Case Studies
Operational Excellence
Finding margin inside the network, not the headcount.
A manufacturer facing input cost inflation had run two rounds of headcount reduction with no lasting margin improvement.
- Service
- Operational Excellence
- Sector
- Manufacturing
- Engagement
- 8 months
The Problem
What stood in the way.
- Nine plants each ran their own scheduling logic and supplier terms.
- Overhead had been cut faster than complexity, leaving control gaps.
- Pricing had not moved with input costs on two-thirds of the catalogue.
Our Approach
How we worked.
- 01
Benchmarked plant-level conversion cost on a like-for-like basis.
- 02
Consolidated procurement and scheduling into a single network plan.
- 03
Rebuilt price architecture around cost-to-serve and willingness to pay.
Outcomes
What the work produced.
- +560bps
- gross margin
- -19%
- network conversion cost
- 0
- further headcount rounds
Margin recovered without further redundancies, and the network plan gave management a permanent view of where cost actually sat.
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