Custom manufacturers face unique challenges. Every order can be different, customer requirements frequently change, and long lead-time materials often must be secured well before production begins. Without clear visibility into future demand and material requirements, it becomes increasingly difficult to support growth while maintaining customer service, operational performance, and profitability. 

This was the challenge facing a growing custom manufacturer. As demand increased and complexity expanded across the business, leadership recognized the need for better visibility, stronger planning processes, and improved alignment throughout the supply chain.

Partnering with LMA Consulting Group, the company leveraged configurator (CTO) functionality, improved supplier coordination, and optimized its supply chain network to strengthen planning and decision-making capabilities. The results were significant: supplier lead times were reduced by more than 60%, inventory was reduced by more than 20%, and the organization built a stronger foundation for profitable growth.

The Challenge: Growth Was Increasing Complexity

As the company expanded, complexity increased across the organization. Customer requirements changed frequently, long-lead-time materials required advanced planning, and decision-makers lacked sufficient visibility into future demand.

The company needed to:

  • Improve visibility into future customer requirements
  • Better coordinate planning activities across the organization
  • Improve material availability
  • Reduce lead times
  • Optimize inventory investments
  • Support customer commitments
  • Position the business for continued growth

Leadership recognized that stronger planning processes and greater alignment between sales, supply chain, operations, and suppliers would be critical to success.

Leveraging Configurator Functionality for Better Visibility

A key component of the engagement involved improving the use of configurator (CTO) functionality to provide greater visibility into future demand and product requirements. By leveraging existing ERP system capabilities more effectively, the company gained insight into what was coming down the pike, allowing teams to:

  • Anticipate customer requirements earlier
  • Improve planning accuracy
  • Better understand future material needs
  • Make more proactive business decisions
  • Improve coordination across departments

The enhanced visibility helped reduce reactive decision-making and gave leadership greater confidence in planning future requirements.

Improving Alignment with a Critical Sister-Company Supplier

Another important focus area involved improving the flow of materials from a sister company that supplied key components and materials. Historically, limited visibility into future requirements made it difficult to coordinate production and material flows efficiently. LMA worked with both organizations to create a shared understanding of upcoming demand, inventory requirements, and production priorities.

The improved alignment enabled the organizations to:

  • Better coordinate planning activities
  • Improve material availability
  • Reduce supply chain friction
  • Improve responsiveness to changing customer demand
  • Support production requirements more effectively
  • Dramatically reduce inventory levels while keeping high service levels intact

As visibility improved and planning became more proactive, lead times from the sister-company supplier were reduced by 60%. 

Optimizing the Supply Chain Network

The engagement also included a supply chain network analysis to evaluate how products, materials, and inventory flowed through the organization. The objective was to optimize costs while continuing to meet customer service expectations.

Through the analysis, the company identified opportunities to:

  • Improve inventory positioning
  • Reduce excess inventory
  • Improve operational efficiency
  • Better align resources with customer demand
  • Strengthen overall supply chain performance

The network evaluation provided valuable insights that supported both operational improvements and future growth objectives.

Reducing Inventory While Improving Responsiveness

Many organizations assume they must increase inventory to improve customer responsiveness. This company achieved the opposite result. By improving visibility into future demand, leveraging configurator functionality more effectively, strengthening supplier coordination, and optimizing inventory positioning throughout the network, the company significantly reduced inventory while improving service capabilities. The initiative resulted in an inventory reduction of more than 20% while simultaneously improving responsiveness and reducing lead times.

Rather than carrying inventory to compensate for uncertainty, the organization gained the visibility and planning discipline needed to make more informed inventory decisions. The result was lower working capital requirements, improved operational efficiency, and a more agile supply chain.

Creating a Foundation for Scalable Growth

As companies grow, complexity often increases faster than processes and systems can keep pace. The result can be material shortages, inventory imbalances, reactive decision-making, and challenges meeting customer commitments. By connecting sales, supply chain, operations, supplier planning, and network strategy with a SIOP (Sales Inventory Operations Planning) type process, the company created the visibility and alignment needed to support growth more effectively. Leadership gained greater confidence in future planning, improved decision-making capabilities, and a stronger operational foundation capable of supporting continued expansion.

The Results

Through its partnership with LMA Consulting Group, the company achieved meaningful business improvements:

  • Reduced lead times by more than 60%
  • Reduced inventory by more than 20%
  • Improved visibility into future demand and product requirements
  • Better alignment between sales, supply chain, operations, and supplier planning
  • Improved material availability
  • More proactive planning and decision-making
  • Optimized inventory positioning across the supply chain network
  • Improved responsiveness to customer requirements
  • Increased operational efficiency
  • Created a stronger foundation for scalable growth

Most importantly, the organization gained the visibility, alignment, and supply chain capabilities needed to support growth while improving working capital performance and customer responsiveness.

Building Visibility for Future Success

For custom manufacturers, growth depends on more than production capacity. It requires visibility, alignment, and the ability to anticipate future requirements before they become operational challenges. By improving planning processes, leveraging configurator functionality more effectively, strengthening supplier coordination, and optimizing its supply chain network, this manufacturer transformed the way it plans and executes operations. The result was a more responsive, efficient, and scalable organization—one capable of supporting customers, reducing working capital requirements, and positioning itself for long-term success.

 

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Published: May 18, 2011 | Updated: April 29, 2026