making a difference

Identified markets for entry with potential to generate

2X

current

annual revenue

Industry: LED Lighting

​

Situation: PE firm expressed desire to increase sales revenue by 167% in five years

​

Impact: Determined two markets for entry with potential to help double company's current annual revenue in PE firm's desired five year timeline

Increased 

sales by

24%

with key account

management strategy

Industry: Plastics

​

Situation: Highly concentrated customer base was underserved and all accounts were treated the same regardless of potential value

​

Impact: Keystone implemented Key Account Management strategy, resulting in sales growth of 24% for those customers and overall margin improvement of 4.2%

Achieved targeted five-year

sales goals by year

three

​

Industry: Apparel

​

Situation: Slowing sales growth required revival, but differing stakeholder opinions prevented internal agreement on action plan

​

Impact: Keystone worked closely with management to implement market development and process improvement initiatives, generating desired five-year sales in three years

Increased

revenue by

15%

by shifting to direct-to-consumer model

Industry: Building Products

​

Situation: Company faced sales & margin loss from economic downturn, new low-cost foreign competition, and competition from distributors

​

Impact: Keystone shifted the company to a direct to consumer model, resulting in revenue increase of 15% and improved margins

Discovered

​

four

potential markets

suitable for acquisition

Industry: Steel

​

Situation: Industry-wide market diversification prompted the company to hire Keystone to identify additional revenue streams

​

Impact: Four potential markets and target companies within each were identified for a potential acquisition, providing the company options on where to take the business

Cut setup

times in

half

increasing productive

time by one full crew

Industry: Forging

​

Situation: The business shifted from high volume/low variety to low volume/high variety, revealing setup time issues

​

Impact: Setup times decreased by ~50%, increasing productive time by the equivalent to one full crew; and union/management relationships improved as well 

Rationalized   

 

29%

of SKUs to improve margins in price sensitive environment

Industry: Agricultural Products

​

Situation: Freight costs (as a percentage of sales) were rising as new customers came from parts of country far removed from facilities

​

Impact: Keystone determined location for new facility, rationalized 29% of SKUs, and increased margins by 1.5% in price sensitive market

Restored service

levels to

95%

by successfully

decreasing lead times

Industry: Electronic Toys

​

Situation: Service levels dropped to 83% and management sought to implement supply chain improvement initiatives

​

Impact: Service levels were restored to 95%, SKUs were rationalized by 25%, value stream mapping led to lead time reduction, and inventory decreased by 12%

Increased throughput with 

EBITDA improvement of

680

basis points

​

Industry: Medical Devices

​

Situation: Gross margin decline of 8.4 pts led management to seek a facility assessment to drive key improvement initiatives

​

Impact: Developed scheduling tool to optimize job sequencing / reduce setup times, increased throughput by organizing workflow around value streams, created make-to-stock program that reduced batch size and number of setups

Reduced maintenance

service times by 

40%

​

Industry: Industrial Equipment

​

Situation: Accelerated company growth placed pressure on repairs & maintenance operation to reduce shop turn time

​

Impact: Improved quality and time-to-completion of critical shop instructions led to 40% decrease to turn times

Reduced annual

costs by

$2.5M

through 1% yield 

improvement

Industry: Beverage

​

Situation: Company-wide waste reduction effort included identifying sources of liquid loss in production

​

Impact: Keystone outlined recommendations for improving bottle sampling, decreasing likelihood of large-scale losses, and three other yield improvement initiatives; 1% of total product was recuperated (worth $2.5M in sales).

Industry: Oil Field Equipment

​

Situation: Throughput decline, lost sales, and high manufacturing variances prompted management to seek help in achieving operational improvements

​

Impact: Implemented Lean Manufacturing techniques to level-load facility / increase throughput, re-engineered processes to reduce bottlenecks, improved scheduling system to increase batch sizes and reduce setup time

Improved

throughput by

>14%

in two consecutive quarters,

along with 15% GM increase

​

Seamless 

Day One with

zero

disruptions to

customer orders

Industry: Garage Doors

​

Situation: Company sought to achieve top line strategic objective through acquisition, engaging  Keystone for integration help and synergy capture

​

Impact: Integration went flawlessly; no disruption to order processing, synergies were captured/exceeded on schedule, no unplanned turnover

​

​

Generated

​

2.75x

projected liquidation value through company sale

Industry: Stone

​

Situation: Quality issues led to customer discounts and worsening EBITDA / cash flow for an already highly levered company

​

Impact: Keystone managed cash until bankruptcy sale, the sale generated 2.75x the projected liquidation value, and the bank fully recovered its outstanding debt

Reached

breakeven within

four

months of implementing turnaround initiatives

Industry: Automotive

​

Situation: Sales had decreased by over 30% in three years; the company was in default of its loan covenants and was expected to run out of cash in 60 days

​

Impact: Company reached breakeven within four months of beginning to implement turnaround initiatives

Increased cash

availability

8x

as interim 

CFO and COO

Industry: Steel

​

Situation: An inventory adjustment exposed need for EBITDA improvements and cash forecasting

​

Impact: Keystone took on roles of Interim CFO and COO, availability increased by 8x, direct labor efficiency increased by 12%, DIOH decreased 17%, and management relations stabilized 

Realized operational

cost reductions

25%

greater than

expectation

Industry: Trucking

​

Situation: Increased leverage and economic slowdown prevented the company from generating sufficient EBITDAR to cover debt service

​

Impact: Reduced operating costs by 25% more than originally expected and achieved various favorable changes to credit agreements

Reduced

inventory by

60%

to improve

working capital

Industry: Furniture

​

Situation: Margins and profit had been eroded by a bloated product portfolio, high overhead costs, and growing inventory levels

​

Impact: Product planning led to rationalization of 35% of SKUs  and implementing a robust S&OP process reduced inventory by 60% 

Created integration

playbook for merging

three

companies

simultaneously

Industry: Food

​

Situation: PE firm was evaluating two companies for acquisition and combination with a third (already owned) company

​

Impact: Provided the PE firm with a template for assessing production capacities and evaluating synergies / one-time costs for this deal and  upcoming deals

Seamless 

Day One with

zero

disruptions to

customer orders

Industry: Garage Doors

​

Situation: Company sought to achieve top line strategic objective through acquisition, engaging  Keystone for integration help and synergy capture

​

Impact: Integration went flawlessly; no disruption to order processing, synergies were captured/exceeded on schedule, no unplanned turnover

​

​

Identified procurement synergy opportunities

4x

greater than

initial targets

Industry: Packaging

​

Situation: The company expanded operations to the West by acquiring a business in that region, seeking to generate synergies post-close

​

Impact: Analyzing A/P and PO data, Keystone identified procurement synergy opportunities 4x greater than initial targets

Improved facility

utilization by

25%

through footprint consolidation

Industry: Electronics

​

Situation: Numerous acquisitions left the company with a sub-optimal collection of facilities and redundant capabilities

​

Impact: Shrinking of footprint through plant reconfiguration and facility sales led to facility utilization improvement of 25% and decreased annual operating costs

 Delivered

 

2.7x

Year One

synergy target

Industry: Steel

​

Situation: Tubular Division acquired a competitor to diversify into other markets, engaging Keystone for a fair value assessment, operation continuity, and synergy capture

​

Impact: Synergy targets were exceeded, Day One operations ensued with no disruptions, and key resources were retained