GE Black Belts To The Rescue; Consultants from firm's financial arm help borrowers improve processes.(MANAGING FOR SUCCESS)

Byline: J. BONASIA

When Greg Delaney, the chief financial officer of sales and marketing agency Acosta, took out a line of credit from GE Commercial Finance in 2002, he also got free access to a crack team of business-process black belt experts.

Based in Jacksonville, Fla., Acosta is a private company with about $700 million in annual revenue. It helps 1,300 makers of consumer-packaged goods get their products into supermarkets and convenience stores. Clients include Nestle, Clorox and Heinz.

Three years ago, General Electric signed off on a $50 million working capital line of credit for Acosta. Delaney, a former banking executive himself, says he chose GE Commercial Finance over other lenders due to a wealth of bundled services that would help his firm grow.

Delaney was impressed by the extent of those services. In three …