Industrial Automation · PE-Backed
Financial architecture from the ground up
PE-Backed Industrial Automation Manufacturer
Data Infrastructure & Operational Analytics for a Platform Build
Industry: Industrial Automation — Robotic Controls, PLCs, Custom Engineered Equipment Sponsor: Lower-Middle-Market PE Firm (Manufacturing & Industrial Focus) End Markets: Automotive, Medical, General Industrial Engagement: ~6 months, completed March 2026
The Problem
When the PE firm placed a COO into this manufacturer, the business had no financial infrastructure. The prior owner had run all job pricing and inventory forecasting in his head. No systems, no dashboards, no structured reporting of any kind.
The COO started building his own Excel models to track labor hours and job-level profitability. The results were immediate: visibility alone drove an additional 5% to the bottom line on a single job. He estimated another 7% was attainable from material cost tracking over time. Both were validated during the engagement.
His position going in: a 1% lift to net profit would more than justify whatever this cost.
The PE firm had acquired this company as the founding entity of a new platform — a buy-and-build thesis in industrial automation across diverse end markets. They needed infrastructure that could support the platform as it scaled, not just a dashboard for a single company.
The Work
I led the engagement end-to-end. A data engineer supported pipeline build and DAX measure development in Power BI. Discovery sessions with the COO produced a formal KPI list and roadmap document that served as the project blueprint — and was later used as a business development reference for replicating the model across the broader portfolio.
GL Data Pipeline
Built a fully automated pipeline from the accounting system through to reporting — no manual exports at any stage.
| Layer | Tool |
|---|---|
| Accounting Source | QuickBooks Online API |
| Automation | Power Automate |
| File Storage | SharePoint (JSON) |
| ETL | Power Query / Dataflows |
| Visualization | Power BI |
| Financial Reporting | Excel |
QBO API pulls GL data as JSON → Power Automate stores to SharePoint → Power Query transforms and loads → outputs feed both Power BI dashboards and Excel financial packages from a single source of truth.
Power BI Dashboard
Operational and financial dashboard covering job-level profitability, labor tracking, and the KPIs surfaced during discovery. Built around what the COO had already proven had impact through his manual tracking — formalizing and automating what he'd been doing by hand.
Quarterly Board Reporting Package
Financial analyses built directly for the PE sponsor's quarterly reviews. Confirmed well-received at the board level.
Phase 2 Scoping: BOM Intelligence & AI-Assisted Job Costing
At engagement close, I scoped a second phase focused on tying purchase invoices, vendor line items, and materials directly to the Bill of Materials — enabling true unit economics visibility at the job level. With enough structured historical data, this becomes the foundation for AI-assisted quoting: surfacing patterns across past jobs to predict cost and margin before a job is priced. The roadmap was delivered to both the COO and the PE sponsor.
Outcomes
Validated margin improvement. The COO's early manual tracking proved out — the 5% bottom-line improvement on labor visibility was confirmed, and the 7% upside from material cost tracking was validated during the engagement. The pipeline made both systematic and ongoing.
Live, self-refreshing reporting. GL data flows continuously from QBO through to Power BI and Excel. No manual exports, no stale data, no intervention required.
Quarterly board reporting backed by structured data. The PE sponsor saw clean, automated deliverables at every review cycle.
Clean handoff. The pipeline was fully operational at engagement close with no ongoing maintenance dependency. The client owns it entirely.
Phase 2 roadmap delivered. BOM intelligence and AI-assisted job costing scoped and documented — a clear next phase whenever the business is ready.
Why It Mattered
This company was acquired as the founding entity of a new manufacturing platform. Every add-on has the same profile: legacy owner-operated business, no data infrastructure, no automated reporting, real margin improvement on the table. The pipeline architecture built here — QBO through Power Automate to Power Query to Power BI and Excel — is directly replicable across the portfolio.
The quarterly reporting use case is also the fastest path into a PE relationship. Build what the portfolio company needs for board prep, and the sponsor sees the output at every review.
One engagement. One PE firm. An entire portfolio of companies that look exactly the same.
Engagement Lead: Michael Cohen Support: Data Engineer (pipeline build, DAX measures) Stack: QuickBooks Online API · Power Automate · SharePoint · Power Query · Dataflows · Power BI · Excel
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