What should the first 90 days after buying a manufacturer actually protect?
Buying a manufacturing business does not end at close. The wire transferred title. The plant still has to ship. This page is the quarter-one list.
Week-by-week without pretending every shop is the same
Days 1–14. Payroll continuity. Stay bonuses live. Seller training hours start on a calendar with a stop date. Customer introductions on the seller's script — you are locking accounts, not announcing chaos. Finish any open peg true-up before it becomes a personality.
Days 15–45. Extract job-cost the way you wished diligence had. Compare won-job versus actual on the work you are now running. Put preventive maintenance on the money cells. Recycle-check inventory against the signed physical. Hire against BLS-relevant wages, not the cousin rate in the recast.
Days 46–90. Decide what quoting rules survive. Meet the CB calendar if a certificate is the moat. Only then talk about ERP replacement or a second plant.
| Workstream | First 90-day output | Failure mode |
|---|---|---|
| People | Stays vested; roster vs labor map | Shadow seller; empty programmer chair |
| Commercial | Top accounts locked; scorecards read | Silent churn on the hero customer |
| Inventory | True-up closed; cycle-check vs physical | Rust arguments in month three |
| Machines | PM calendar; crash log started | Deferred capex becomes a surprise spindle |
| Quality | Next audit date owned | Certificate as wall hanging |
| Cash | Weekly flash; peg residue settled | Revolver surprise |
| Safety / hygiene | OSHA and I-9 owned | "We'll get to it" |
| Seller | Hours and stop date | Open-ended shadow GM |
Deloitte / Manufacturing Institute: as many as 3.8 million employees needed 2024–2033, 1.9 million potentially unfilled (Source: Deloitte/MI). Quarter one is a retention quarter in that climate. BLS OEWS May 2025: machinist $58,750; welder $53,750 (Source: BLS OEWS). If you under-hire, the floor will tell you.
What not to do because you are bored
Do not rip out JobBOSS in week two. Do not announce a platform strategy to the floor. Do not cut the estimator who still holds the book. Do not start a layoff before counsel reads WARN — federal statute generally 100+ full-time employees and 60 days (29 U.S.C. § 2101). Mini-WARN is state-specific.
ISM PMI 54.6 and Prices 71.1 in August 2026 (Source: ISM) mean pass-through discipline belongs in the first quoting week. Fed utilization 76.0% in July 2026 (Source: Fed G.17) does not write your second-shift plan. Your roster does.
The quality of earnings already told you which add-backs were fiction. Quarter one is when those fictions become payroll. If the report assumed a GM you have not hired, hire or work the job — do not pretend the SDE is still your salary.
Time, debt, and the second bite
BizBuySell 2025 manufacturing median close was 223 days (Source: BizBuySell). You already waited. Do not spend the next 90 days re-trading the past. SBA 7(a) still wants debt service inside a $5 million cap and a 10% injection you already made (Source: SBA). Missed shipments in quarter one are how DSCR stories die.
Stanford's 2024–25 median purchase of $16 million at about 6.2x on a ~25% margin company (Source: Stanford GSB) is a search-fund profile. Searchers still owe the same first-quarter work. The median is never a job-shop multiple and never a reason to skip maintenance because the model said "professional operator."
Cash, vendors, and the first surcharge fight
Quarter one is when the revolver and the vendor terms discover whether diligence was real. If you inherited an ABL, the first field exam will test AR eligibility and inventory classes you already defined in the peg. If you inherited a 7(a), DSCR still wants shipments. SBA's $5 million cap and 10% injection are behind you (Source: SBA). Missed on-time delivery is in front of you.
Walk vendor files in week two: steel or resin agreements, insert distributors, tooling shops, calibration labs, and the hauler. Ask who is on 30 days and who is on COD because the seller's personal relationship was the credit. Replace personal guarantees that vanished at close. A composite, not a listing: a 22-person fab that bought coil on the owner's handshake will meet a credit hold the first time the new EIN appears. Build a week of cash for that.
Surcharges belong on the quoting desk in week one. ISM's August 2026 Prices Index of 71.1 (Source: ISM) is climate. Your file is whether last year's jobs were quoted before the move and are shipping now. If the QoE already flagged that gap, do not "hope mix improves." Raise the next quote or refuse the work. Hero customers at 8% margin do not become 25% because you own the equity.
Insurance audits and workers-comp class codes can re-rate you after a change of ownership. Budget a conversation with the agent in month one, not after the first claim. The box truck, the crane, and the pollution endorsement (if finishing exists) are easy to forget when you are learning travelers.
