← All case studies

United States · Private Equity Portfolio · Industrial Manufacturing

Spare-Parts Pricing Optimisation

PE-Owned Manufacturer of Access Equipment, US Installed Base

~85%

Of the installed base in the US, where pricing control is weakest

70%

Of US spare-parts revenue is dealer-driven

~40%

HQ-to-US transfer margin, repriced to market

10–14 wk

Diagnostic to implementation-ready, typical

The challenge

Spare parts are a high-margin pool, but pricing was misaligned with the market. A fixed transfer margin from HQ to the US business, cost-plus pricing to final customers with little market anchoring, and roughly seventy percent of revenue flowing through dealers left prices uncompetitive and margin on the table. Pricing ran on static lists with no segmentation.

Our approach

A diagnostic of price dispersion, discount leakage and SKU profitability. A value-based framework built on part criticality, availability and willingness to pay. Dealer and transfer-pricing governance. Then implementation: pricing tools and dashboards embedded in the CRM and ERP, with the sales team trained to run it.

Proven before

The method is drawn from delivered pricing transformations: a lifecycle-based parts-pricing framework for a Fortune 500 engine manufacturer, a value-led pricing overhaul for a roughly 330 million dollar manufacturer, and a tender-pricing recommendation tool with margin dashboards for a Power Systems division.

The approach, visualised

From cost-plus habit to value-based pricing

A diagnostic-led path that ends embedded in the CRM and ERP the team already uses, not in a slide deck.

1 · Diagnostic

Price dispersion across the installed base

Discount leakage versus list

SKU-level profitability

→

2 · Value-based framework

Cost-plus

Market floor

Value corridor

Critical premium

Corridors set by part criticality, availability and willingness to pay. Benchmarked against the competitive set where data allows.

→

3 · Governance

Dealer pricing discipline, 70% of revenue

HQ transfer margin repriced to market

Discount-waterfall controls

→

4 · Embedded implementation

Pricing tools and dashboards in the CRM and ERP

Sales team trained to run it

Adoption tracked, not assumed

Typical path: 10 to 14 weeks from diagnostic to implementation-ready.

Read the complete case study

Full methodology, the diagnostic-to-implementation approach, the pricing tooling we build and embed, and how we have delivered it before.

Where the margin hides in aftermarket pricing

In PE-owned manufacturers, spare parts and aftermarket are often the highest-margin pool in the business, and the least actively priced. Cost-plus formulas, a fixed transfer margin between entities, and a heavy reliance on dealers leave prices set by habit rather than by what a part is worth to the customer. Static price lists in the CRM and ERP make segmentation and willingness-to-pay logic impossible to apply at scale.

In aftermarket parts, the recoverable margin is rarely a list-price problem. It sits in the gap between what a critical part is worth to a customer whose equipment is down and what a cost-plus formula happens to charge.

The approach that works is to price on value, not cost: segment parts by criticality, availability and substitutability, segment customers by willingness to pay, and benchmark against the competitive set where data allows. Discount and dealer governance keeps the discipline once list prices are right, and the new logic is built into the systems the team already uses, so it survives after we leave. We work alongside the commercial team rather than handing over a model, so adoption is built in from the start.

Custom Tooling Built

Tools that stayed in use after the engagement closed

Value-based price-setting tool: dynamic list prices by part criticality, availability and customer segment
Price-dispersion and discount-waterfall analytics that surface margin leakage versus list
Monitoring dashboards tracking price realisation, win rate, margin and adoption

AI-Ready Use Cases

How AI applies to this type of engagement

AI-assisted SKU clustering groups parts by lifecycle, criticality and competitive intensity across years of transaction data in days rather than weeks
Willingness-to-pay modelling by segment proposes value-based price corridors per part and channel
Competitive price sensing and a tender or quote recommendation engine guide sales teams on opportunity-level pricing

Other PE commercial transformations

Industrial Manufacturing · Pricing

Pricing Transformation · PE-Backed Specialty Films Manufacturer

€3.9m pricing opportunity captured · 14 regional teams

Consumer Healthcare · Margin

Gross-to-Net Optimisation · Consumer Healthcare Business

+5–7pp gross margin recovered, EU-wide rollout

Industrial Manufacturing · Segmentation

Agent Segmentation · Global Industrial Casting Manufacturer

€7m additional sales, first 6 months · 50+ markets

Facing a pricing challenge in a portfolio company?

We have delivered pricing transformation across manufacturing, distribution and B2B services, with references available on request.