The production floor was impressive. Modern equipment, trained operators, quality certifications. Daily production reports showed consistent output, acceptable yield rates, manageable waste levels. By production metrics, the operation was successful.
But financial results told a different story. Margins fluctuated unpredictably. Some months were profitable; others were not. The connection between production performance and financial outcomes was opaque.
The Visibility Gap
Production systems tracked production. Financial systems tracked finance. Procurement systems tracked purchasing. Each system was functional within its domain. But the connections between domains happened through manual processes—spreadsheet transfers, periodic reconciliations, management meetings where different functions compared notes.
The result was a visibility gap. Production could not see how input cost variations affected product margins. Finance could not see how production scheduling decisions affected inventory carrying costs. Procurement could not see how supplier quality issues created downstream production impacts.
Connecting the Dots
Unified operations closed the visibility gap. Production events flowed directly to financial records. Raw material costs attached to production runs and finished products. Labor costs allocated based on actual production assignments. Overhead distributed according to defined rules.
For the first time, management could see true product costs—not estimated costs based on standard assumptions, but actual costs reflecting actual operations. Some products that appeared profitable were not. Others that seemed marginal were actually strong performers.
Informed Decisions
With accurate product costing, pricing decisions improved. Production scheduling optimized for profitability rather than just efficiency. Supplier negotiations leveraged actual quality and cost data. Capital investment decisions considered true operational economics.
The production floor remained impressive. But now it was connected to business outcomes in ways that enabled continuous improvement. Operational intelligence replaced operational guesswork.