About Chene
I build the system that lets a business grow.
I started on the shop floor. I saw how things worked and didn't work, and I've always thought of better ways to do things. I've learned by doing: researching, trying things, making mistakes and fixing what I missed.
That stayed with me through plant leadership and into the COO seat. The job got bigger: delivery, people, information, margin and the decisions that tie them together. I'm realistic about where a business is today, and then I look at what's possible. I love helping a business reach its potential.
I design how information and decisions move through a business. I architect the system. It's a passion of mine to use the technology we have to get people the information they need, when they need it, in the way that they need it.
Proof in the work
Medical work raised the bar.
The standards are strict, and customers come in person to audit you. We passed those audits clean. When I rebuilt our costs, we found some products selling below cost and others well under market pricing. Fixing that recovered $1M in annual margin in a year.
A 24/7 plant built around people.
The plant ran on paper, spreadsheets and what people carried in their heads. We moved it onto an ERP, and I built custom applications connected to it. Better screening, structured onboarding, real cross-training, supervisor development and digital work instructions at the machine made the training last.
Promise dates the plant can hit.
As COO, I rebuilt an operations function that had gone without a leader. A new forecasting and inventory plan and a redesign of how work moved got delivery to 98%. New software, barcode scanning and traceability cut annual inventory write-offs more than 90%.
In each of those plants, a lot of time was lost and buried in overhead: missing information, batching, handoffs and meetings held just to make decisions. Much of it was a patchwork that had built up over time. Reducing the time buried in those overhead activities, and putting it back into work that moves the business forward, is key for a modern manufacturer.
When people stop chasing data and patching it together, the stress comes down. They make their own decisions, and they have room to grow into more advanced work and personal opportunity. That's where capacity comes from.
AI works only as well as the business underneath it. Clean data, clear processes and defined decisions come first. We put AI to work on production, fulfillment, financial metrics and reporting so problems surfaced sooner, with a person checking the output before anyone acted on it.
What I believe
PeopleGive people the information they need, and they'll make good decisions on their own.
TrustI tell owners what they need to hear, including the bad news, and I make commitments I can keep.
DataA number only helps if people trust it enough to act on it.
TechnologyTechnology earns its place when it removes a step, a handoff or a wait.
SpeedA business loses its time in overhead: missing information, batching, handoffs and waiting on decisions.
OwnershipAn owner who brings me in shouldn't inherit a new bottleneck in my office.
Chene Cramer
What I can do for you
I step in as an interim or fractional COO when a manufacturer needs results and can't wait for a long search.
- Fix late deliveries and set promise dates the plant can hit.
- Cut turnover and build a supervisor layer people want to work for.
- Make the data trustworthy enough to run the business from it.
- Take day-to-day decisions off the owner's desk.
- Put AI to work on handoffs, on a clean data foundation.