Interview with Tom Orkisz, owner and CEO of Inline Plastics Corporation

Interview with Tom Orkisz, owner and CEO of Inline Plastics Corporation, a leader and pioneer of thermoformed packaging for major segments of the food industry.

Because Tom decided to adopt Simplified Strategic Planning (SSP) at the same time he became CEO in 1998, he is able to offer a unique perspective on the effectiveness of SSP as the key integrating process for his company.

Q: In what ways has 5 years of SSP taken you to a better place than you think you would have been otherwise?

A: For a mid-sized entrepreneurial company with limited management depth (i.e., a lot of "home grown" management) SSP provided us with a structured approach to business planning. Prior to SSP we "shot from the hip," had no clear long-term plan, relied mainly on just the owner to figure out the strategy / direction and went in too many directions at once. Since SSP, we now "shoot from the shoulder," have a clear vision / strategy, a management team that works together to establish strategy / direction and focused resources. We now operate in a much more structured, professional and disciplined manner.

Q: Like other companies you have had to deal with commoditization and globalization in markets where you are a relatively small player among some giants. How have you addressed these challenges?

A: In a variety of ways, most of which have our SSP process as their genesis. At Inline, SSP has been elevated to the mechanism / forum for running the business. If SSP did not exist at IPC, I am reasonably certain we would still ultimately confront and deal with issues, but probably not with as good a result.

Specifically, we:

Became much more focused on cost reduction and accomplished true and significant reduction.
Re-invigorated Innovation greatly to enable the development of non-commodity, higher margin products.
Expanded geographically coast-to-coast to reduce freight and present a much more credible image to prospects and increased commitment and service to existing customers.
Brought manufacturing methods up to current state-of-the-art and beyond.
Improved skills of the management team through professional development (under fire and via education) and replaced non-performing members.
Are transitioning the culture of the company towards more accountability and performance versus tolerance with under-performance-a bit less compassionate, but absolutely necessary to succeed in our industry under current conditions.

Q: Your industry was not immune from the impact of the recession. How do you think you fared in comparison to your competitors?

A: We have faced a variety of significant challenges in recent years. In regard to the impact of the recession, I think we fared as well or better than our competitors. Some of what we have focused on over the last few years helped us weather the recession, but in the future will pay huge dividends now that we are ahead of the curve in product and process technology. If our markets' needs and preferences align with our assumptions, we will be in an excellent position to capitalize on anticipated changes-in a better position, I believe, than our competitors.

Q: How did your experience with SSP in the first couple of years differ from that of more recent years?

A: More recently we take on fewer objectives but hold people more accountable to the schedule. The objectives we tackle these days are more focused, have less analysis paralysis, and are typically more challenging (as our management bench strength has improved).

Q: In what ways has your CSSP consultant contributed to your successes?

A: Engaging Tom Ambler as Process Leader has been money well-spent. Without him, serving as a neutral party and keeping us from getting distracted by day-to-day issues, we would have a very difficult time completing a regular and timely annual SSP cycle.

He grounds us in the theory / methodology of SSP and assists greatly in the practical application of it to formulate our strategy. He not only contributes his broad business knowledge but also now knows our business to the point he can make very relevant contributions to our SSP Team's work and tells us if he thinks we are heading down the wrong path.

Q: What led you to choose to utilize SSP and have a CSSP consultant lead it in the first place?

A: I attended a two-day public SSP training seminar and liked the simplicity of the process. Even though SSP was "simpler" than other processes I had learned about, I still did not have confidence to undertake it on our own. Thus, I chose to invest in a consultant who could "spoon-feed" the process to us. I remain very pleased with that choice, and see us continuing in this fashion for some time.

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