The hidden math behind “cheaper parts” Imagine you buy a component with: Average daily demand:  20 units/day Purchase price:  $25/unit Safety stock:  10% (arbitrary, for illustration) Scenario A: 8-week lead time Lead-time inventory (basic approximation): 8 weeks × 5 days/week × 20 units/day = 8 × 5 × 20 = 800 units Add ~10% safety stock: 800 × 1.10 = 880 units Inventory value at $25/unit: 880 × $25 = $22,000 So, the “cost” of an 8-week lead time isn’t just waiting longer. It

"Goal Setting" may have started for you in Q4 of 2025. Maybe you are still refining your priorities and targets now in January. These aspirations usually kick off a flurry of good intentions… and a slow drift back into firefighting by mid-February. Why? They’re broad. They’re crowded. They’re built on assumptions nobody has verified on the floor, in the process, or in the data. At Bareither Group, we talk a lot about Focus  and Align —because stable results don’t come from

A few weeks ago, a client surprised me in a way that (honestly) made me smile. They hit pause . Not because the business was slow. Not because they ran out of ideas. But because they finally recognized what was really happening: They were stacking strategic initiatives on top of an operation that hadn’t stabilized from the last round of change. So, the leadership team made a call: “For the next 90 days, we’re not launching anything new. We’re going to stabilize, solve problem

In Improve LESS , I define a problem very simply: any time actual results don’t match what you expected. The key is how  you respond. When leaders blame people, they shut down learning. When they focus on the process and “go see” the work, they show respect and unlock improvement. A few core ideas: Value is created at the frontline.  The people closest to the work have the most contact with your product, your customers, and your systems. They see what’s really happening long

Busy isn’t the same as productive. Most plants I see don’t suffer from a shortage of ideas; they suffer from a surplus of priorities. When everything is “Priority 1” ... nothing is. Operators are firefighting. Managers are double-booked. Support functions don't have a system to hold the gains. Don't add more projects. Focus the work. Ninety days later, your plant could " see risk before lunch"  and spend afternoons improving instead of chasing yesterday’s misses. Here's the t

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