PCM has nearly 25 years experience, working with some of Australasia’s largest and most respected organisations in the building products industry.  As part of these engagements, we have worked in a specialist capacity with business units around the world, spanning from SE Asia, China, UK, Europe and the USA.  Our ability to identify the true profit contribution of individual products, customers and market segments, to a granular level of detail, has enabled PCM to identify immediate profit upsides in the vicinity of 2% to 3% of sales turnover. Many of PCMs programs in this sector lead to structured implementation programs that actively engage the sales team to leverage these new-found business insights to secure incremental improvements in :

• Cost to serve
• Product mix
• Pricing and margins
• Share of wallet

PCM’s work in the building products sector has generated significant incremental profitability and business value by :

• Identifying the true Costs To Serve, for specific products and customers, to a transactional level of detail, such as :
  –  Freight when actual order sizes, frequency and drop locations are considered
  –  Warehouse order pick, pack and load
  –  Discounts, rebates, marketing support and other incentives
  –  Cost of returns, warranties and other quality related issues
  –  Double handling, short orders and other avoidable costs
  –  Cost recoveries and recharges
  –  Direct field support
• Using Pricing Optimisation principles to realign discount and rebate tiers, to equate with customer value, growth potential and long term commitment.
• Building diagnostics, supporting analytics and Dashboard Reporting, to identify incremental profit opportunities and track initiatives to capture them.
• Developing Sales Force Effectiveness programs that drive field team behaviours, and enable upside opportunities to be captured at every customer interaction.

PCM has over 25 years hands on experience in the travel and tourism sector, working extensively with airlines, travel agency groups and accommodation providers.  We understand the tight margins that many in this industry work to, and the importance of knowing true costs and accurate KPIs for decision making. Many of PCMs original time-based Cost to Serve models are still used today for staff planning, productivity KPIs and Performance Benchmarking. PCM has also worked closely with many groups to migrate legacy information systems into real time Dashboard Reporting platforms that are capable of highlighting poor staff utilisation and excessive costs, for immediate action. PCM’s work in this sector has assisted many groups – and their members – to grow profitably, even under adverse economic conditions.  Specifically, PCM as leveraged available data by :

• Understanding the true Costs To Serve in a service delivery environment, where the importance of staff utilisation and productivity are often the difference between profit and loss.
• Developing Dashboard Reporting that not only reports location and staff member performance to a granular level, but also enables scenario modelling for planning and business case purposes.
• Defining the gross margins are required, when direct servicing and consumable costs are considered, to generate an acceptable return on investment, under a range of revenue scenarios.

PCM has worked with some of Australia’s best known and most respected financial services organisations, during a period of significant change, not only in the regulatory environment, but also in financial advisory business models – particularly in Fee for Service. Over this time, PCM has worked collaboratively with financial planning groups to align client service tiers with fee structures.  We have worked directly with financial planning practices and their advisors, to not only improve existing profitability, but also introduce policies and systems that grow the long term resale value of the practice.  These include refinements in :

• Advisor and back office staff roles and responsibilities
• Defined service offers by client service tier
• Fee structures that take into account client lifetime value
• Value added service consistent with client needs

PCM’s work in the financial services sector has focused on transforming available data, from multiple sources, into a single correct view of the truth that can be used to define sustainable service offers and fee structures for individual financial planning practices.

PCM has worked extensively in the food and beverage sector for over 25 years, including Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) and major hotel groups. Over this time, a comprehensive range of Performance Benchmarks have been defined and updated, which are applicable to specific venue profiles and operating models. The importance of demand forecasting for staff rostering and lead indicators, in real time, to highlight profit leakage early on, are critical for sustained venue profitability.  PCM has developed a range of analytics and Dashboard Reporting that provide true visibility of cost and profit drivers of venues, to a granular level of detail. Specifically, PCM has worked collaboratively with groups in this sector help build more resilient and sustainable businesses by :

• Aligning financial reporting with actual business operations, based on true Costs To Serve principles, so that business have a much clearer view of controllable costs, at a venue and departmental level, such as :
  –  Staff compliance to scheduled breaks
  –  Minimum hours worked for a given shift
  –  Refunds and credits issued
  –  Stock shrinkage and wastage
  –  Staffing levels relative to transaction volumes
  • Improving product mix and add on sales, to improve profit contributions on a per transaction basis.
  • Applying Pricing Optimisation principles to generate incremental earnings by making relatively small adjustments to menu pricing and combo deals.

PCM has worked extensively in the rural services sector both in Australia and NZ, from rural merchants to meat processing.  We have worked with some of the region’s largest exporters and have a unique understanding of supply chains that engage (farmer) co-operative networks which need to align with business models capable of competing in high competitive world markets. We have adapted our costing and profit optimisation methodology to adapt to variations in climatic conditions, product quality and volatilities in world markets. PCM’s work in rural services has helped our client businesses grow profitability and boost shareholder returns by :

• Understanding the true Costs To Serve of livestock procurement, processing and distribution, thereby providing accurate product costing in highly competitive markets.
• Leveraging operational data to derive plant cost curve relationships that enable operating schedules, planned shut downs and start ups to be optimised.
• Driving product mix optimisation, based on combinations that offer the greatest carcase contribution, based on prevailing pricing.
• Using real-time diagnostics and performance tracking to maximise Field Team Effectiveness, to secure stock and build stronger relationships with farmers and stock agents.

PCM has had significant experience in the construction, mining and infrastructure sectors.  We have worked actively with clients to transform project data into insights that drive proactive decision making – and avoid overruns that often erode contributions of profitable projects. Typically, the impact of one poor performing project can offset the earnings of six to eight profitable projects, and so there is an urgent need to identify and address profit leakage within projects / contracts early in their life cycle. PCM has worked closely with organisations in this sector to :

• Identify and address significant Profit Leakage points for projects throughout their lifecycles, including :
  – Estimation and tender assumptions
  –  Variations in unit cost and resource requirements
  –  Client initiated variations, inclusions and/or scope changes
  –  Failure to comply with agreed policies, contractual terms and/or delegations of authority
• Upgrade monthly project reporting to red flag potential risks, variations in prior forecasts and/or assumptions outside industry benchmarks.
• Provide full transparency of project / contract performance in real time, including consolidation into Executive reporting, lead KPIs, trend and risk reporting.
• Design and build Project Tracking Dashboards, suitable to Executive reporting and in the field, on mobile devices.