Engineered Metal Buildings Company

Featured Work

Complex Turnaround, Supply Chain, Sales & Marketing, Interim Management

An EGI Advisor was recommended by a New York investment advisory firm to the parent holding company with a portfolio of nine companies. The EGI Advisor was subsequently hired as interim President of the largest of the nine companies with the approval of the holding company Board and its PEG owner, an international publicly traded investment firm. The holding Company had revenues in excess of $600 Million and decimated financial performance, primarily attributed to excess leverage and operating issues at its largest flagship company. This Company manufactured custom-engineered metal buildings and had approximately $300 Million in revenue. A complex bankruptcy loomed involving all nine companies, and the survival of the flagship and therefore parent Company was uncertain. To make matters more challenging, the backdrop was an entire industry in total chaos due to worldwide fluctuations in steel prices and disruption in supply.

The flagship Company faced a series of equally critical problems:

Plummeting sales
Cash depletion
PR nightmare
Failed engineering practices
Disenchanted customer base
Management team with waning confidence and resolve
Interrupted supply chain

Out-of-date legacy information systems
Cost system that did not accurately track job or customer profitability
Misunderstood and totally outdated pricing algorithm and cost module
A passive marketing function
R&D function focusing on compliance rather than innovation

Success was achieved by mobilizing internal resources and supplementing them with operating expertise from EGI. An EGI Advisor served as Vice President of Marketing and coordinated the Company’s relaunch. Another Advisor stepped in as Vice President of Engineering to totally refocus this organization to achieve accurate designs and on-time delivery at reduced costs resulting in a remarkable customer relations victory. Two EGI Associates provided strategic financial analysis that was crucial to success. Additionally, an EGI Associate conducted face-to-face customer surveys and performed market research while another colleague analyzed organizational consolidation opportunities.

All these problematic issues were addressed as follows:

Diagnosed critical issues and identified unrecognized opportunities
Restructured the flagship company, saving in excess of $8 Million
Implemented a General Management structure, one for each of four geographic regions, moving decision making and customer interface closer to the marketplace
Initiated a proactive sales and marketing effort involving marketing analytics, targeted promotions, customer-centric marketing programs, totally refreshed collateral materials, and achieved successful marketplace re-launch
Re-engineered the engineering function

Maneuvered through raw material price increases and crippled supply chain
Strengthened the organization and rebuilt the sales force
Recaptured lost customers and business
Resolved legacy information systems issues
Focused R&D on innovation and competitive advantages
Corrected accounting deficiencies

The EGI Team orchestrated a very successful turnaround of the flagship entity over a 21-month period and thereby saved the parent holding Company. The flagship Company had a highly effective relaunch and secured record performance allowing the holding company to ultimately exit bankruptcy. Shortly thereafter, the parent Company sold for a twelve multiple to a Fortune 500 industry player.