A manufacturing business was doing well.
Orders were steady.
The team was experienced.
Yet deliveries were slipping.
Every quotation needed the owner’s approval.
Every vendor payment waited for his sign-off.
Every customer escalation landed on his desk.
If he travelled, decisions paused.
If he was in meetings, work piled up.
If he was unavailable, the team waited.
One day, a key client walked away.
Not because of price.
Not because of quality.
Because timelines kept getting delayed.
The owner was shocked.
He worked 12 hours a day.
He was involved everywhere.
But that was the problem.