Overview – Client is a privately held, family owned retail brand and “Made in USA” manufacturer of durable consumer housewares with a lifestyle/fun/fashion focus. Distributes through retail outlets, company stores, and online sales. Annual Sales were $75M at start of our engagement.
Primary Issues – The core product was designed by the previous company owners and hadn’t been updated in decades. It was rapidly losing market share and sales to off-shore imitators who were selling clone knock-offs at 50% of client pricing in discount channels that tarnished the client’s brand (e.g. Wal-Mart). Client held no patent or trade dress protection and couldn’t stop the bleeding.
Statement of Work –
Filled functional gaps in Client roster, organized team, developed project charter, and managed project scope, execution, schedule, budget, and financial reviews with ownership
Implemented Sales & Operations planning to align Sales forecasts to factory planning
Implemented major new-to-client Mfg process technologies and practices
Rebuilt end-to-end supply chain with qualified suppliers and favorable contracts
Redeveloped and qualified deficient internal Mfg processes to industry standards
Delivered eight new products to market within 21 months – managing as many as five(5) discrete NPD projects concurrently – with ROI >750%
Increased annual revenue 37% ($28MM)
Exceeded GP target by 6% for entire suite of new products
Applied for six(6) patents to USPTO
Averaged 7 months from idea to profit for each product in the new portfolio