In mid-April, we invited Cogent Analytics to conduct a discovery to help us gain an outside perspective on the health of our company. During this time, Dave Drylie went through our financials, interviewed our employees as well as shareholders, and gave us a picture of where he saw Bay Machining at that time. Dave pointed out a number of things that we needed to work on to improve our financial situation, to help educate the 2 new shareholders on the ins and outs of business, and an understanding of employment, recruiting, and retention, as well as a few other items.  

We decided to hire Cogent to help us in these areas. The following week, we met our Project Director, Yaw Ananga, as well as another Cogent employee named Jesse Bullock. Yaw and Jesse hit the ground running and quickly began the head-spinning process of getting a handle on where we were as a company. The first week was truly a test, and Yaw and Jesse were great to deal with.  

During the first week, we were able to get a handle on our Organizational Chart. With the guidance of Yaw and Jesse, we were educated on the importance of the chain of command, educating the employees of this chain, and delegating tasks that should be shared for decentralized command. This understanding has gone a long way in freeing up management to focus on other tasks. 

Our initial Plan from Cogent seemed to be lacking the recruiting and retention engine that was discussed during the discovery phase. With a few conversations, Yaw and Jesse showed the power in the partnership that we had and amended the plan. This updated plan had Jesse coming back for another week to help us put together a Job Flex Matrix, as well as job descriptions, job postings for needed positions, and a job offer that we extended at the end of the second week. 

In the following weeks, Yaw introduced us to many of the Cogent team, and Daniel Nix has been great, teaching us how to use the CMS, and this tool will serve us well. The feedback for the ASR has helped us understand that we need to look more closely at some items in our income statement to better see COGS and OH. This education has been great, and understanding Labor Burden and Overhead Absorption using the provided tools will make us see the entire picture in a way we have not in the past. 

Getting to meet Matt McCloghry was great. Matt was able to help me better understand the importance of implementing a CMS to track customer relations, how and where to find new leads, as well as many other tidbits of knowledge from his years of Business Development experience. 

Yaw has been a great teacher, showing a pair of new shareholders the importance of understanding the business and the organization at a deeper level. 

Ryan Morley
Co-Owner
Bay Machining and Sales, Inc