In late 2016, the owner of RW Citrus & Juice, a business-to-business fresh juice company in Michigan, asked a management consultant to fill in as the company’s interim general manager. The owner initially brushed aside the management consultant’s early concerns about equipment maintenance, and it soon became apparent that the company lacked a basic structure for operations. In a company lacking operational organization, how could the management consultant make sense of the changes that the company required? How should he separate the “must-haves” in operations management from the “nice-to-haves” and communicate the needed changes to a reluctant owner?

In late 2016, the owner of RW Citrus & Juice, a business-to-business fresh juice company in Michigan, asked a management consultant to fill in as the company's interim general manager. The owner initially brushed aside the management consultant's early concerns about equipment maintenance, and it soon became apparent that the company lacked a basic structure for operations. In a company lacking operational organization, how could the management consultant make sense of the changes that the company required? How should he separate the "must-haves" in operations management from the "nice-to-haves" and communicate the needed changes to a reluctant owner?