One comprehensive view of production, sales and profitability

The challenge

The Setra Group is one of Sweden’s largest producers of eco-certified wood products in pine and spruce for building construction and interiors. They have 800 employees and consists of eight production units in Sweden and six foreign sales companies. Exports account for around 60% of its sales and their main export markets are Europe, China, North Africa, the Middle East and Japan. Total annual sales amounts to SEK 5,9 bn.

In response to changing market conditions, the Setra Group management needed an early warning system to enable rapid identification and response to adverse trends and emerging risks in different areas of the business.  This included a comprehensive overview of the purchase prices of timber, production volumes and the development of inventory, sales prices and sales volumes. As the business results are greatly affected by currency changes, the analysis of exchange rate effects was also of great importance.

"Time can now be devoted to forward-looking analyses and an active dialogue with managers."
‍‍Stefan Lundin, Former Setra Group CFO

The solution

Metapraxis Nordic was commissioned to conduct a project to provide analytical insight to the group management and the sales and production management.  In order to create a holistic view of the total group we created a business model covering financial and production efficiency, including raw material pricing, production efficiency, sales and market development.  At group level, the model includes profitability, cash flow, operating capital development and the results of competitors.

The business model integrates data from many different sources, including data warehouses and financial systems, but also sources of competitor data.  Analytical dashboards populated with this data provide managers with answers to their key questions about the current and likely future performance of the business.