About Stu Jensen
Operator First. Advisor Second.
40+ years in manufacturing. 25 years leading fabrication operations. Started as a machine operator. IronForge Advisors exists because Stu's seen too many good manufacturers bleed profit without knowing why.
Stu Jensen didn't start in consulting. He started as a machine operator.
He came up through the trades, learning by doing, one shift at a time. Machine operator to production supervisor. Supervisor to plant manager. Plant manager to running the whole operation.
Over 25 years, Stu led fabrication operations from 10 employees to 40+. Quoting. Scheduling. Purchasing. Quality. Delivery. Hiring. Firing. And staring at financial statements at 10 PM wondering where the margin went.
He's made every mistake in the book. Quoted jobs too low because he didn't know his real costs. Let overtime spiral because it felt easier than fixing the schedule. Lost good people because the operation was chaos and they got tired of it. Fixed one bottleneck just to create another one downstream.
He figured it all out eventually. But he figured it out the hard way, with his reputation and his sleepless nights on the line.
Why IronForge Exists
After four decades, Stu kept hearing the same story.
Shop owners would tell Stu the same thing: "We're busier than we've ever been, but the money's not there." They'd be running more jobs, working more hours, hiring more people, but margins were flat or shrinking. And they couldn't figure out why.
Stu could. Because he'd lived it. He knew where the money hides in a fabrication operation: bad quotes, reactive overtime, scrap that nobody tracks, scheduling gaps that create invisible bottlenecks. He'd found those same leaks across every operation he'd led, over and over, for 25 years.
That's the idea behind IronForge Advisors. Most manufacturers already have the profit. They just can't see where they're losing it. Not because they're bad operators. They're too close to it. Too busy running jobs, fighting fires, and keeping customers happy to step back and look at the numbers.
That's what Stu does. He steps in, looks at the operation and the financials with fresh eyes and decades of floor experience, and shows the owner where the money is going. That's the Manufacturing Profit Recovery audit.
The Background
Not a resume. A career built on the shop floor.
Built quoting systems, production schedules, quality programs, and financial reporting, all from the operator's side of the desk.
Hired, trained, and retained skilled tradespeople in tight labor markets.
The Approach
Stu doesn't consult at you. He works with you.
Every engagement starts with the numbers. Revenue, margins, job costs, overhead, labor. If it doesn't show up in the financials, it doesn't matter. If it does show up, we find it and measure it.
Stu walks the shop. He watches the workflow. He talks to the guys running the machines. You can't diagnose a manufacturing operation from a spreadsheet. You have to see it move.
No open-ended engagements. No hourly billing. The scope is agreed on upfront, the timeline is set, and the price doesn't change. You know exactly what you're getting and what you're paying.
Stu works around your production schedule. He doesn't ask you to stop working so he can study your operation. The goal is answers, not disruption.
Want to Talk Shop?
If you run a fabrication operation in Colorado and you're wondering where the margins are going, Stu's been in your shoes. More than once.
Book a 30-Minute Discovery Call