Results
This aerospace logistics supplier was competing in a crowded global market as a component (commodity) supplier. As a consequence, it was often drawn into race-to-the-bottom competition on price per item. Over the previous years, Pattonair’s offering had evolved to become far more focused on service, to the point that the firm was now an authentic 4PL supplier partner. That shift in the business model delivered a number of benefits to the company, such as cash injection, balance sheet strengthening and overhead reduction, among others. However, despite Pattonair’s ‘commodity’ now being the outputs of its value-add services, it was not being sold proactively, identified instead merely as a side effect of flexible delivery strategies to meet client needs. We helped the company see the commercial and strategic value of the new model and showed them how they could promote it actively to the market. In the process, we demonstrated how this would differentiate Pattonair from competitors and replace the focus on price by positioning them as supply chain partners. Our work helped Pattonair secure a merger with WesCo, a competitor that dominated the North American market. Even though the firm was less than half the size of WesCo, its innovation and advanced service offering was used to ensure Pattonair leads the management structure of the post-merger entity (now Incora) – from CEO down.