Lean discipline. AI precision. Financial proof.

Mid-size manufacturers are losing margin in the gap between their systems.

The email chains managing supplier issues. The spreadsheet someone updates on Friday afternoon to track deliveries. The reorder that never fired because nobody was watching the signal. That gap has a measurable cost, and it can be closed in a matter of weeks, without a new platform or an 18-month rollout.

Get in Touch

The Gap Nobody Fixed

“You have ERP. You have a quality system. Between them, your team is running on email and spreadsheets. That gap has a cost. We close it.”

Every mid-size manufacturer has the same unautomated middle layer between systems. The ERP handles core transactions. The quality system tracks defects. But the connective tissue — the supplier quality loop, the inventory signal to production scheduling, the delivery monitoring that currently lives in someone's inbox — stays manual.

Most manufacturers have tried to fix this. Pilots stalled. Tools went unused. ROI never appeared. The root cause is consistent: technology without operational redesign always fails. You can't automate a broken process and expect a different result.

7Flows starts with the operation, not the technology. We diagnose the process, redesign the workflow, and then deploy AI-powered automation that connects your existing systems. No new enterprise platform to license — just modest tool and usage costs to run it. The build-and-deploy phase runs 4–8 weeks, inside a typical 13–21 week engagement.

The Seven Flows

“All problems can be solved by looking at and understanding the seven flows.” — Chihiro Nakao

Raw Material Incoming supply & inventory PHYSICAL Work-in-Progress Transformation & processing PHYSICAL Finished Goods Completed product & delivery PHYSICAL Information Signals, data & decisions ENABLING Engineering Design, methods & improvement ENABLING Operators People, skills & standard work SUPPORT Equipment Machines, tools & maintenance SUPPORT
Physical Flows — Raw Material → WIP → Finished Goods
Enabling Flows — Information & Engineering
Support Flows — Operators & Equipment
Key Insight

When any flow breaks, waste accumulates across all connected flows. Information is the enabling flow that connects every other flow.

Who We Work With

7Flows works with mid-size manufacturers — typically $20M to $300M in revenue — who have the pain, have some tools, but have an enormous unautomated middle layer between systems.

Large enterprises have largely solved their core workflow automation — SAP and Oracle have it built in. The opportunity is the mid-sized manufacturer sitting on operational waste they can't see.

You're the right fit if:

  • Your team manages supplier issues over email
  • Production scheduling depends on someone's Friday spreadsheet
  • Reorder signals get missed because no one's watching
  • You've tried an AI pilot and it stalled after 90 days
  • Your ERP is live but the gaps between systems are still manual
  • You need a financial outcome attached to every engagement — not a report

Why This Works

Larry Crane, Principal, 7Flows Consulting LLC
Larry Crane
Principal, 7Flows Consulting LLC

No generalist AI consultant can walk into a VP Ops meeting with this record. Diagnosis is the service. Implementation is almost the commodity.

Experience

35 years as a senior operations executive — not a consultant who read a book. Has run P&Ls, owned plants, integrated acquisitions, and led transformations.

Discipline

GE-certified Lean/Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Every engagement starts with an operations diagnosis — fixing the process before touching the technology.

Financial Rigor

Former CPA. Financial outcomes are non-negotiable. Every engagement has a stated financial objective and a defined measurement method before work begins.

Plant-Floor Fluency

Knows what a SCAR actually costs — not just the labor hours, but the supplier relationship damage, containment cost, and customer risk if something escapes.

Start the Conversation

If you're a mid-size manufacturer with an unautomated middle layer — and you want a defined financial outcome attached to the work — let's talk.

Engagements are scoped before they start. No open-ended extensions.

larry.crane@7flows-consulting.com (480) 330-3202 Connect on LinkedIn Larry Crane — Principal, 7Flows Consulting LLC