
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.
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