What NEXT LEVEL Partners does

NEXT LEVEL Partners (NLP) is a privately held business transformation consulting firm founded in 2003 by Bill Butler, Don Dreher, and Dennis Longo, all original architects and practitioners of the Danaher Business System (DBS), which itself derives directly from the Toyota Production System. The firm is headquartered in Naples, Florida, and operates with 51-100 employees across a US base and project experience spanning 35+ countries.

NLP delivers five integrated core services: Strategy Execution (Hoshin Kanri / Strategy Deployment Process), Lean Transformation (VSM, 5S, Standard Work, SMED, TPM, DMAIC), Commercial Excellence (go-to-market strategy, pricing, sales enablement, digital marketing transformation), Retained Search for Lean-experienced executives, and Interim Management that deploys transformation leaders into PE-backed or fast-moving organizations. Underlying all five is a proprietary Five-Step Engagement Methodology (Discovery, Plan, Implement, Sustain, Scale & Expand) operationalized through a Lean Business System model tailored to client contexts.

The firm targets enterprise clients across nine-plus verticals, including manufacturing sub-sectors (aerospace & defense, energy, chemicals, industrial, medical devices, packaging), private equity firms and their portfolio companies, healthcare, hospitality & entertainment, distribution & logistics, finance/banking/insurance, retail, restaurant & food service, and technology. Documented client outcomes include 20-30% productivity gains, 30-50% added capacity, 30-70% lead time reductions, 30-60% inventory reductions, 12-16X ROI on VSM kaizens, and 3X revenue growth above market rates for select engagements. The firm remains founder-owned with no disclosed external investors and operates on a custom quote-based, multi-year engagement model with no long-term contracts and a warranty on work delivered.

Name

NEXT LEVEL Partners

Legal name

NEXT LEVEL Partners, LLC

Website

https://nextlevelpartners.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

NEXT LEVEL Partners is a privately held Lean business transformation consulting firm founded in 2003, serving PE firms and enterprise clients across manufacturing, healthcare, retail, and hospitality with strategy execution, Lean transformation, retained search, interim management, and commercial excellence services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Management Consulting — Lean Enterprise Transformation

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Human Resources Consulting Services (541612)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Operations & Process Improvement Consulting (BPAHACAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Organization Design & Operating Model Consulting (BPAHAGAB)

Keywords

• Lean transformation consulting
• Business strategy execution
• Operational excellence advisory
• Commercial excellence consulting
• Executive retained search

Headquarters

HQ city

Naples

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Lean Transformation Consulting: Professional consulting services for enterprise Lean transformation, including assessment, implementation, and sustainment of Lean Business Systems
2. Strategy Execution Services: Strategy Deployment Process (SDP/Hoshin Kanri) consulting to help organizations execute multi-year strategic objectives
3. Retained Executive Search: Executive placement services for COO, GM, operations executives, and transformation leaders in Lean business system cultures
4. Interim Management: Deployment of proven transformation executives and leaders who drive measurable impact in private equity-backed or fast-moving organizations
5. Commercial Excellence: Commercial process improvement consulting including go-to-market strategy, pricing excellence, and sales enablement

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

NEXT LEVEL Partners is a Lean enterprise transformation consulting firm that helps businesses improve revenue growth, profitability, and cash flow through a proprietary Lean Business System methodology adapted from the Danaher Business System and Toyota Production System. It sells five bundled services: Strategy Execution (SDP/Hoshin Kanri), Lean Transformation (continuous improvement), Retained Executive Search, Interim Management, and Commercial Excellence (go-to-market, pricing, sales enablement). Engagements are customized, multi-year, and warranted, with no long-term contracts.

