Seven Ridge Consulting

Plants back on plan, and built to stay there.

Seven Ridge Consulting brings hands-on turnaround leadership to manufacturers owned by private equity. One experienced plant leader, on site, accountable for the numbers on the board.

Talk with Bob See the results
Track record boardSafety, quality, delivery, cost
OSHA recordable rate400-person plant, behavior-based safety
−60%
Customer defectsParts per million, over two years
400→50PPM
BackordersTurnaround client, within weeks
−85%
EBITDA margin$60M flagship plant, in four months
5→20%

Recent turnaround results

EBITDA margin
5% to 20%
Before5%
4 months20%
Scale 0 to 25%

Flagship plant of a PE-backed building products manufacturer: $60M, 300 union employees

Turning around the company's most important plant

The largest facility in the company was running far below what its owners needed.

  • Assessed the leadership team in the first weeks and made the hard calls: new leaders in safety, quality, supply chain, and operations over ten months.
  • Installed a review cadence from the daily shift start-up to CEO and board reporting.
  • Led the on-site team that took critical waste out of the key processes.
  • Recruited and coached a new plant manager for six months, and prepared the team line by line for the next union negotiation.
Open backorders
85% fewer
Before100
Weeks later15
Indexed: starting backlog = 100

Second plant, same manufacturer

Getting customers their orders again

A sister facility had a deep backlog of late orders and a real risk of quality escapes reaching customers.

  • Put triage rules, visual controls, and daily production accountability in place within weeks.
  • Added a new inspection and control structure, improving quality 15%.
  • Selected and onboarded a new plant manager and handed off a working operating system.
Plant productivity
+15% in a year
Before100
1 year115
Indexed: starting output = 100, scale 0 to 120

Multi-site store fixtures manufacturer: three plants, about 600 people, $250M

An operating system that scales across a company

As plant manager, then director of operations, then director of organizational development, Bob built the management system one level at a time.

  • Raised productivity 15% in one year at a 300-person, $180M plant with an integrated lean management system.
  • Rolled out a business operating system and values-based leadership model to 200 leaders in every facility.
  • Co-led a difficult union contract negotiation to an outcome that worked for both sides.

How we work

Every engagement ends with a stronger team running the plant, not a dependency on a consultant.

  1. Assess fast

    Walk the floor, read the numbers, and evaluate the leadership team in the first weeks.

  2. Install the rhythm

    Daily start-ups, visual controls, and KPI reviews from the floor to the board.

  3. Fix and restructure

    Remove the waste, make the people decisions, stabilize safety, quality, and delivery.

  4. Hand off

    Select and coach the next leader, and leave the operating system with them.

Services

Shaped around the problem in front of you, from a diligence sprint before close to months on site after it.

Plant turnarounds

Rapid recovery of margin, delivery, and quality at underperforming plants, including union environments and leadership restructuring.

Operating systems

Tiered daily management, visual controls, KPI cadence, and strategic planning sized to the business.

Leadership and labor

Leadership assessment, plant manager selection and coaching, safety culture, and union contract preparation.

ERP and data

ERP work that reflects how the shop really runs, plus KPI analytics leaders actually use.

Acquisition evaluation

An operator's read before you buy: operational due diligence, recast financials, and a clear view of risk and upside.

Bob Mills

Bob has spent 28 years in manufacturing, the first part of it in IT leading large ERP migrations and the rest running plants. That mix means he can read a plant's numbers and its systems as well as its shop floor.

Before founding Seven Ridge Consulting in 2024, he led operations from the plant level to the multi-site executive level, at companies ranging from a Fortune 500 global manufacturer to privately held, mid-market businesses.

He has turned around struggling plants, built operating systems used by hundreds of leaders, negotiated union contracts, and led a full plant closure. Seven Ridge brings that same hands-on leadership to private equity owners.

He holds an MBA and an undergraduate degree in computer systems.

Background at a glance

Scale
100–700people per plant
$30M–$400Mplant revenue
3 plants$250M multi-site lead
Industries
Electrical and power management, irrigation and agricultural equipment, hydraulics, store fixtures, and doors, windows, and building products
Companies
Fortune 500 global manufacturer, publicly traded equipment maker, privately held mid-market manufacturers, and PE-backed portfolio companies
Roles
IT and ERP leader, operational excellence manager, plant manager, VP of manufacturing, director of operations, and director of organizational development
Settings
Union and non-union plants, single sites and multi-site networks, and corporate continuous improvement across 10 U.S. plants

Have a plant that isn't hitting plan?

Whether you're weighing an acquisition or need results from one you already own, start with a short conversation about what you're seeing.

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