourced, and attributable to the work.
elevation
e
Build the system that runs without you. The Freedom Audit at close measures five dimensions of operational independence. The proof that the transformation holds.
THERE IS NO OTHER ENGAGEMENT THAT ENDS LIKE THIS.
Most consulting engagements end when the consultant leaves. The FORGE engagement ends with the Freedom Audit — a structured assessment of five dimensions of operational independence that produces a single score called the Freedom Index. It is the proof that the transformation holds.
A plant scoring below 6 on any dimension gets a targeted sustainment plan before we close. A plant scoring below 8 has a defined path for a return engagement.
Freedom is a system. FORGE builds it.
find the missing millions.
Every engagement starts with a conversation. Tell us what's happening in your operation and we'll tell you if FORGE is the right fit.