Case Study
Author: Peter Leech | 5 minute read
The Opportunity
The portfolio was spread across categories the company could not win in.
Subscale manufacturers are usually asked to be good at everything and end up structurally unprofitable in most of it.
The pattern is a portfolio that spans categories with different economics, a sales team chasing whoever will take a meeting, and an investment budget spread so thin nothing gets to advantage.
- Liquids business subscale
- No defined customer target
- Competing on price, not fit
- Investment spread too thin
The Approach
- Mapped the portfolio against where the company could competitively win.
- Recommended exiting the subscale liquids business to free capital and capacity. The exit recommendation frees the capital and the capacity that the rest of the strategy needed.
- Defined the sweet spot: The customer sweet spot was defined by economics, not by size of prize. Mid-size private label retailers, contract manufacturing for national brands, and industrial & institutional distributors all reward the same things.
- Set how-to-win priorities: Service above 95 percent OTIF, flexible minimums, and quality at a national brand equivalent standard.
- Flexible automation and fast changeovers are what make small runs profitable. Without them the flexible minimum order quantity promise is a margin leak, not a differentiator.
The Outcome
A clear where-to-play and how-to-win position as the preferred supplier of national brand equivalent wipes and unit dose to mid-size customers.
A defined position as preferred supplier in a segment the company can actually serve better than anyone else, and an investment thesis leadership could fund.
OTIF above 95%
Service level the plan targets
Exit and Refocus
Liquids out, wipes and dose in
Meet The Team
Peter Leech
