Business Operating System Ties Process Map to Bottom Line

Star Blends, with a mill and admin office located in Sparta, Wisconsin, and a mill in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, was established in 1988 and currently employs 58. The company is owned by Nesnah Ventures, LLC and their key products/markets include animal nutrition and feed manufacturing.

Star Blends had grown rapidly in prior years, prompting the building of a new mill in Chippewa Falls. After initial growth in sales with the mill addition, facility utilization plateaued at approximately 25%.

There was a true lack of focus and direction, process documentation, transparency, and accountability, as well as over-complicated processes/systems and stagnated sales/revenue growth. Many decisions were made using gut reaction rather than data. They had very committed employees, but they were extremely frustrated. General Manager Erica Grant consulted the MOC, part of the Wisconsin MEP and the MEP National Network™, because she had worked with them in the past and knew the great results that had been achieved for a much lower cost than other consultants.

Star Blends first worked with the MOC to process map their purchasing, sales and budding/pricing processes. Most recently they implemented the business operating system (BOS), which has been the most beneficial and impactful to date. The process mapping helped to shed light on the gaps within these areas, the need for role clarity, and the over complication/lack of documented processes. The BOS has helped them to become focused on the true issues in the company. This has helped focus and start solving the issues which included setting a solid strategy to address the issues/gaps that were both short and long term, i.e., quarterly, 1, 3, 5 years.