Machinery/ Capital Goods

Customer & Market Due Diligence of EOL Packaging Equipment Manufacturer: Establishing Equipment Landscape, Competitive Positioning, And Ability To Scale The Platform
Conducted a 3-week customer & market due diligence of an end-of-line (EOL) packaging equipment manufacturer to establish the equipment landscape, the target’s competitive positioning, and the ability to scale the platform. To this end, Gotham: conducted 62 anonymous interviews with customers, OEMs, distributors, and integrators; built a bottom-up database of EOL equipment and OEMs by format, automation level, and end-market; analyzed automation trends; and built market models for both equipment and aftermarket segments. Gotham provided a clear, fact-based view of the target’s competitive positioning and whitespace opportunities, enabling our client to develop confidence in the platform’s ability to scale and pursue the target aggressively.
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Operational Due Diligence at Global Environmental Machinery Manufacturer: Assessing Product Design and Network Simplification Opportunities
Analyzed product portfolio and design platforms, manufacturing and engineering facilities, and cost structure to establish cost reduction opportunities at a machinery manufacturer with operations distributed over 13 facilities in 8 countries. Due diligence identified $23-39MM (12-21% of total COGS) in cost savings from standardizing/modularizing product line and executing a low-cost manufacturing strategy, simplifying/consolidating the manufacturing and engineering network, and reducing material, labor, and freight costs.
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Operations Diagnostic and Roadmap at Climate Control Product Manufacturer: Establishing End-vision for a Fast-growing, Entrepreneurial Company
Conducted a 3-week operations diagnostic to establish an end-vision for optimizing the clients’s manufacturing, supply chain, and engineering operations. Gotham developed a solid fact base of the client’s operations, including demand patterns, inventory, labor efficiency, product complexity, and cost structure. Working with management, Gotham created an end-vision to transform operations and generate both real bottom line benefits – 600bp EBITDA improvement, 20-30% reduction in inventory, and 30% reduction in the plant footprint – and capability enhancements (faster speed to market, improved quality, etc.) that will allow the client to capture market opportunities and drive future growth. The company’s board wholeheartedly backed this end-vision and asked Gotham to help accelerate capture of these opportunities.
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Proactive Investment Strategy For MIddle-Market Private Equity Fund: Identifying Target Specialized Manufacturing Industries For Investment
Supported fund raising effort of a middle-market PE firm by validating the firm’s ingoing hypothesis that the investment boom in emerging economies would drive growth for specialized manufactured products, with the next 24 months presenting a significant opportunity to invest in its 4-5 related platform companies. Gotham: reviewed preferred profile of target acquisitions with the investment committee; established investment trends in 25 key sectors; identified and short-listed industries benefitting from these investments; and identified key products and companies within short-listed industries. Our client successfully closed its new fund within a few months, exceeding its original target.
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Operations Improvements at International Custom Machine tools Designer and Manufacturer: Quick-win Engineering and Material Cost Reductions
Conducted 4-week diagnostic to understand drivers of ongoing margin erosion (~10% point gap between quoted margin vs. realized margin) that identified $1.7-2.7MM in quick-win cost savings opportunities in 3 key areas: robust, cross-functional quoting and engineering processes with formal involvement of engineering in the quoting process and proactive management of hours/scope in the engineering process; material spend reduction by implementing cost-focused (vs. “get the parts in”) purchasing process/tools, renegotiating/ establishing contracts with key vendors, and standardizing parts to leverage volume; and selective migration of engineering to India, starting with detailed engineering and phasing in higher skill activities. Execution assistance included: creating vendor negotiation strategy and vendor packages for top vendors (6-20% savings already realized); crafting quoting and engineering process end-vision; and developing a detailed capture plan with timeline for all targeted savings.
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Customer & Market Due Diligence of Material Processing Equipment Manufacturer: Positioning the Buyer for a Fact-based Bid
In an auction situation, conducted customer and market due diligence to identify customer spending trends and perception of the target company for the buyer. Identified potential for a near-term decline in recent sales levels and uncovered customer concerns regarding the target company's customer service and product innovation, leading the buyer to back away from the aggressive pursuit of the company.
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