Over the course of FY22 and early FY23, Oil-Dri working capex increased by ~$17MM – a 72% increase. There were many factors for the increase – inflated cost of materials, longer material lead-times, and considerable uncertainty in the market. The requirement for cash had becoming highly problematic.

Shawn was assigned the task of helping to drive a substantial reduction in Working Capex for Materials and SMOG. Neither are explicitly within his area of control and responsibility – both are highly cross-functional. Shawn has approached the task aggressively, but methodically. Despite the task clearly not being solely able to be delivered within Procurement on one than one occasion Shawn has said “I’ve been given a goal, I’m going to deliver it.”

Over the past 4 months alone – Material/Supply Inventory is down nearly $3MM. This is approaching a 20% reduction. In addition to driving Material reductions, Shawn continues to drive SMOG which has driven further cash availability. With work already done, we fully expect Material Inventory to continue to decline in the coming months even further.

The work to deliver this Working Capex reduction has required many other people to be involved. However, Shawn’s leadership and passion for the improvement has been instrumental.