Mock-up of a strategy paper titled 'From Insights to Impact' featuring a businessperson holding a transparent tablet with analytics icons over a blue background, highlighting how to convert data insights into measurable impact for consulting clients.
Cash Flow Optimisation
10.06.2025 | Strategy Paper

Rethink Net Working Capital

Unlock cash and enhance resilience

Discover how strategic management of Net Working Capital can liberate cash flow and boost your business’s competitive advantage in a challenging environment.

WHY IT’S TIME TO RETHINK NET WORKING CAPITAL

NWC used to be treated as a financial KPI. Today, it’s much more: It reflects how well a business can react to change, balance liquidity and keep operations running smoothly even under pressure.But while the levers are well known (reduce inventory, accelerate receivables, extend payables), few companies achieve sustainable success. Too often, processes are siloed, data is unreliable, and inventory is seen as a safety net instead of what it really is: tied-up capital.

 

WHAT YOU’LL FIND IN THE STRATEGY PAPER

In this paper, we share how leading companies achieve 15–30% working capital improvements within just 6 to 12 months not by working harder, but by working smarter. We combine hands-on project experience with advanced analytics and a proven approach to help you:

  • break internal silos,
  • create transparency with the right tools and data,
  • and build routines that stick.

From strategic process redesign to cultural change, we outline a clear roadmap to embed NWC excellence into your daily business.

 

5 KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Process Excellence: Align planning and processes across teams and make NWC part of day-to-day decisions
  • Data Enablement: Build a reliable, real-time data foundation for better forecasting, faster decisions and predictive control
  • Cross-Functional Alignment: Break silos between procurement, sales, finance and supply chain and optimise working capital end-to-end
  • Operational Governance: Turn S&OP into a control hub for NWC with defined KPIs, dashboards and escalation routines
  • Cultural Shift: Change the way teams think about inventory and liquidity by embedding ownership into leadership and operations

DOWNLOAD OUR PAPER HERE

CONTACT OUR EXPERTS

Sandra Stoll

Partner
With over 25 years of experience, Sandra leads H&Z’s Industrial Goods industry driving measurable performance improvement in engineering-driven manufacturing organisations.
Sandra Stoll

Dr. Markus Contzen

Partner
Markus leads H&Z’s Private Equity industry with over 20 years of experience across the full investment lifecycle driving measurable value creation. As a Partner, he also supports H&Z’s focus on Operational Excellence.
Dr. Markus Contzen

Bernhard Düngler

Senior Project Manager
Bernhard specialises in Operational Excellence and has deep expertise in Operations and Supply Chain Management. He develops practical solutions for complex challenges while optimising operational processes across all levels.
Bernhard Düngler

Julian Heurich

Senior Consultant
Julian Heurich

Jan Weitzel

Consultant
Jan Weitzel

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