Front Royal, VA - Susan O. Schall is a woman with an extraordinary set of skills and engineering education that she parlayed into an engineering career followed by a consulting practice. While her PhD is in industrial engineering, and manufacturing operations are a major segment of those she supports, her work impacts many different operations, processes and levels of leadership. She has delivered $250 million in results driven by process improvements and organizational health methods. In addition to providing operational management for SOS Consulting (clearly derived from her name) Susan volunteers for ABET, a nonprofit global accreditor of STEM education, aligned with her expertise in engineering and quality.

Dr. Schall, informally known as just Susan, is also recognized as the founder and operations leader of SOS Consulting, where she works with manufacturing leaders to maximize their leadership potential and improve organizational performance. SOS Consulting was formed in 2004 in response to a friend who sought her out for assistance delivering Six Sigma training to a global food and beverage manufacturer. Recognizing her experiences and approaches have broad application, Dr. Schall diversified her offerings and provides training, coaching and thought leadership for a variety of clients and business segments.

“SOS Consulting creates a means for everyone to contribute and create an organization that is more effective and positioned competitively. Most of the clients are smaller manufacturers and nonprofits; teams who have been ignored by the local, state and federal economic development groups. Everything is changing all at once for them. We enable these organizations to deal with productivity, quality, technology, and organization health in this sea of change.”

While the bottom line is always ROI and turning a profit, people make it all happen. The best places to work recognize this, and create a workplace where everyone can flourish, which impacts the bottom-line. Those who understand and implement, see a higher return than those who do not (upwards of 13%). She enjoys making that kind of impact. This is one reason she was honored with the Medallion Award from Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers. This award recognizes those who make strides in leadership, education and mentoring programs, and plant productivity and quality.

Dr Schall has over 30 years of experience that she leverages in all of her engagements. Client industries have included higher education, and non-profits as well as industrial operations.

Dr. Schall met with our hosts before and will review some principles she discussed in the past. The last show in her extended series will be an opportunity to review who she is, how she became a consultant, and the type of client companies she focuses on. As she wraps up her shows, she will also talk about the honors and foresight that led to her being recognized as a thought leader in engineering and manufacturing.

“There is a famous quote from Robert F Kennedy that meshes with my idea of possibilities. I have great foresight, I grasp systems and data, and I am not afraid to stand up and point things out.”

RFK once said “Some see things as they are and say why? I see things as they could be and say why not?” This is what Susan demonstrates in her consulting approach.

SOS Consulting is dedicated to solving problems with a six sided approach that appears in their logo and has been outlined in some prior shows. They include operational and leadership improvements and strengthening communication at every level of an organization. In addition to internal partners, she emphasizes the importance of external supplier and customer relations.

Dr. Schall’s website further enforces the message: if we don’t execute on organizational health and process improvements, we cannot stay competitive in a sea of change. There are new challenges arising daily: digitization, tariffs, and geopolitical conflicts that impact manufacturers and their ability to thrive. With a new year starting, even more changes are bound to be on the horizon, and Susan O Scahll has the vision and experience it takes to make the most of it. She specializes in supporting the smaller companies and manufacturers who may have been overlooked by other consulting firms.

For more information about Dr. Schall, please visit www.execute2compete.com