What Change Partners does

Change Partners is an organizational consulting firm founded in 1996 by Dr. Sherrie Ford and Steve Hollis, operating as a brand under the PPI parent company (established 2012 by Hollis and Luke Faulstick, headquartered in Athens, Georgia). The firm provides B2B consulting services to manufacturing companies and other organizations, applying a proprietary methodology called the PPI Way, which integrates lean manufacturing tools (kaizen blitzes, pull systems, visual workplace, continuous improvement modules) with a work-culture transformation framework. The central thesis is that work-culture, not leadership or supervision in isolation, governs sustainable business results. Engagements are structured as long-term partnerships rather than transactional consulting, targeting organizational development, team-based management implementation, and culture assessment.

Change Partners is part of the broader PPI corporate umbrella, which historically operated multiple manufacturing subsidiaries: Power Partners (overhead distribution transformers, divested 2016), Gap Partners (precision sheet metal fabrication), StampSource (metal stamping, divested 2020), and South Dakota Partners (PCBA contract manufacturing for medical devices, acquired 2016 from DJO Global). The group also produced ECO-MAX adsorption chillers and partnered with SmartSenseCom and the U.S. Navy on the Intelligent Distribution Transformer. Post-divestiture, the residual portfolio centers on Gap Partners, South Dakota Partners, and the Change Partners consulting practice.

Revenue is generated primarily through professional services consulting fees for Change Partners and hardware sales across the manufacturing sister companies. The firm serves enterprise customers in manufacturing, electric utilities (historically), and medical devices (via South Dakota Partners' exclusive supply agreement with DJO Global). Go-to-market is direct enterprise field sales, supported by community involvement, industry conference participation, and referral networks within the manufacturing vertical. Certifications held across the group include ISO 9001:2008 (Gap Partners) and ISO 14001:2004 (Power Partners, prior to divestiture).

Name

Change Partners

Legal name

Change Partners

Website

https://ppiway.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Change Partners is an organizational consulting firm founded in 1996 and operating under the PPI parent company in Athens, Georgia, helping manufacturing companies and other organizations achieve sustainable business results through work-culture transformation using the proprietary PPI Way lean methodology.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Management Consulting

NAICS

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

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Change Management & Transformation Consulting (BPAHAGAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Organization Design & Change Management Consulting (BPAHACAD), Change Management for Operations Transformations (EDABAKAM), Change Management & Transformation Leadership (EDABAAAD)

Keywords

• Organizational consulting
• Work culture transformation
• Lean manufacturing consulting
• Team based management
• Business sustainability advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

Athens

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Organizational Consulting Services: Change Partners provides organizational consulting services focused on work-culture transformation for manufacturing companies and other organizations. Revenue generated through consulting engagements, training programs, and organizational development services.
2. Manufacturing Operations (Sister Companies): PPI parent company operates multiple manufacturing divisions (Gap Partners, South Dakota Partners) that provide complementary services. These manufacturing operations support and cross-reference the consulting methodology, creating integrated service offerings.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Change Partners is an organizational consulting firm that sells work-culture transformation services to manufacturing companies and other organizations. Since 1996, the firm has helped clients achieve sustainable business results by addressing work-culture as the primary driver of success rather than focusing narrowly on leadership, supervision, or labor relations. Engagements are delivered through the proprietary PPI Way methodology, which combines lean manufacturing tools and techniques (including communication skills, problem solving, continuous improvement, pull systems, and kaizen blitzes) with team-based management implementation.

