Case Study
Scandinavian Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) Leader Redesigns SIOP and Order-to-Ship to Lift Throughput, Working Capital, and Delivery Performance
100M NOK
Annualized EBITDA Improvement
Strategic Imperative
To deliver an incremental operating profit contribution in excess of 100M NOK annually and cash flow enhancements through increasing daily sales to 12M NOK with 95% linearity; reducing working capital consumption by 250M NOK; and consistently exceeding 95% on-time delivery to the original promise date
Client Background
- Nordic-rooted EMS partner serving industrial, defense, energy, and med-tech sectors with cradle-to-grave electronics solutions
- Order-to-ship performance depended on synchronized demand planning, supply, capacity, kitting, warehousing, engineering, and production execution
- Global footprint included Nordic and North American presence, supporting dual-sourcing resilience and regulated-industry customer proximity
- Rapid post-chip-crisis growth increased the need for tighter SIOP and working-capital discipline
- Leadership targeted higher operating profit, stronger cash flow, sales linearity, and original-promise-date delivery performance
- Improvement opportunity centered on scaling a strong EMS platform while reducing working capital and schedule volatility
Key Issues & Barriers
- Limited 3 to 52-week visibility weakened alignment across demand, supply, and capacity planning
- High WIP and long travel paths constrained flow; kitting accuracy and warehouse slotting were not standardized
- Yield variability and quality escapes created rework loops that disrupted schedules and delayed fulfillment
- Forecast variability and customer expedites disrupted sales linearity, labor absorption, and schedule stability
- Role ambiguity and limited floor coaching reduced daily schedule attainment across front-line operations
Key Implementation Components
- Designed and implemented a SIOP process with a demand-capacity model to drive approximately 95% sales linearity
- Implemented finite scheduling and short-interval control to maintain schedule attainment across production operations
- Launched supplier corrective actions and standardized lead-time tables to stabilize supply performance and planning assumptions
- Implemented inventory reduction levers, including MOQ, lot-size, and reorder-point changes, to reduce working-capital consumption
- Instituted operator feedback loops, clarified position profiles, and created scorecards to strengthen accountability and floor coaching
- Implemented cadence meetings linking financial, supply chain, engineering, and operations targets to cross-functional execution priorities
Benefits & Results
100M NOK
Annualized EBITDA Improvement
98%
On-Time Delivery to Original Promise Date
52%
Engineering Hours Reduction
<18
Work-In-Progress (WIP) Days