Fractional COO for Manufacturing

Every Operation Has
Blind Spots.

Quoting takes too long. Knowledge walks out the door. Maintenance is reactive. Schedules look good on paper but fall apart on the floor.

These patterns are hard to see from the inside. I help manufacturing leaders find them, understand them, and fix them.

Take the Blind Spot Assessment Schedule an Operational Review
Traci McQueen - Founder, Apex Operations Partners
Traci McQueen
Founder & Principal

35 Years on the Shop Floor.
Not in a Boardroom.

I've run manufacturing operations, managed defense contracts, scaled MedTech production, and built my own company from the ground up. I've seen the same operational patterns show up again and again — the ones that quietly erode margin, burn out good people, and keep leaders stuck in firefighting mode.

The "Messy Middle" is where strategy dies. It's the gap between the boardroom vision and the shop floor reality. My work is to close that gap — not with theory, but with operational leverage built on pattern recognition and disciplined execution.

35+
Years Experience
15
Years Zero OSHA
4
Industries Served
100%
Execution Focus
Manufacturing
Deep expertise in complex industrial systems and process optimization.
Construction
Scaling operations for high-growth construction and engineering firms.
Defense
Navigating high-compliance environments with precision and discipline.
MedTech
Balancing innovation with rigorous regulatory standards.
Pattern Recognition

The Patterns That Quietly Erode Your Operation

These are the recurring friction points I see in manufacturing operations. They rarely show up on a dashboard. They almost always show up in margin, morale, and missed deliveries.

Quoting Bottleneck
Quotes take days instead of hours. Your best estimator is a bottleneck. Competitors are winning bids simply because they respond faster — and you never see the lost revenue.
Knowledge Concentration
Critical know-how lives in the heads of a few key people. When they're out sick, on vacation, or ready to retire, the operation slows to a crawl — or stops entirely.
Maintenance Drift
Preventative maintenance programs exist on paper but not in practice. Equipment runs until it breaks. Unplanned downtime costs 3-5x more than planned maintenance ever would.
Margin Leakage
You're selling more but keeping less. Small inefficiencies in quoting, material waste, and rework compound quietly until the P&L tells a story nobody expected.
The Scheduling Illusion
The production schedule looks perfect on Monday. By Wednesday, it's fiction. Expedites, material delays, and shifting priorities turn planning into a daily scramble.
Firefighting Mode
Leadership spends every day reacting to the latest crisis. Improvement work never starts. The operation stays stuck at the same level of performance year after year.

How Many of These Are Hiding in Your Operation?

The Operational Blind Spot Assessment is a 25-question diagnostic designed to surface the specific patterns creating hidden drag in your business. It takes about 10 minutes and produces an actionable report with your Operational Health Score.

Take the Assessment Schedule a Conversation

How I Work

Every engagement starts with understanding the real operational picture — then building the structure to change it.

Fractional COO
Operational Leverage, Not Just Coverage.

Ongoing operational leadership on a fractional basis. I embed into your organization to build systems, develop your team, and drive execution — without the overhead of a full-time hire. This is about leverage: getting more from what you already have.

  • Strategic planning and execution frameworks
  • Process optimization and workflow discipline
  • Leadership development for operations managers
Start a Conversation
Executive Roundtable
A Peer Group for the Industrial Elite.

A confidential peer group for manufacturing CEOs, presidents, and founders who are navigating growth, succession, and operational complexity. Real conversations with people who understand the weight of the decisions you carry.

  • Curated group of CEOs, Presidents, and Founders
  • Confidential "War Room" for strategic challenges
  • Shared wisdom on scaling and exits
Request an Invitation
Apex Digital Foundry

Purpose-Built Tools for the Shop Floor

Four software tools designed for manufacturing operations. No fluff. No complex implementations. Just tools that solve real problems.

QuoteForge

Catalog-based quoting. Accurate quotes in minutes, not hours.

PlanForge

Blueprint and plan-based quoting. Precision pricing from your drawings.

WisdomForge

Capture tribal wisdom and SOPs before they walk out the door.

TaskForge

Task and project management built for manufacturing realities.

View the Tools

Start the Conversation

Whether you're ready for the assessment or just want to talk through what you're seeing in your operation, I'm here. Every engagement starts with a conversation.

Send a Message
I read every message personally.
Book a Time
Skip the back-and-forth.

Schedule a 30-minute operational review call directly on my calendar. No pitch. Just a conversation about what you're seeing.

Open Calendar
Take the Assessment
See what's hiding in your operation.

25 questions. 10 minutes. A clear picture of where operational friction is building — and what to do about it.

Start the Assessment

Contact Info

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 801-599-4368

Area Served: Utah

Focus: Manufacturing, Defense, MedTech