Challenge
Resulting from an acquisition of a smaller, yet more mature rival, the consumer goods company now faced many challenges when integrating the two very different manufacturing and distribution center networks and operational philosophies. While the acquiring company focused on a national, centralized, and vertically integrated network, the smaller company placed a heavy emphasis on regional operations, with separate manufacturing and distribution facilities. These regional facilities were aging, outdated, and inefficient, resulting in lower productivity and high operating costs.
Since the primary driver of the acquisition was to enhance manufacturing capabilities, increase market exposure, and realize synergies in operations, the consumer goods company needed to quickly integrate the two networks.
Five target regions were in scope for this initiative and the
company brought together an internal integration and expansion team, consisting of finance, operations, real estate, human resources, legal and a third party logistics manager. The team’s mission was to create regional “super” plants to handle production, warehousing, and distribution that were optimized to provide coverage to the combined company’s sales and retail network.
Altus Group joined this team to provide its expertise with network operations, location analysis, site selection, and incentive negotiation.
