Quality of Operations™ Due Diligence and Food Safety Assessment Identified Key Short-Term Actions to Support 5-Year Growth Plans

A producer of food products that focus on healthy fats and plant-based proteins.

The Challenge

A private equity firm was evaluating the acquisition of producer of food products that focus on healthy fats and plant-based proteins. The firm brought us in to evaluate overall operations strategy, quality and food safety, co-manufacturer production operations, SIOP, and sourcing and procurement.

Our Approach

During the diligence, we performed functional assessments via site visits, detailed interviews with key staff members, and in-depth data analysis. Through this process and analysis of data provided by the company, we:

• Toured the U.S. headquarters and distribution center and conducted management interviews focused on analyzing supply chain, planning, purchasing, inventory, and logistics
• Toured two (2) co-manufacturing facilities located in Mexico to assess capabilities, operational maturity, capacity, utilization, and production equipment
• Benchmarked manufacturing, SIOP, and food safety assessments against best-in-class facilities
• Conducted high-level inventory analysis to identify potential inventory improvement initiatives

The Results

We identified capacity shortages across the supply chain and identified future initiatives to create capacity for supply, storage, and bottling production. The following were found necessary to support a 5-year growth plan:

• Though current storage, refining, and bottling capacity were greater than existing demand, investment in all 3 areas
• Supply chain constraint at Mexican supplier was identified to hit max capacity within 2 years
• Proactively dual sourcing and targeting a volume split with the existing supplier
• Adding tanks, building a new refining train with newer energy-efficient technology, and adding an automated spray can bottling line
• Ensuring documentation at the corporate level and compliance across the warehousing and importation functions

In addition, future state recommendations were made to separate the refining process from the bottling plant to lower risk.