Product overview

NEXT LEVEL Partners is a business transformation consulting firm that operates as a single integrated service offering rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The company provides five core consulting services: Strategy Execution (for achieving strategic objectives through Strategy Deployment Process), Lean Transformation (applying Lean and Six Sigma methodologies for operational excellence), Retained Search (executive placement with Lean business system expertise), Interim Management (temporary leadership with Lean expertise), and Commercial Excellence (driving revenue growth through commercial process improvement). These services work together as an integrated approach to help clients achieve business transformation in revenue growth, profitability, and cash flow. The company also maintains specialized industry practices across Manufacturing, Healthcare, Hospitality & Entertainment, Distribution & Logistics, Finance & Banking, Retail, Restaurant & Food Service, Technology, and Private Equity sectors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategy Execution A consulting service that helps organizations execute multi-year, breakthrough strategic objectives through the Strategy Deployment Process (SDP), also known as Hoshin Kanri or Policy Deployment. It is a proven leadership and management process for achieving sustained performance improvement against strategic objectives, designed for CEOs, COOs, and executive teams.
• Lean Transformation A comprehensive continuous improvement consulting service that applies Lean principles, the Lean Business System model, and Six Sigma methodologies to achieve operational excellence in manufacturing and transactional environments. It enables productivity gains (20-30%), added capacity (30-50%), lead time reduction (30-70%), inventory reduction (30-60%), and quality improvement (30-50% fewer rejected products), targeting enterprise and PE-backed operating companies.
• Retained Search An executive retained search practice specializing in placing high-caliber leadership talent with Lean business system experience in COO, GM, operations, supply chain, and transformation roles. The practice is supported by 400+ successful executive placements and is led by recruiters who themselves have worked inside Lean business system cultures (e.g., Danaher, Fortive, Fluke, Rexnord).
• Interim Management A service deploying proven transformation executives and leaders with Lean and operational excellence expertise to stabilize operations, accelerate measurable improvements, and create long-term value during leadership transitions in PE-backed or fast-moving organizations.
• Commercial Excellence A consulting service focused on accelerating profitable revenue growth through commercial process improvement, covering go-to-market strategy, strategic marketing, new product development, pricing excellence, digital marketing transformation, and sales enablement for enterprise and PE-backed organizations.

Quantifiable outcome

• 20-30% productivity gains from Lean transformation
• +10 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Bain & Company: Bain & Company is a global management consultancy with a strong PE advisory practice that overlaps with NLP's PE value creation and operational due diligence work, though Bain serves a much larger scale of engagement and broader strategic scope.
• McKinsey & Company: McKinsey's Operations Practice and McKinsey Implementation division overlap with NLP's Lean transformation work, particularly with PE and industrials clients, though McKinsey delivers at vastly larger scale and addresses broader transformation mandates.
• Simpler Consulting (a BCG company): Simpler Consulting, now part of BCG, is a Lean transformation consultancy directly competing with NLP's Lean methodology offerings but with greater global scale and the backing of a top-tier strategy firm.

Direct peers

• TBM Consulting Group: TBM Consulting Group is a Lean operations and supply chain consultancy that competes directly with NLP in the same Lean / continuous improvement / kaizen transformation niche, serving manufacturers and PE-backed companies with practitioner-led engagements of comparable scale.
• Accordion Partners: Accordion is a financial and operational consulting firm focused exclusively on private equity-backed companies, providing EBITDA acceleration, operational due diligence, and interim CFO/CFO services directly competing with NLP's PE and Interim Management practices.
• Kaizen Institute: Kaizen Institute Consulting Group is a global Lean transformation consultancy founded by the original Toyota-influenced practitioners, providing directly overlapping Lean strategy deployment, kaizen facilitation, and operational excellence services to NLP's same customer base.
• RLG (Refraction Logistics Group / Results-based Logistics Group): RLG is a supply chain and operations improvement consultancy that competes with NLP in PE-backed value creation and operational due diligence, offering overlapping Lean / continuous improvement engagements to similar mid-market and PE portfolio clients.
• Gemba Research: Gemba Research is a US-based Lean/TPS consultancy offering kaizen, strategy deployment, and operational improvement services, directly comparable to NLP's core Lean Transformation and Strategy Execution practices across manufacturing and service verticals.

Others

• Lean Enterprise Institute: Lean Enterprise Institute is a nonprofit education and research organization focused on Lean thinking and management; while not a direct competitor, it shapes the buyer education around Lean transformations that NLP sells into and frequently collaborates with the Lean consulting ecosystem.

Emerging players

• Velocity Resource Group: Velocity Resource Group is a smaller Lean and operational excellence consultancy serving PE and mid-market industrial clients, offering comparable Lean transformation engagements to NLP but at typically smaller scale and emerging stage.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/nlp_llc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/next-level-partners-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NEXT LEVEL Partners