Industrial businesses and services
Growing in revenue. Not growing in profit, cash or value.
Manufacturing, engineering, maintenance and technical service businesses often run on pricing, working capital and overhead built for a smaller company. Growth then consumes the profit it was meant to produce.
Where margin and cash come under pressure
- Quoting that carries yesterday's costs and none of today's risk.
- Inventory, work in progress and receivables absorbing the cash that growth generates.
- Plant and people earning below potential, with no clear view of what each customer or job returns.
Decisions that shape value
- Where to compete. Which customers, products and services earn a return, and which are held out of habit.
- What the next capital should buy. Plant, systems, people or an acquisition, compared on the same economics.
- What the organisation now requires. Many businesses still run on a structure that suited them at half the size.