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Most businesses create products or services that deliver value to customers, much like manufacturing has done for centuries. Because manufacturing deals with physical processes, its management methods — Lean, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints, and batch standards like ANSI S88 — have evolved faster than in many other industries. These frameworks give manufacturers clear visibility of processes, physical assets, and the "recipes" needed to produce consistent outcomes. I first encountered S88 while implementing process control and MES systems at South African Breweries, where its structured way of defining processes, equipment, and workflows proved invaluable for traceability, improvement, and operational clarity.

Over time, I realised these models apply far beyond factories. Any business can be described using S88’s Process Model, Physical Model, and Recipe concepts to create a standardised, interconnected view of how work gets done. This structure supports continuous improvement, scenario testing, and KPI definition at every level of the organisation. Manufacturing uses MES systems to manage processes in real time, preventing costly deviations and enabling proactive decision-making. So why not adapt this approach to other industries? With a "Business Execution System" and real-time operations centres, organisations could manage performance with the same immediacy and discipline as modern factories. In a world where most companies share similar tools and resources, real-time business management may be the last true competitive advantage — the ability to detect issues sooner, respond faster, and improve continuously.

Many years ago my career started in manufacturing, working with a global beer producer in South Africa. They were early adopters of Total Quality Management and Manufacturing Execution Systems, and we used technology to keep brewing, filtering, and bottling lines running inside their quality envelope.

Later I led a high-volume printing business that was losing money because its digital printers kept tripping. Drawing from the brewing days, we introduced simple downtime logging, Pareto analysis, and a focus on the top three causes. The resulting process discipline swung the operation into a 6.5% profit and convinced the owners to invest in more reliable machinery.

From there I helped a large IT outsource group move from spreadsheet-based costing into Activity Based Costing, capturing service-level effort, capacity, and profitability. These repeatable, manufacturing-born tools became a market differentiator and proved how operational rigor can lift any industry.