INVENTORY CORRECTION / ASSET BASED LOAN:

$40 million revenue consumer products company that revolutionized the luggage industry by developing luggage with wheels. Within the first 30 days of joining the Company as CFO, Gary Patterson found that the company had unrecorded commitments of $30 million of inventory purchases to be received throughout the next 180 days and which Management was unaware of. This was three years of inventory in addition to existing levels. The Company could not pay for, physically process nor reasonably distribute this much additional inventory.

Gary developed financial and inventory reporting methodologies and conducted a financial review to determine optimal funding to resolve this inventory and financial crisis. He resolved $15 million dollars of inventory problem by actions including renegotiating obligations and reworking orders to faster turnover products. Gary also created better product costing and metrics for supplier effectiveness and supplier costing. Company obtained a $25 million dollar revolving asset-backed money center bank loan to resolve the financial crisis, created controls to prevent future recurrences and returned the Company to revenue and profitable growth.

RELAUNCH OF TECHNOLOGY COMPANY:

Cellular was a provider of wireless communications services. Their original concept was to provide rental phones for rental cars, but this was slow to ramp up and was both labor and capital intensive. No additional equity funding was available and resellers, a potentially better channel, were only willing to vendor finance if the proper plan and support structure could be put in place to and agreed milestones met.

The solution was to create a national infrastructure of reseller and agent relationships with cellular providers, to reduce capital requirements, provide for vendor funding and increase distribution at the same time. Cellular was also (a) required to train customer personnel, (b) install required software, and (c) recruit and train the corporate personnel to support the distributors. Gary Patterson served as CFO and member of the three person Senior Executive team chartered to create and implement the solution. While solving the financial dilemma, the distribution solution grew revenues from $1 to 10 million and profitability in less than a year.

SUPPLY CHAIN METHODOLOGIES, SYSTEMS AND SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION:

Company (UK) was an under performing barely break-even $150 million British manufacturing and distribution subsidiary of a US Fortune 500 parent. Management ability to improve operations and create new products was severely limited by a lack of reliable financial and operational information. The Company and its parent agreed that the full supply chain needed (a) re-engineering, (b) new software and network systems selected and implemented and (c) conversion to a total quality concept.

Gary Patterson served as the Project Officer leading the worldwide pilot site for the parent. Gary planned, staffed, budgeted and directed a series of re-engineering projects throughout manufacturing, distribution, and sales order processing functions of the Company. The project self funded after the first year. The project used J D Edwards software (with Company named a Premiere location) which required converting the corporate hardware and network. This information system was key to return to profitability, and securing an ISO 9001 Total Quality certification, the first awarded in the UK to a building materials manufacturer.