(FORTUNE Small Business) – Recent news that General Motors was planning to lay off 25,000 workers suggests more lean times in the manufacturing belt of the upper Midwest, so we decided to check in with Jeff Kaczperski, head of an injection-molding and moldmaking company on the outskirts of Detroit. His company, Omega Plastics, was the subject of a Small-Biz Makeover arranged by FSB last year.

Kaczperski reports that orders are up over last year. That's partly because the company changed its mix of work. Omega had always specialized in prototype runs--a few dozen handles for test models of a new electric saw, say. But Kaczperski wanted to get better at making several thousand items at a time. He hoped that midvolume production runs would smooth his uneven order flow.

That effort is going well, in part because of a suggestion from consultant Barbara Gucfa. "She told us to set more precise goals. It was one thing to talk generally about shifting to midvolume production," he says. "It was another to decide that by this date we will have accomplished X and Y and Z, and for this much money." Kaczperski pulled his entire management team together to set those precise goals. "Everybody collaborated and got aligned behind the project," he says. "There are no more hesitations and delays."

Internet consultant Andrew Krasner told Omega a year ago that its website needed work. The company's new site makes it easy for potential customers to request bids from Omega and invites casual visitors to leave their names and contact information for follow-up calls. Omega also tackled one of the most challenging but essential tasks that any small business can face: getting rid of customers. Last year logistics expert Charles Maynard observed that Omega executives often had different ideas about which customers and prospects were worth pursuing. A salesman might value one client, engineers another, and the CFO a third. Maynard urged company brass to put their heads together and determine which customers it was unprofitable to serve. "We did that," says Kaczperski. "We reviewed our accounts and looked at where we couldn't offer value and vice versa. Now it's a routine part of our schedule. We meet, and we chew through it. Turning away business doesn't come naturally, but it has to be done sometimes."