Aerospace & Advanced Manufacturing
MERU CASE STUDY
Identified 10% gross margin improvement for an industrial manufacturer
COMPANY OVERVIEW
- $220M industrial manufacturer producing complex engineered solutions for the aviation and automotive markets in North America and Europe
- The company lost a primary customer as lead times exceeded service levels by 3 months and quality issues increased by 40%
- The sales team had implemented a new incentive program, however, overall profitability had declined
- The company needed to undertake a holistic review of the Sales & Operations Planning function
OUR APPROACH
- Assessed customer segmentation model and strategy performance
- Assessed last 3 years sales data to ascertain SKU profitability and lead times
- Conducted an operational assessment within marketing, sales, engineering, procurement and manufacturing to identify opportunities
- Facilitated workshops with business unit leads and management to agree upon the sales strategy and service levels from each business unit
- Established a centralized operational center with operational metrics
OUR IMPACT
10% gross margin improvement identified by eliminating low-value orders.
15% reduction in lead times for key customers identified without spending capital.
Suspended use of S&OP software and implemented simple sales forecasting tool and review meetings to focus business units on key customers (who represent 70% of gross margin per annum).