My biz idea is one that would mostly involve manufacturing companies but if you can add anything to it feel free.
What I would like to do is to help small companies implement a data recording plan (for a fee), such as recording manufacturing defects, customer complaints, etc. and then charge a monthly fee for me to run weekly or monthly reports on their data to tell them areas of their business, or products, which require attention to improve quality, efficiency and customer satisfaction.
I live in an area hard hit by manuf. layoffs, but there are still plenty of businesses around (small and large) and with some of them struggling to stay afloat, I will be selling this idea as a service that is all about ROI.
Does this sounds viable? Any pros or cons you notice?

yes it does seem viable to me. however a few things to consider.

1. who else in your area is doing this?
2. when companies are struggling like you mentioned even though your services could help, you are going to have to have competitive pricing and be very persuasive to get them to hire you.
3. do you have experience doing this? If not, it may be a hard sell.