The Challenge

Established in 1964, Norlen Inc. is a $20 million stamper/fabricator recognized as an industry leader in producing precision stampings, fabrications and machinings.

Norlen saw an opportunity and a need in a down market to better utilize its strategic energy and turned to Wipfli’s strategic mapping specialists for guidance and support.

The Strategy

An evolving, two-tier process, first Wipfli’s strategic planning specialists met with Norlen’s company president and chief financial officer to define the company’s goals, mission and vision. The second strategic planning session included eight members of Norlen’s management team, who met to brainstorm the company’s objectives in the following areas:

• Customer focus
• Human capital
• Value stream
• Learning and growth

Through this process, the strategic projects were defined as well as the strategic metrics to measure their results. Not only did this process force the management team to take a day off site and away from the day-to-day work of running a business, it helped the various department managers think and plan strategically for the good of the whole company.

“The sessions were pretty powerful,” explains Dave Henrich, chief financial officer. “You could see as we went along that people were buying in. Guy Russ and Mark Stevens did a great job pulling it all together, and we got to spend time without any interruptions determining where we want to be in five years.”

To keep the resulting strategic projects on task, Wipfli meets with the management team every six weeks to make sure the team is implementing the assigned action plans.

“It’s easy to put aside otherwise,” explains Henrich. “This makes us think strategically as part of our daily work day and makes strategy part of Norlen’s culture which has worked well.”

The Results

According to Henrich, the first year was really a learning experience and very overwhelming with their day-to-day work. “We never had any structure before ensuring we were all on the same page,” says Henrich. “The second year had more impact. We were focused on measurements and how we were going to increase sales.”

One of their defined key indicators was to increase quality, which Henrich proudly says the company will achieve in two months, when it becomes ISO certified. And, to help remind them of how far they’ve come and where they have yet to go, all members of the management team have copies of the colorful strategic maps posted in their offices.

“We show these to suppliers and to our customers,” says Henrich. “It’s a good icebreaker, and it shows that we’re thinking strategically, not just banging out parts. It also speaks to our potential as a good business partner.”