Manufacturer Interview Worksheet
Tell us where it hurts on the floor — we'll come back with the one fix worth making first.
About your company
A few open questions
Pain-point & bottleneck checklist
Check what applies and rate severity — L = annoyance · M = costs real money · H = keeps you up at night.
Pricing & Margin
Don't know true margin by product/customer
Discounts given without governance
Can't pass through material / tariff cost
Quoting is slow or inconsistent
Margin eroding, cause unclear
Supply Chain & Inventory
Forecast inaccurate / always firefighting
Too much / wrong inventory tying up cash
Stockouts / missed OTIF
Long / unreliable supplier lead times
No real S&OP / SIOP process
Sales & Demand
Weak pipeline / demand visibility
Win/loss not understood
Over-reliant on a few big customers
Operations & Labor
Can't hire / retain skilled labor
Tribal knowledge walking out the door
Reactive maintenance / machine downtime
Quality / scrap / rework
New-employee onboarding too slow
Data & Technology
Runs on spreadsheets / whiteboards
ERP data not trusted / not used
No dashboards / reporting is manual
Disconnected systems, double entry
Macro / External
Tariffs / trade pressure
Material cost volatility
Demand uncertainty
Reshoring / new competition
Short term vs long term
Where it hurts this year — and where you want to be in three.
Wrap-up
ADEXMA · Confidential