A business is a chain of work.

It is only as strong as its weakest link.

Every business has at least one.

A gold chain with a red paper clip as the weak link

Are you in control of yours?

Find your weak link

Find the weak link*

But first, let's clarify the goal, in 10 words or less.

About us

New Zealand has over half a million small businesses. We want to help as many as we can get better at operations. Operations is the work that turns a sale into money in the bank: taking the order, doing the job, delivering it and getting paid. We can only take on so many clients, so we built this website. The Search helps an owner or manager find their weakest link. The Money tool uses their own financials to improve decisions and cash flow.

Find the weak link. Fix that first.

What we look at

Every business is a chain of work. It starts with the first enquiry and ends with cash in the bank. The chain moves only as fast as its slowest part. Sometimes that part is a person, a machine, a process step or a policy. Sometimes it sits outside the work itself, in a price or in too little work coming in. Most times the step with the largest pile of work in front of it is the slowest. We call the slowest part the weak link. Fix anything else and the chain still moves at the same pace.

How we work on it

We start where the work is done, on the floor or at the desks. We spend a day with the people who do it, hands on the jobs, and a day with you. We ask questions until we can see where the work waits.

Then we name the weak link and put the red paper clip on it. Before anyone spends money, we use what you already have. Small and low-cost changes can stop it losing time.

An hour lost at a bottleneck is an hour lost for the entire system.

Eliyahu M. Goldratt, The Goal

Some advisories hand over a report. We stay and do the work beside your frontline people. We set up the systems and written procedures the weak link needs, so your people can protect it and see when it moves. While we work together, when it moves, we find it again.

Who we work with

We work with New Zealand owners, operators, and managers who want the money moving again, in any industry. They are the people who run the work day to day. We only take on seven clients at a time, so every client gets real time from us.

How we measure results

Before we change anything, we agree a baseline from your own records, and it is signed before work starts. We pick one metric for the weak link's output, and we measure results on it. The agreement sets out how every gain is worked out, and you can see the working.

How we are paid

Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.

Charlie Munger

We charge fees for our time. Part of our pay is a share of the savings and added profit from the changes we make with you, measured against the baseline. If there is no gain, there is no share. The engagement agreement holds the full terms, and the first hour is free.

Who we are

The Red Paper Clip Company is a trading name of Black Arts Alchemy Limited, a New Zealand company.

We specialise in end-to-end operations pipeline redesign, documentation, warehouse and inventory management.

NZBN 9429053759382.

Start here

Begin the Search on our home page. It shows where we would look first. Then book a call.

Begin the Search Book a Call (First hour free)

Or write to us at contact@theredpaperclip.co. We answer every enquiry within 12 to 48 hours on working days.