Tradition Meets Transformation

As president and CEO of Harbour Results, Inc. (HRI), LAURIE HARBOUR leads a team of analysts and manufacturing consultants to help small- to medium- sized manufacturers develop short- and long-term strategies, improve their operations, reduce risks and optimize business.

Driven by her passion for manufacturing which developed at a young age when her father took her weekly to the Chrysler plant in Hamtramck, MI she has pushed for more woman and diversity in manufacturing. Laurie told her father at 12 that she wanted to be in manufacturing and he told her no that wasn't possible - it was too hard and she was a girl. That fueled a fight inside of her to make an impact in manufacturing for the rest of her career. Spending most of her life around the manufacturing industry and later being mentored by her father Jim Harbour, she utilized her experience and knowledge to found HRI in 2005. Since that time, she partnered with Scott Walton in 2007 and further grew in her manufacturing capability. Laurie, along with Scott have been responsible for developing both the consulting services and targeted tools to profitably grow the organization into a leading manufacturing consulting firm.

As a trusted advisor to the North American manufacturing industry, HRI monitors, researches and analyzes the manufacturing value stream to identify strengths and weaknesses, gaps and risks, and business and operational opportunities in an effort to help the industry transform to be more successful in the global marketplace. Additionally, the company is the leading forecaster for the automotive tool and die industry, collecting and analyzing data on a regular basis through Harbour IQ, a proprietary market intelligence tool that collects thousands of data points from hundreds of manufacturing companies annually. Laurie and her team utilize this data along with their expertise to help companies solve problems, improve business and advocate on behalf of the manufacturing industry. As an industry thought-leader, she is regularly quoted in both business and trade magazines. Additionally, she speaks to companies and at forums on topics such leadership, cultural transformation, supplier collaboration, manufacturing, overall business operations improvement and manufacturing forecasting. In 2018, she was named Crain's "Notable Women in Manufacturing" and Plastics News' "Women Breaking the Mold." Additionally, she was named Plastics News "Automotive Newsmaker of the Year" for 2018.

SCOTT WALTON is chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Harbour Results, Inc. With more than 30 years of experience in strategic planning, operations management, lean manufacturing and supply chain management, he has assisted multi-national companies, government entities and business professionals worldwide. Walton's expertise lays in automotive, plastics, defense and distribution. He works closely with automotive, manufacturing and distribution companies to assess their business needs on a strategic, financial and operational level. Walton is also an expert at restructuring manufacturing companies with a focus on quickly diagnosing key issues and developing plans to restructure finance, sales and particularly the operations of the company. Scott oversees the Harbour team of senior consultants that assists clients in implementing operational and strategic changes, drive throughput and improve profitability.

Prior to joining HRI, Walton was president of the automotive market segment for Nypro Inc., a global leader in custom plastic injection molding where he was responsible for development and deployment of auto strategy on a worldwide scale. In addition, he held operational responsibility within four automotive-focus factories (two in the U.S. and two in Mexico) and a sales/engineering office in Detroit. In addition to his work at Nypro, Walton has held various leadership and operational roles both domestically and internationally. He also is a skilled communicator and frequently presents at manufacturing industry forums and events as well as directly to manufacturing companies.

Together Laurie and Scott have built a niche consulting firm based on the use of data and market intelligence to help companies understand where they stack up and how to drive improvement quickly. Their passion for manufacturing is evident in all that they do and their commitment to their clients is second to none. They get out of bed every day to make an impact in the lives of all they encounter daily and to make a difference in North American manufacturing.