Customers, certificates, and what "lock" actually means
Locking a top account is a scheduled visit, a quality-agreement read, and a promise date you can keep — not a logo on a slide. Bring the quality manager if the customer lives in OASIS, a portal, or a scorecard. Bring the estimator if the customer lives on a handshake. Do not bring a rebrand deck.
If a certificate is the moat, own the next CB date in week one. Open majors do not age more politely because you are new. Food plants have recall and allergen drills that do not pause for your first quarter. Medical complaint files keep their clocks. Automotive PPAP changes still need customer approval. The certification page is the diligence read. Quarter one is the live calendar.
Internal communication is a risk. A 14-person shop — the size class that dominates Census CBP's 68.4% under-20-employee establishments (Source: Census CBP) — will invent a sale story if you do not give a short, approved script. Tell the floor what changed (ownership) and what did not (jobs, today). Then stop talking. Plant-visit rules still apply to your own enthusiasm.
Maintenance in quarter one is not a capex thesis. It is oil, filters, crashed-tool history, and the spindle you already chipped in the price. If the appraisal listed deferred items, schedule the first one. Buyers who wait for "the platform" buy a second surprise.
Do not start a second-plant search in month two. The platform page exists. Read it after the first ERP can produce a concentration schedule. IBBA's 83% three-offer statistic on deals over $5 million (Source: IBBA) will still be there when you are ready. A half-integrated first plant is how you lose the second process.
A 90-day calendar you can hand the plant lead
Week 1: payroll, stays, seller hours, top-three introductions, true-up kickoff, hold-rack walk. Week 2: vendor credit, insurance classes, utility names, waste manifests. Week 3: job-cost extract on work you are running, PM on the money cell. Week 4: first flash versus the model, first surcharge decision. Month 2: CB calendar owned, I-9 and OSHA 300 owned, cycle-check versus physical. Month 3: quoting playbook written, ERP replacement still not started, second-plant talk still not started.
SBA debt service inside a $5 million cap (Source: SBA) wants that calendar to produce shipments. Combined 7(a)+504 can reach $10 million (Source: SBA). Same want. Main Street 2.75x SDE files (Source: BizBuySell via Iconic) have fewer people to miss a week. Stanford $16 million / 6.2x / ~25% margin files (Source: Stanford GSB) have more process — and that median is never a job-shop multiple. Both still ship or they do not.
Deloitte/MI 3.8 million / 1.9 million (Source: Deloitte/MI) is why week 1 stays matter. BLS OEWS May 2025 CNC operators $50,690 (Source: BLS OEWS) is why month 2 hiring is priced. IBBA's 83% three-offer statistic (Source: IBBA) is behind you. Climate — ISM 54.6 / 71.1, Fed 76.0% — is in front of you (Source: ISM; Fed G.17).
Jason Taken is a business broker, not your COO. Educational information only. No outcome is guaranteed.
Questions the Monday huddle should own by week two
Is payroll continuous. Are stays signed. Is the true-up closed or calendared. Has the hold rack been walked. Do vendors have the new EIN. Is the next CB date owned. Has anyone rewritten the ERP. If the last answer is yes, stop. Ship first.
Week two is vendor credit and the first surcharge decision. Month two is I-9, OSHA 300, and a cycle-check versus the signed physical. Month three is a quoting playbook. Second-plant talk stays off the table until the first ERP can produce a concentration schedule.
Insurance class codes can re-rate you after a change of ownership. Budget the agent conversation in month one, not after the first claim. The box truck, the crane, and any pollution endorsement are easy to forget while you learn travelers.
HedgeStone's job ends at the transfer and the calendar you froze. The huddle is yours. Keep the estimators. Lock the accounts. Do not rebrand the floor in week one. Do not start a second-plant search while the first programmer is interviewing.
Who owns the first NCR after you own the plant
Decide before close who opens the first customer complaint and who speaks to the hero account if a lot fails. If that person is the seller and the seller is on a beach, you inherited a plant that can run and cannot recover. Put the NCR owner, the portal login owner, and the estimator who still remembers the last concession on a one-page sheet in week one. Insurance class codes can re-rate you after a change of ownership. Budget the agent conversation in month one, not after the first claim. The box truck, the crane, and any pollution endorsement are easy to forget while you learn travelers. Second-plant talk stays off the table until the first ERP can produce a concentration schedule. The huddle is yours. Keep the estimators. Lock the accounts. Do not rebrand the floor in week one.