In August of 2020, five months after the world shut down, a respected team of analysts at global consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, said this about the future of business:

“Averaging across industries, companies can now expect supply chain disruptions lasting a month or longer to occur every 3.7 years, and the most severe events take a major financial toll.”

What I’ve learned after working with dozens of manufacturing companies across the U.S. over the past 30 years, in several industries, is that working through disruptions, like the ones we’ve seen recently, is all about Cash Flow.

Business survival is all about Cash Flow.

Being proactive about growth is all about Cash Flow...

... and the difference between thriving and barely surviving comes down to being great at managing Cash Flow.

I started my career on the shop floor and built semi-trailers on the weekend shift while I worked on a college degree in accounting, finance, operations, and marketing during the week.

Business school was fun — I love learning — but it didn’t take long for me to realize that in the real world, all the book stuff about income statements, balance sheets, and accounting rules were less important than two things:

1. Cash coming in, and

2. Cash going out.

Ultimately, I discovered that Al Rappaport was right when he said:

"Remember cash is a fact, profit is an opinion."

As a CFO who is focused on meeting the accounting and finance needs of manufacturing companies, I know that owning and operating a manufacturing business is very different from running any other kind of business …

In fact, I've found that there are 7 key errors made by too many manufacturing companies which put them at risk of going under. I’ve seen these mistakes over and over …

And I’ve seen business owners, employees, customers, and whole industries suffer because of them.

That's why I decided to write my new book: