Challenge
This company is an international manufacturer and distributor of branded consumer and personal care products, with annual sales in excess of $850M. Market sectors included skin care, feminine care, infant care, and household products.
They were struggling to control a cost structure that had become too large. The relative strength of specific brands within its portfolio, with the internal resources required to support them, was a key area of concern. The Company had become highly leveraged as a result of a number of acquisitions. Faced with a significant debt burden, along with poor stock price performance and decreasing sales, the board had to take significant cost reduction steps.
Synergetics was asked to conduct an extensive brand review, as brand performance was a strategic cornerstone.
Solution
Synergetics impartially assessed brand performance and provided objective evidence which management used to make critical re-investment and divestiture decisions based on increased operational efficiencies.
The Synergetics team focused on reducing material, labor and overhead cost issues. Key workstreams included: Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), Sales Force Effectiveness and Organization Consolidation to reduce costs. A Business Operating System (BOS) was also implemented to provide standard methodologies for budgeting, planning, decision making, reporting, and operations management.
- Production control and material requirements planning
- Forecasting and running different market scenarios
- Product and overhead rationalization
- Lean manufacturing (layouts, processes and systems)
- Manufacturing KPIs and management training
- Technical services planning, metrics and service levels