Product overview

Change Partners is part of the PPI family of manufacturing companies. The core offering is Change Partners itself, an organizational consulting firm that helps organizations achieve sustainable business results through work-culture transformation. Under the PPI umbrella, the company operates several manufacturing sub-brands including South Dakota Partners (electronics/PCBA manufacturing for medical devices), Gap Partners (precision sheet metal fabrication), and previously included StampSource (metal stamping and fabrication) and Power Partners (distribution transformers). PPI also manufactures ECO-MAX adsorption chillers. The PPI Way is their operational philosophy emphasizing safety, people, sustainability, and innovation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Change Partners Work-Culture Consulting Service Organizational consulting service delivered to manufacturing companies and other organizations, focused on work-culture transformation as the governing driver of sustainable business results. Engagements combine lean manufacturing tools with team-based management to improve performance, employee engagement, and customer outcomes.
• PPI Way Organizational Development Methodology Proprietary consulting methodology for Change Partners engagements that combines lean manufacturing tools (Kaizen Blitz, visual workplace, pull systems, continuous improvement) with team-based management to create self-managed teams that own their work areas. Configurable across modules including communication skills, problem solving, pull systems, and kaizen blitzes.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced transformer manufacturing lead time to under 2 days vs industry standard of 6-10 weeks
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Phoenix Stamping Group (PHX Holdings)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 January 2021Phoenix Stamping Group, a division of PHX Holdings, purchased StampSource from PPI in December 2020. Acquisition brings over 50 employees with added capacity in metal stampings, fabrication, tool & die design and kitting & assembly. Cultural alignment of 'customers first, people always' cited as key factor.
• DJO GlobalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 May 2016PPI purchased DJO's Empi manufacturing medical device factory located in Clear Lake, South Dakota. Exclusive supply agreement continues for DJO Global to receive critical medical device products. Facility now called South Dakota Partners, Inc.
• SmartSenseComcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 March 2013Co-presented at ABB Automation & Power World conference on intelligent distribution transformer (IDT) development. SmartSenseCom collaborated with Power Partners to develop IDT using sensing technology licensed from the U.S. Navy.
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPPI partners with PNNL to develop innovations for military applications. The collaboration brings together people, process, and technology to help troops on the front line through innovative manufacturing.
• U.S. NavycoreTechnology or IntegrationLicensed sensing technology from the U.S. Navy for use in intelligent distribution transformer (IDT) development. Enables steady-state transformer monitoring, connectivity mapping, and anomaly reporting.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Prosci: Prosci is a change management methodology and training company built around the ADKAR model, serving enterprises undergoing organizational change. It is comparable to Change Partners as a specialized change management methodology provider, though Prossi's offerings are more productized and less manufacturing-specific.
• Kotter International: Kotter International provides consulting, training, and methodology licensing built around John Kotter's 8-step change model. It is directly comparable to Change Partners as a methodology-driven change management firm, with comparable emphasis on culture and leadership alignment during transformations.
• TBM Consulting Group: TBM Consulting is a lean manufacturing and operational excellence consulting firm that helps manufacturers transform operations and culture. It is the closest direct peer to Change Partners in terms of combining lean methodology with operational culture change for manufacturing clients.
• FranklinCovey: FranklinCovey delivers leadership, culture, and execution consulting and training to enterprises, including manufacturing clients. It is directly comparable to Change Partners in targeting culture and leadership as the lever for organizational performance, though its content franchises (e.g., 7 Habits) are more broadly commercialized.

Broad incumbents

• McKinsey & Company (Operations Practice): McKinsey's Operations and Organization Practices advise large manufacturers on operational and cultural transformation at scale. As a broad incumbent, it competes for the same enterprise client budgets that Change Partners targets, though it serves a much wider scope of industries and problem types.
• Deloitte (Human Capital and Operations Transformation): Deloitte's Human Capital and Operations Transformation practices serve large manufacturers on culture change, operating model redesign, and workforce transformation. As a broad incumbent, it competes at the high end of the same buyer conversations Change Partners enters, but typically with much larger engagement scopes.

Emerging players

• Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI): LEI is a non-profit education and research organization advancing lean thinking and practice globally. It is comparable to Change Partners through shared lean manufacturing DNA and a focus on work culture as a driver of operational results, though LEI operates primarily as an educator and community builder rather than a fee-for-service consultant.
• Gemba Academy: Gemba Academy provides lean and continuous improvement training and consulting for manufacturers, with a focus on accessible online content and shop-floor practitioners. It overlaps with Change Partners' lean manufacturing training offerings and serves a similar manufacturing buyer profile, though with a more productized training-led model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Change Partners