I expect that manufacturers will be focused on finding and recruiting an adequate number of employees to keep them competitive for some time in the future. The less-discussed — but equally important — corollary to that is the premium manufacturers place on valuing the good employees they do have. Manufacturers recognize that one way to offset the potential harm of the workforce shortage is to improve the productivity they can achieve with their current workforce.

In this spirit, we’re going to devote some space in this and future issues of Enterprise Minnesota® magazine to profile the people on our staff. We’re doing this for two reasons: First, we want to showcase the evolution of our diverse portfolio of highly advanced manufacturing practices that can help manufacturers maximize their output using the resources they have on hand.

We deliver a comprehensive and inter-related series of services that help manufacturers develop a strategic roadmap for growth and lead their employees to where they want to be in one, three or five-plus years. Our consultants are also ready to help companies maximize their cultures of continuous improvement by constantly seeing and eliminating waste and identifying improvement opportunities at all levels. And one of our most in-demand consulting practices involves Enterprise Minnesota’s talent and leadership experts who help you develop strategies to attract, engage, invest in and retain your workforce.

Our second motivation is to describe the quality of the consultants who help us deliver those services. A consulting organization like ours is only as good as its people. Each of our people understands that a fruitful consulting relationship is built upon what the consultants know but measured by how well they adapt that knowledge to the individual needs of their clients. A tool is only as good as the craftsman, and our culture is built on that concept.

We begin with Keith Gadacz, a business growth consultant based in Brainerd who applies his extensive career-long experience of building and implementing ISO business management systems to help his clients achieve business success.

As an internationally recognized standard of quality management, ISO has become a go-to process that provides a technical framework through which manufacturers can align their business strategy with day-to-day operations. It helps them keep up with increasing volume while avoiding risk and achieving their goals.

It’s clear that Keith is one of our emerging superstars. Most of his clients will identify the depths of Keith’s intellect and expertise within probably the first five minutes of talking to him. But what differentiates Keith, they say, in the marketplace is his willingness to transform his knowledge into digestible services that maximize outcomes for his clients. We have a lot of “Keiths” here at Enterprise Minnesota. Future issues of the magazine will tell their stories as well.

Featured story in the Summer 2021 issue of Enterprise Minnesota magazine.

Return to Summer 2021 magazine