The first few years of a start-up business are the most crucial to survival. Even with innovative new technology, establishing a repeat customer base can be very difficult. In 2018, Straight Jacket Armory began finding customers willing to make orders, mostly on personal relationships, which then began to snowball into a bigger and bigger customer base. While trying to keep the business thriving and vibrant, the effects of the pandemic made revenue and customer generation very difficult while drastically altering the supply chain. Senior management now had to spend a significant amount of time trying to source components, typically found at a premium, to maintain existing customer orders. This made it difficult to survive and nearly impossible to have the cash flow for growth. Straight Jacket Armory engaged Manufacturing Works (MW), part of the MEP National Network™, to aid in providing the management and leadership support needed.
It's great to work with Manufacturing Works-Wyoming, an organization that took time to first find us and seek us out and then learn about our business and understand our culture to better support our requirements. This is our first exposure to Manufacturing Works consulting, and we will continue to use them as a force multiplier that produces intuitively positive solutions to challenging problems that produce mission success. Today, my company is growing, much stronger and works better as a team. The value that Manufacturing Works and their consultants provided is highly valued and as such we continue to work with them. This is a tremendous asset for the state, especially for the rural small manufacturers.