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MAKING THE DREAM COME TRUE
(253) 851-6327
METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT INC. DOWN UNDER -- SUCCESS ‘06 Conference will introduce clients to the Plant of the Future and assist them in taking a comprehensive approach to operational designs.
For Immediate Release
METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT will hold it biennial Success Meeting in Australia in early October. MFM’s Managing Director, Deborah Rechnitz, stated “Every Success meeting has been fantastic for participants, but this one is quite special. The sum of the whole is greater than the parts.”
Attendees will visit the “Plant of the Future” in Adelaide and see what can happen when you take a comprehensive approach to an operational design. We will explore all the steps that went into the planning of this plant and how the results are achieved. The plant was designed from scratch with the objectives of doubling existing productivity and cutting utility costs in half. Early productivity results from the plant reflect achievement of these goals and fine tuning is expected to exceed the initial results.
During Success ’06, MFM members will gain an understanding of how to set the objectives, design measurable goals and achieve the desired results, even if they are not able to make as many major changes as the host plant made. Deborah stated: “While there are individual pieces of this operation that have been used successfully elsewhere, there are very few plants, if any, in the U.S that have taken such a comprehensive approach to an operational redesign. We believe this will occur more frequently in '06 and '07 in the U.S. and want to help our clients have the tools to accomplish this goal as efficiently and successfully as possible.”
Attendees will also have the option of visiting a dry cleaning business in Melbourne where they can see the results of re-branding and updating a well established family business. Some of the meeting participants will travel to New Zealand to attend the country’s Annual Laundry & Drycleaning Convention. Add to all this, the chance to meet and share ideas with some of the best owners in the industry and the opportunity to visit a beautiful and exciting country and you truly have the ingredients for a very special conference and quite possibly a “once in a life-time” experience.
MFM is commitment to our clients’ success and we will continue to build on the experiences and insights gained from SUCCESS 2006 to provide them with the vital knowledge needed to succeed in this turbulent and competitive economy.
CONTACT: Deborah Rechnitz
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(253) 851-6327
November 18, 2005
Gig Harbor, WA
MFM BUREAU MEMBERS LEND A HELPING HAND
Hurricane Katrina changed everything for Claude and Jean Foreman and Sydney Anderson, owners of One Cleaners in Metairie, LA. One Cleaners, a long time member of an MFM Management Bureau, suffered only minor damage in the hurricane, but they lost 50% of their customers and nearly all of their employees. Sydney Anderson summed up the situation in a note she posted on the MFM members’ only forum: ȁWhat you’ve all seen on TV is nothing compared to the reality of the destruction, despair and devastation. Our community is now destroyed, disjointed and literally completely disoriented. [Here at One Cleaners], we are now living in a different life, with different goals. We are trying to survive and salvage what my parents spent 40 years building.”
Almost before the storm ended, MFM Bureau members from throughout the country were calling and emailing with offers to help. Because all their employees had been evacuated and most are not yet able to return, One Cleaners’ immediate need was for temporary “employees.” They had customers bringing in carloads of mildewed clothes and household items, but no way to process the orders.
Several Bureau members stepped in to help. Mark Porter and employees of Porter’s Cleaners in Bossier City, LA are trucking work to their plant five hours each way, as are Eddie Mannis and employees of Prestige Cleaners in Knoxville, TN (9 hours each way.) Several members sent employees and/or traveled to New Orleans themselves to work in the store as CSRs, markers, etc. These included Bryan Nunnelly of Spiffy’s Cleaners in Tulsa, OK along with his manager and his wife and Chuck and Robin Horst of Margaret’s Cleaners in La Jolla, CA.
In addition, countless other Bureau members have offered their support and encouragement. All the members of the Northeast Management Bureau offered to assist their fellow member, but unfortunately the distances were just too great. Paul Billoni of Colvin Cleaners in Buffalo, NY and Wayne Edelman of Meurice Cleaners in Manhasset, NY have both assisted the Foreman’s with sound business advice. There were also offers of equipment, sources for information, etc. from members throughout the U.S.
After the immediate crisis is passed, a panel of MFM Bureau members and consultants will hold periodic phone conferences with the Foremans and Sydney to help them make the important business decisions for the future.
Deborah Rechnitz, MFM’s Managing Director, stated: ȁThis outpouring of caring and support is characteristic of our members and in many ways an extension of the Bureau experience. Throughout the year, members support each other by sharing best practices, offering feedback and encouraging each other through the good and the bad times. In the past, members have often stepped in to help with smaller scale disasters such as fires, etc. Our members form strong bonds and are sincerely interested in helping each other succeed.”
Case Studies
For Immediate Release
Contact: Deborah Rechnitz, CMA CMC
METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT, Inc
(253) 851-6327
In our continuing support of your Business, METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT has developed a series of Case Studies. This educational series is designed to help businesses identify their specific issues and consider some of the possible outcomes in order to make the best decision for their unique operation.
