From four whiteboards to a 65x return.
Lamb's Machine Works, an 18-person machine shop in Memphis, replaced whiteboards, paper schedules, and gut instinct with one source of truth. 14 months from acquisition to exit, EBITDA up 50%, and a 65x return on invested capital.
The situation
Lamb's Machine Works in Memphis had been in business for 50 years. Machining, welding, fabrication, equipment repair. Solid work, steady customers, good reputation. Profitable, but declining. Everything ran through the owner's head, paper schedules, and four large whiteboards. Active jobs, sales pipeline, production schedule, team assignments. Nothing talked to anything else. If the owner wasn't there, nothing moved. One erased board could lose an order.
The real problem
The whiteboards weren't the problem. The problem was that the owner was the bottleneck. Every decision, every schedule change, every customer follow-up ran through one person. He spent his days on the phone relaying information between sales and the shop floor. The team was capable, but they didn't have the systems to work without constant direction. The new owner first pushed the team to be more self-sufficient inside the old system. It didn't hold. With no shared source of truth, information got lost in every handoff.
What we did
We led with the problem, not a platform. No grand vision, no months of training. We assessed how the shop actually operated day to day and recommended the specific CRM and ERP the shop needed. Nothing more. The new owner was wary of changes that could confuse the team, so we sequenced the rollout. No one faced too many changes at once. The whole team was on a single source of truth within weeks. We guided the client's team through implementation rather than clicking every button ourselves.
What got built
Digital job tracking replaced the whiteboards. Every job had a status, an owner, and a timeline anyone on the team could check. A CRM with automated follow-ups meant leads stopped falling through the cracks. A shared schedule with task management let the team see what needed to happen next without asking the owner. Live dashboards gave leadership a real-time view of sales, production, and capacity.
The results
EBITDA grew 50% across the hold. The shop launched a second shift and absorbed 50 additional machinery repairs a week. The owner stepped out of daily operations. Systems went live to rapid growth in 4 months, and the business exited at a 65x return on invested capital just 14 months after acquisition. As the owner put it... it would have been even faster if he'd made the changes sooner.
A note on our role
We were the strategic advisor on this project, working with Krouse Capital. We assessed, planned, recommended the systems, and sequenced the rollout. The implementation was done by the client's team with our direction. That's often how we work. We don't need to be the ones clicking buttons. We need to make sure the right buttons get clicked in the right order.
Frequently asked questions
Do you only work with machine shops?+
No. We work with small businesses across many industries. This case study happens to be a machine shop, but the same patterns show up in construction, home services, professional services, and more. If your business runs on whiteboards, spreadsheets, or one person's memory, we can probably help.
Does your team do the implementation or just the planning?+
It depends on the project. Sometimes we handle everything end to end. Other times, like this case, we serve as the strategic advisor and guide the client's team through implementation. We'll tell you upfront which approach makes sense for your situation.
How long does a project like this take?+
This engagement ran 14 months from acquisition to exit, but the systems were live and driving rapid growth within 4 months. Most businesses start seeing results within the first few weeks of going live. The timeline depends on how many systems need to change and how quickly your team can adopt new tools.
Is a 65x return typical?+
No, and we won't pretend it is. That number reflects a full acquisition-to-exit cycle with an owner who invested in fixing the systems. Every business is different, so we can't promise a specific number. But when a business is running on manual processes and bottlenecked by one person, the upside from fixing those problems is usually significant. We'll give you an honest assessment of what to expect before any work starts.
What if my team isn't technical?+
Most of the teams we work with aren't. That's the whole point. We pick tools that are built for normal people, not developers. And we make sure your team is comfortable before we step away.
Want results like these?
Every business is different, but the process starts the same way. A conversation about what's not working and what could be.