Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Procurement Success Study

Cash Is King – The 30-Day Liquidity Sprint

In a capital-intensive environment, liquidity had to be strengthened quickly: significant liquidity was released in just 4 weeks – without putting the supply chain at risk.

Customer

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering

500M - 1B Annual Turnover

500 - 1.000 Employees

The Challenge

In a capital-intensive manufacturing environment, cash is king. Our client faced the challenge of strengthening its liquidity position quickly and substantially — without disrupting the supply chain or damaging long-term supplier relationships.

Our Approach

We stood up a “Fast Cash” taskforce focused on precise negotiation and strict process discipline, built on three pillars:

  1. Strategic Renegotiation: Targeted engagement with the top 20% of suppliers by purchasing volume to align payment terms with industry benchmarks (e.g., shifting from 30 to 60 days).
  2. Financial Auditing: Conducted rigorous invoice auditing to consistently eliminate cash outflows from early payments and payment-process errors.
  3. NWC Optimization: Defined and embedded net working capital (NWC) effects into procurement’s standard KPI set.

Results

< 4 weeks

Cash effect

Generated significant liquidity through optimized contractual payment terms.

Accelerated

workflows

Standardized invoice-to-pay workflows to ensure payment terms are strictly honored by both sides.

Lasting

resilience

Improved the cash conversion cycle, giving the client the headroom to reinvest in production as well as research & development (R&D).