MFM’s Case Studies cover many of the routine and special challenges that Business Owners face on a daily basis. All Case Studies are based on real world examples with the critical components unchanged. Some details have been adjusted to preserve client confidentiality.
The Case Study below focuses on the decisions each business owner must make concerning the growth and expansion of a successful business.
Additional Case Studies are available upon request.
MFM Building An Organization Case Study
MFM Expansion Case Study
MFM Higher Productivity Case Study
MFM Reducing Employee Turnover Case Study
Looking towards the next 50 years . . .
For Immediate Release
March 12, 2003
Contact: Deborah Rechnitz, CMA CMC
METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT, Inc
(253) 851-6327
Gig Harbor, WA
This is the best of times . . . this is the worst of times. Either way, it is a time of change and an accelerating rate of change at that.
METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT is 50 years old this year and continues to . . .
“Share Knowledge and Perspective with Integrity and Confidence.”
Founded in 1953 by Max Rechnitz and joined by his daughter, Deborah Rechnitz in 1980, the pair has tried to create a top notch management consulting firm that serves drycleaning industry members in achieving their personal and business goals.
“It’s our job to get to know our clients, their likes and dislikes, their priorities, personal and business. These are the important criteria in your critical decisions. When problems and opportunities arise, and they frequently do, we are better prepared to work through these issues. We try to provide an objective outside perspective, perhaps guidance, frequently some specific data and information, and a few insights, to help our clients see the forest for the trees. It’s our job to provide them with support, guidance, comfort and leadership; to be there when they need to bounce ideas off of an independent perspective knowing that your issues are always held in the strictest of confidence,” said Deborah Rechnitz, daughter of the founder.
Methods for Management serves the drycleaning industry through independent consulting relationships as well as coordination and facilitation of Management Bureaus. Deborah describes these MFM bureaus as “an environment where you are comfortable sharing your information, issues, and concerns. You have peers that you trust and respect; you talk about your issues and hold each other accountable. You build long term friendships, hold each others’ hands through the tough times and help each other see those things that you’re too close to see in your day in and day out routine. All of this is designed to make you a little bit better, to get a little closer to achieving your goals, your hopes and dreams.”
Other services to support the needs of our clients include:
Strategic Planning - The idea of rising above the tumult of day-to-day business to ponder the future of markets and competitors where it is not enough to improve your efficiency, but it’s time to generate distinctive, competitive advantages.
Family and Succession Planning with Buy/Sell Assistance: These areas frequently reflect a once in a life time experience dealing with family harmony, fairness, affordability and fit.
We’re a family owned business ourselves with the 3rd generation just getting their toes into this business with Scott Ellis, Max’s grandson, the Assistant Web Master and escort at the IDC Convention, London 2002.
On Site Management Training for owners and managers by our team of trained management consultants providing owners, managers, first line supervisors and team leader development opportunities. Improvement in ability to manage people and projects, set and meet performance objectives, work effectively in cross functional and team situations, make day to day decisions, establish priorities, and improve skill-based content areas.
Methods For Management has created a new look to better reflect what they are trying to accomplish for our clients. The font reflects a corporate, professional, and knowledge foundation. Gold reflects the profit perspective for the clients as well as their lasting commitment. The “f” has flair to reflect MFM’s energy and their creative side of problem solving. The deep blue reflects the success they work towards with all of their clients and finally the wrap reflects their continuing challenge to wrap their hands around their clients’ problems and to create solutions with you to achieve new heights of success.
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Japanese Customer Service Representatives Learn American Customer Service
Training provided by Deborah Rechnitz of METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT INC.
For Immediate Release
Thursday, February 15, 2001
Contact: Deborah Rechnitz, CMA CMC
METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT, Inc
(253) 851-6327
Gig Harbor, WA
Over 100 Japanese customer service representatives, managers, and owners attended a seminar on “That's Good Customer Service” in Hamamatsu, Japan. The event was co-sponsored by Deborah Rechnitz of METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT and Yoshimichi Mitsuishi of the Japan Fabricare Research Center.
If we consider basic customer service in the United States to include a nice smile, good eye contact, customer recognition, thanking the customer and performing the transactions quickly and flawlessly, there is no difference between American and Japanese expectations. A visual training technique to improve retention of the information involved baseball because of the huge popularity of the sport in Japan. Getting around to all four bases to improve the customer's satisfaction and ultimately their return was easier to understand in this context.
This seminar, the first ever of its kind, involved role playing and audience involvement, a process generally foreign to the Japanese. Deborah feels that practicing new skills is critical to internalizing the basic customer service principles that were being developed. "This is no different in the United States or Japan. Practice helps." The seminar was so enthusiastically received that a similar one has been scheduled for late summer in Osaka, Japan.
