One source of truth lifted the throughput ceiling.

Lamb's Machine Works, an 18-person shop in Memphis, moved from four whiteboards and owner relay work to shared operating systems. The shop absorbed 50 additional weekly repairs, launched a second shift, grew EBITDA 50%, and exited at a 65x MOIC 14 months after acquisition.

The operating system was four whiteboards and one person's memory

Lamb's was a profitable but declining 50-year-old industrial machinery repair, machining, and fabrication shop. Paper schedules and four whiteboards held sales, production, and team information. The owner relayed updates between sales and the floor, making one person the throughput ceiling.

The advisory work started with the constraint, not a platform

Light in the Dark Analytics served as strategic advisor to Krouse Capital. We assessed the workflow, recommended the specific CRM and ERP the shop needed, and advised against adding more technology than the team could use. The client's team performed the implementation with our direction.

The rollout was sequenced for adoption

The changes were staged so nobody had to absorb too much at once. Within weeks, the team had one shared source of truth. Sales and the floor could see the same operating picture without routing every update through the owner.

Shared information made existing capacity usable

With the relay bottleneck removed, the shop absorbed 50 additional machinery repairs each week and launched a second shift. This is the causal link: shared information improved flow, better flow used more of the shop's capacity, and the added throughput moved EBITDA.

EBITDA moved, then enterprise value followed

Rapid growth followed four months after the systems went live. EBITDA grew 50%, and the business exited 14 months after acquisition at a 65x multiple on invested capital. A 65x MOIC is not typical and is not a promise for another shop. It is the verified outcome of this acquisition-to-exit cycle.

Charles Krouse on the engagement

"Before Light in the Dark Analytics, the entire business ran on four whiteboards and whatever was in the previous owner's head. Bringing them in was the best decision we made in the whole hold." Krouse also said, "It would have been even faster if I'd listened and made the changes sooner."