Haydock Fabrications

HOW THE CLIMB WENT

Steven Haydock ran a good workshop and a full order book, and couldn’t understand why the bank balance never reflected it. Neil’s Deep Survey found the answer on the quote file: jobs were priced by experience — which meant by what the customer paid last time — with no idea of contribution per machine-hour.

The first quarter built the costing model: every machine given an hourly recovery rate, every live quote run through it. A third of the product lines turned out to be marginal or loss-making, most of them for the biggest customer, who had trained the business into treating him as untouchable.

The hard move came in month seven, workshopped twice in the Boardroom first: a structured re-price for that customer with a genuine walk-away position. He took 60% of the increase and moved two loss-making lines elsewhere — which was the point. Freed capacity went to two new accounts won at properly costed rates.

Two years on, turnover is up modestly, profit has more than doubled, and no customer is over 34% of sales. Steven took his first fortnight’s holiday in nine years; the quote log ran without him.

“I took my first two-week holiday in nine years. The business grew while I was away, which took some getting over.”

— Steven Haydock, Director

Figures client-reported and published with written permission. Results depend on implementation.