Warehousing
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Turning Around Warehouse and Customer Service Performance at Leading Household Products Company
Helped turn around a problematic distribution operation that was creating service problems with leading retailers. Developed standard operating procedures for basic warehouse functions, including inventory transactions, pick/pack/ship operation, cycle counting, and quality audits. Revamped the warehouse organization structure and instituted measurement and tracking to monitor performance. HomeCo now a top 10 supplier to the largest U.S. retailers.
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Network-wide Operating System to Turn Around Performance at Foodservice/Co-pack Juice Company
Turned around plant performance by implementing basic plant operating system (downtime, waste, and scheduling). $600K in run rate cost savings captured by the end of the 6-week engagement, with tools and processes in place to capture the rest. Building on the initial success, rolled out the network-wide standard operating procedures to the other 2 plants during an 8-week Phase II effort with additional savings of $2-2.5MM expected. Company generating record EBITDA (60+% improvement in EBITDA) and the PE firm decided to market the company for an exit.
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Deciphering and Controlling Outsourced Distribution Cost Structures at Medical Products Ecommerce Retailer
Modeled the warehouse, outbound freight, inventory, and inbound freight cost structures of a 3rd-party logistics company in the midst of contract renegotiations and a move to a new warehouse. Identified $1.3MM in financial exposure and weaknesses in contracted outbound freight pricing which drove operational instability, resulting in a 22% reduction in the acquisition price.
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Rapidly Capturing Manufacturing And Logistics Cost Reduction Opportunities At Ethnic Foodservice Products Manufacturer
Captured $1.2MM in operations run-rate savings in 12 weeks at an ethnic foodservice and retail private label products manufacturer by implementing shop floor management best practices. Gotham worked on the shop floor to: observe operations; identify potential improvement opportunities; provide immediate guidance to client personnel; and troubleshoot and pilot solutions. We improved line through from ~225 cases/shift to ~375 cases/shift, reduced fill weight by 3-7% to minimize overfill, reduce floor scrap by 50%; and eliminated expired rework scrap. To ensure sustainability and further improvements, we: trained client personnel, put in place process changes, tools, KPIs and reporting system; and identified/planned next set of improvement opportunities. Gotham also launched logistics savings capture by developing direct ship pilot and facilitating conversation between company sales teams and foodservice distributors.
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Rapidly Establishing Manufacturing Outsourcing Economics And Requirements At Family-owned Food, Personal, And Home Care Products Manufacturer
Conducted rapid operational due diligence to establish manufacturing outsourcing economics at a family-owned food, personal care, and home care products manufacturer. Gotham quickly: built a bottom-up view of the target’s cost structure, current product costs, co-pack costs, and organization structure; conducted plant walkthrough and interviewed operations management; and interviewed companies in food and personal care products outsourcing. We established that outsourcing economics are slightly favorable as logistics and G&A would generate sufficient savings to more than offset a slight increase in food manufacturing cost. As our assessment indicated higher costs and risks associated with outsourcing food products, our client successfully pursued a restructured transaction of carving out personal and home care brands and products.
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Rapidly Pinning Down Capacity/CapEx, Manufacturing Cost, and Distribution Situation and Opportunities at Leading Dry Ice Manufacturer
Conducted 2-week operational due diligence to pin down capacity and CapEx situation, and to identify margin improvement opportunities in manufacturing, distribution, and branch operations ahead of a competitive auction bid. Created plant-specific profiles of 150+ pieces of production equipment and determined target had ample capacity for growth with minimal replacement CapEx risk. Analyzed and reconciled financial data from the target’s ~100 P&Ls and reallocated costs to establish true operational costs and production and distribution cost benchmarks across plants, branches, and routes and identified up to $6MM in margin improvement opportunities through disciplined distribution and pricing practices. Gotham’s due diligence enabled our client to move forward with a competitive bid.
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