Page 184 - BWM March 2013

184 | Business World Magazine | March 2013
from different backgrounds, which could
be brought to the organization and used as
a means of growing the organization to the
next level.”
Check, who has been with the company
for almost 20 years, explains the transition
this way: “What I saw in the older family-
style of operations, divisions were being run
as individual, autonomous profit centers.
The new management team centralized op-
erations, created a standardization in quality
systems, cost estimating systems, and com-
munications… where before, each division
may have adopted own practices, but now
those are shared so we can grab common
efficiencies… from a technology perspec-
tive… as a solution is to share, so that other
divisions gain those efficiencies as well.” The
team took further steps by investing in tech-
nology and equipment to provide dynamic
engineering, tools and resources.
A critical component was creating a five
year strategic plan, designed as Lowe says,
“to go from good to great.” Strategies were
specifically created to accomplish goals in
terms that included sales growth, opera-