Free Advice Available Online From
METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT INC.
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, September 16, 2000
Contact:
Deborah Rechnitz, CMA CMC
METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT INC.
(253) 851-6327
Gig Harbor, WA
METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT INC. (MFM), a consulting firm that has been providing expert advise to the business community for over 40 years, is offering FREE consulting assistance to individual business owners over the Internet.
"The Internet allows an exchange of ideas and comments like never before", commented Managing Director, Deborah Rechnitz at a recent business meeting. MFM allows individual business owners to select from a series of commonly asked management questions and to review some of the insights provided by MFM consultants. Topics covered at the web site include issues about Production Floor Management, Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, and Strategic Planning.
In addition to viewing previous questions and answers, visitors can ask a unique and confidential question. We will provide input on issues dealing with managing people, marketing strategies, production, profit enhancement, strategic planning and strategy formulation, family planning and other facets of your business. The question will be responded to by one of MFM’s five consultants. Our experience with general business issues and successful applications from various industries help to deal with each client’s unique needs.
Visit www.mfmi.com. Click on FREE Question OR Pick a Category and read what other Questions have been asked and answered.
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Deborah Rechnitz, Managing Director of METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT INC., Elected National Director
Deborah Rechnitz, Managing Director of Methods for Management Inc. has been elected to the National Board of Directors of the Institute of Management Consultants, an association representing 3,000 consultants within the United States and affiliated with the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes with over 24,000 members worldwide.
The mission of this association is to promote and enhance excellence and ethics in Management Consulting through certification, education and professional resources.
Thirty years ago several "trade" type organizations in the management consulting field believed that consultants need a professional association for individual development and certification, and thus they created the Institute of Management Consultants.
The primary motivation for joining IMC has always been to develop one’s consulting skills and abilities – to be an even more effective consultant for the client. This remains the primary purpose. Evidence of the commitment to Excellence in Consulting is the designation Certified Management Consultant which Deborah earned in 1996. She was re-certified in 1999. The CMC remains the premier designation of consulting worldwide. It represents evidence of experience and competence. "I am a member of a select group which has recognized me as having special skills as a professional consultant."
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Large Scale Engineering Expertise Comes To The Drycleaning Industry
[Methods For Management Partners With Covert Engineers, Inc.]
Deborah Rechnitz, Managing Director of METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT INC. has announced an agreement between MFM and Covert Engineers designed to better serve the engineering needs of the Industry. "Our association with a premier engineering firm, Covert Engineers, makes it possible, for the first time, to provide from the very smallest to the very largest professional engineering support to this Industry", announced Deborah Rechnitz, Managing Director of METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT.
METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT has been providing plant layout designs for the dry cleaning industry for over 40 years. Each plant layout is uniquely designed for each application and emphasizes the most efficient use of space to minimize labor, operations, and rent costs and to meet the expected quality standards. This industry specific expertise is now being blended with Covert Engineers’ extensive knowledge of processing technology, a staff of engineers, designers, and draft persons, and state of the art design technology. A certified Professional Engineer manages every project. The combination of Industry expertise and efficient use of technology provides cost effective solutions for the simple or most complex applications.
The dry cleaning industry is now in a position to develop new technologies for garment handling, cleaning, pressing, and distribution systems and integrate them with existing systems. Our engineering capabilities can provide the technical expertise to help in the success of these plans", Ms Rechnitz announced. Services include:
- New Plant Planning
- Process Design & Construction
- Plant Expansions and/or Upgrades to accommodate significantly expanded volumes or simply to add a few pieces of equipment
- Feasibility Studies
- Regulatory Permitting
- Design of Utility and Air Flow Systems
- Site Layout and Preparation
- Mechanical and Electrical Design
- On-site Supervision of Construction
- Building and Equipment Layout and Design
- Industrial Refrigeration and Steam Generation
- Bid Packages, Construction Contracts, & Project Cost Control
- Industry specific assistance for dry cleaners and the dry cleaning industry
Our understanding of processing and trends within the Industry is critical to developing efficient plant flow layouts and handling systems to maximize profits and minimize costs.
Our overriding principle is to work closely with each owner, to get a clear grasp of the operation’s specific requirements including company-specific issues reflecting individual cultures, philosophies, and methodologies. Our goal is to provide our clients with the best available engineering strength and breadth of experience in the drycleaning industry. Whether it be augmenting your staff, providing services in selected areas, or assembling a full engineering team, we are committed to providing efficient, timely, and high quality services.
Our successes are based on our skills of understanding our clients’ needs, our extensive industry specific knowledge, and our technical skills of integrating building layout with process systems to maximize process flow and product handling operations.
For further information, referrals or assistance with a specific project, please call, fax or email: Deborah Rechnitz of METHODS FOR MANAGEMENT at 253-851-6327 voice, 253-858-2013 fax, or Click to E-mail.
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