Large US construction aggregate company launches major cost-optimization program

A basic-materials company wanted to avert a takeover and therefore implemented huge cost-optimization measures across sourcing, general and administrative units. The organization wanted help identifying initiatives to realize $100 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). They also needed a platform that could monitor and report on the progress of the initiatives and their impact.

The team implemented Wave to do the following:

• Capture and track the progress of more than 200 initiatives and actions from different functions across the United States
• Instantly generate checklists for the program management office (PMO)
• Monitor the impact from two sets of goals 6 months apart
• Provide off-the-shelf reports for board meetings

The company managed to prevent the takeover by rolling out an aggressive cost-optimization program, which generated $100 million in EBITDA.

Wave helped it achieve this by taking the following steps:

• Providing an aggregating tool for initiatives across different territorial units
• Delivering an overview of the implementation status of initiatives and actions
• Tracking the impact of the initiatives
• Enabling the PMO to have real-time updates on the initiatives and their status
• Providing the “big picture” to allow timely reactions to prevent delays
• Supporting board meetings with key information