Mid-Size Electronics Components Manufacturer

Business Issue:

• Greater competition and customer demands were putting the squeeze on profit margins while sales growth slumped.
• Company needed new ways to increase profitability and capital utilization and use the resulting cash to grow into new markets.
• A major challenge: having professionals in all areas better understand how their actions affected financial performance in terms of both the income statement and balance sheet, where value was being created, and evaluating the return on new opportunities.

FinListics Solutions Customization:

• A customized version of CFOEd "Managing Value" courseware was deployed worldwide to both sharpen company management's financial acumen and better link actions to value. Lesson customization included company's lines of business, financial statements and key financial metrics.
• Benchmarking Analytics were applied to lines of business to identify financial performance gaps and opportunities. Peer companies and industry benchmarks as well as companies outside the manufacturer's industries were applied. Peer companies and industry benchmarks helped identify areas for improvement. Non-peer company analysis highlighted potential benefits of pushing the envelope.
• Customized Analytics Templates provided "non-financial" professionals with the tools to conduct preliminary analysis of a wide variety of initiatives such as inventory reduction, changes in order quantity, vendor managed inventory, modified payment terms, and customer profitability measurement. Results were shared with others for inputs and refinement, and then submitted to Finance.
• Company's CFO estimates that $30 million to $40 million in opportunities for improved working capital management and operating expenses were identified that otherwise wouldn't have been found as quickly.