making a difference
MARKETING
CASE STUDIES
CASE
STUDIES
Identified markets for entry with potential to generate
2X
current
annual revenue
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
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
CASE
STUDIES
Cut setup
times in
half
increasing productive
time by one full crew
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%
Reduced maintenance
service times by
40%
​
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).
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
Improved
throughput by
>14%
in two consecutive quarters,
along with 15% GM increase
​
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
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
​
​
CASE
STUDIES
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
Increased cash
availability
8x
as interim
CFO and COO
Realized operational
cost reductions
25%
greater than
expectation
Reduced
inventory by
60%
to improve
working capital
CASE
STUDIES
Created integration
playbook for merging
three
companies
simultaneously
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
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
