Somerset Operators — Operations
Efficiency reviews and process improvement from an industrial engineer who's run real businesses — not a consultant who's only read about them.
What We Do
Most efficiency problems are visible the moment you walk the floor with fresh eyes and the right questions. We find them, prioritize them, and help you fix the ones that matter.
Walkarounds
01A structured walk of your operation with an industrial engineer's eye — looking at flow, layout, handoffs, idle time, and the small things that quietly cost money every single day.
Process
02Map how work actually moves through your business — not how it's supposed to — and find the steps that slow it down, create rework, or require more people than they should.
Constraints
03Find the one or two places where your operation is constrained — and fix those before everything else. Fixing non-bottlenecks first is one of the most common and costly mistakes in small business operations.
Cost
04Identify waste, over-processing, and unnecessary spend that's become invisible because it's always been there. Small businesses often have more room here than they realize.
Labor
05Look at how your people are deployed — who's doing what, when, and whether the work is matched to the right skill level. Labor is usually the biggest cost and the biggest lever.
Systems
06Assess whether your current software and tools are helping or hurting. Identify gaps where simple systems could reduce errors, save time, or eliminate manual work without a six-figure implementation.
How It Works
Step 1
01Phil walks your operation with you — floor, office, wherever the work happens. Structured observation, not a slide deck review. The goal is to see what you've stopped seeing.
Step 2
02A clear, prioritized list of what we found and what to do about it — ranked by impact, not complexity. Practical recommendations you can act on, not a 60-page study.
Step 3
03Hands-on help making the changes that matter most. We don't hand off a report and disappear — if you want help executing, we stay involved until it's working.
Who It's For
Small and mid-sized businesses with physical operations — service businesses, light manufacturers, distributors, field service operations — that have recurring inefficiency or are growing faster than their processes can handle.
You don't need to be broken to benefit. Most businesses we work with are doing fine — they just know there's money on the table and want someone with real experience to help find it.
Who You're Working With