
Automotive Parts Manufacturer: $4.9M Released From a $52MM Business
Client situation
A $52MM automotive parts manufacturer was profitable on paper but persistently short of cash. Inventory kept growing faster than revenue, and every department could defend its own numbers.
What Seniors saw
Purchasing was buying ahead to capture volume pricing, planning was buffering forecast error with safety stock, and receivables had quietly drifted beyond agreed terms. Each decision was locally rational. Together they were holding millions hostage.
What Discovery found
In seven days, working from standard ERP extracts and financials, Discovery quantified $6.2M of Trapped Cash across receivables and inventory levers, each one traced to its specific cross-functional cause.
What Finance validated
The client's own CFO reviewed and signed off on every line: the assumptions, the baselines and the math, before leadership saw the final number.
What Realization did
Working through the client's team, Realization corrected the safety-stock logic, restructured buy-ahead purchasing rules, tightened invoicing discipline and re-anchored collection terms.
The result
$4.9M of cash released in 90 days, 79% of the identified opportunity, with service levels maintained throughout.
What happened next
The released cash funded the plant's next round of process improvements without a capital request. The finance team now tracks the working capital drivers monthly.


