Manufacturing Leadership and Experience Shapes Better Decisions.

Manufacturing operations are not learned in conference rooms.

They are learned through execution.

Through production pressure.

Through operational consequence.

Through years of solving real manufacturing problems where quality, throughput, labor, scheduling, equipment performance, and financial consequence must align.

May & Company Operational Decisioneering™ was built from that reality.

Our perspective is grounded in practical manufacturing execution and decades of observing how operational decisions affect performance, profitability, and long-term stability.

We believe operational truth should guide manufacturing decisions.

Not assumptions.

Not delayed reports.

Not incomplete visibility.

Earl S. May, III

The manufacturing career of Earl S. May, III began as an apprentice machinist, where operational discipline, accountability, precision, and manufacturing execution were learned through direct experience.

Over more than 52 years of manufacturing operations experience, that foundation expanded into broader manufacturing operations leadership, process improvement, operational interpretation, financial understanding, and executive operational support.

That experience shaped the development of Operational Decisioneering Risk Architecture™ (ODRA™) — a structured methodology designed to help manufacturers improve executive operational visibility, identify hidden risk, and strengthen operational decision confidence.

ODRA™ was not developed from software theory.

It was developed through decades of observing:

• operational instability before financial consequence 
• plant-floor execution challenges 
• labor and scheduling disruption 
• equipment performance variability 
• hidden operational cost drivers 
• management assumptions that differ from operational truth 

The result is an operations-first methodology built for real manufacturing environments.

Manufacturing Leadership

52+ Years Manufacturing Operations Experience

Beginning as an apprentice machinist and expanding across decades of operational execution, manufacturing leadership, and executive decision support.

Academic Foundation

• Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) — University of Michigan 
• Master of Business Administration (MBA) — University of Michigan 
• Master of Science in Accounting (MSA) — University of Michigan 
• Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Candidate at the University of Michigan 

This combination of practical manufacturing execution and business education supports a uniquely operational perspective focused on decision confidence, operational interpretation, and financial consequence understanding.

Manufacturers often make important operational decisions using:

• delayed information 
• fragmented reporting 
• incomplete visibility 
• assumptions that no longer reflect plant-floor reality 

Operational instability frequently appears before financial consequence becomes visible.

By the time leadership recognizes the problem financially, decision options are often fewer and more expensive.

ODRA™ was created to help leadership identify operational truth earlier — before operational instability becomes financial damage.

The objective is simple:

Improve executive operational visibility and strengthen decision confidence.

At May & Company Operational Decisioneering™, we believe:

Technology can support execution.

Software can support reporting.

Structured operational intelligence can improve visibility.

But operational truth still requires experienced interpretation.

That is why our approach combines:

Operational Judgment

Real-world manufacturing interpretation developed through decades of execution.

Executive Operational Intelligence

Structured visibility into hidden operational risk.

Financial Consequence Interpretation

Understanding how operational instability impacts performance, cost, and profitability.

Operational Decision Confidence

Helping leadership make stronger operational decisions earlier.