In the 1980's we were retained by a northwest glass manufacturer and wholesaler that manufactured commercial and residential aluminum windows, insulated glass and mirrors; and, wholesaled flat glass and auto glass.  The company was in dire financial condition.  We sold the auto glass division to a joint venture of our client and a Canadian company that wanted to enter the U. S. Market.  The Canadian company managed and grew the wholesale auto glass business, ultimately buying out the U. S. partner.  At the same time, they acquired retail operations in the Seattle-Tacoma area.  We assisted the Canadian company in developing the Tacoma retail market.  Upon leaving this assignment, we suggested the retail concept could be effectively franchised in the United States.

Four years later, we were retained by the Canadian company to study the feasibility of launching a franchise of the U. S. Operations.  We analyzed their internal operations, creating several models of store operations by various revenue sizes to determine the potential returns to both the parent and prospective franchisees.  Our analysis revealed that a franchise operation could be successful in the United States.  We then became part of a launch team that established a strategic launch plan to create operations manuals, training programs, franchise agreements, marketing materials, promotional materials, store specifications and after sale support systems.  In our capacity as part of the launch team, we wrote 50% of 6,000 pages of operations manuals, developed the financial systems and reporting procedures for the system, developed the retail point-of-sale system and developed the portion of the training program to support the systems.  We also developed the entire administration system for franchise operations.

Our launch was successful with early sales to "new to the business franchisees".  Shortly after our launch, the insurance industry, that drives 75% of the business, started a campaign to drive down profit margins to glass shops.  Our sales strategy had to change to selling conversion franchises to existing glass shop operators.  We continued to develop conversion franchisees.  We viewed this launch to be very successful in spite of very turbulent times that started then and still exist in the industry today.  

We left the business some five years after commencing this assignment.  Our training systems and manuals, with a subsequent revision, worked across the parent company's entire network of company-owned and franchised retail auto glass stores across Canada and the United States. They are still in use today in approximately 1,500 units.

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Last Modified:  April 17, 2006