Plante & Moran Wins Turnaround Management Association of Michigan’s Turnaround of the Year Award for its Work with Ohio Foam Products Manufacturer
Firm Achieves Statewide Recognition for Helping to Return Ohio-Based Company to Financial Health and Profitability
Southfield, Michigan — November 9, 2007 — Plante & Moran, the nation’s 11th-largest public accounting and business advisory firm, today announced it is the recipient of the Turnaround of the Year Award from the Michigan chapter of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA). The firm received this award for its work in helping to return an Ohio-based foam products manufacturer to financial health and profitability.
“Our receipt of the Turnaround of the Year Award is proof positive of the value our clients place on our ability to understand their needs and effect positive organizational change that can turn today’s struggling company into tomorrow’s market leader,” said Bill Hermann, Managing Partner, Plante & Moran. “I thank our staff for their great work that made our receipt of this award possible.”
The manufacturer faced a multitude of challenges affecting financial and new business growth. Those challenges included declining sales and margins, a seasonal sales environment, increased competition overseas, increased raw-material and energy costs, a complex product line, staffing issues, and a lack of cost-savings targets for departmental leaders.
To address these challenges, the manufacturer engaged experts within Plante & Moran’s restructuring and turnaround division of its Management Consulting Practice in 2006. Plante & Moran experts were engaged to assess the organization’s business plan and to identify and help implement opportunities for improvement.
Leveraging a combination of data analysis, field observations, and one-on-one and group interviews with staff at all levels, Plante & Moran uncovered more than 100 potential improvement opportunities, totaling $1.5 million in annual savings in the areas of manufacturing and process costs, revenue and margin enhancement, material cost reductions, headcount reduction, and administration.
To achieve these savings, Plante & Moran assembled and managed multiple cross-functional performance improvement teams, which were tasked to immediately implement solutions under their organizational control and to develop and implement longer-term improvement plans. Rapid implementation of improvements resulted in immediate savings; after suffering two years of losses, the company was profitable within 60 days of the start of the engagement, even as it entered its seasonally slow time of year. The quick action also created momentum within the organization, energizing staff to make further process improvements.
Results of Plante & Moran’s work include improving net operating margin by 6 percentage points, vastly improved fiscal-year 2007 results, and an outlook for 2008 that includes targeted sales growth, closely watched spending, and robust manufacturing performance.
