Tag

cash conversion

2 insights

Bullet bars showing inventory-to-shipments ratios in June 2026: food products at 0.82, paper products at 1.08, nondurable goods at 1.12, and beverage and tobacco at 1.89, each measured against the all-manufacturing benchmark of 1.48.

Food Manufacturing Already Runs the Leanest Inventory in Manufacturing. The Next Dollar Is Somewhere Else.

Food products carry an inventory-to-shipments ratio of 0.82 against 1.48 for manufacturing overall. The inventory savings are already taken, so the remaining working capital sits in the order-to-cash cycle, not on the floor.
Consumer Packaged GoodsBusiness Case & ROI
View Insight
A curve showing days of shipments held as inventory rising with the inventory-to-shipments ratio, marked at food products with 0.82 and 25 days, paper products at 1.08 and 33 days, and beverage and tobacco at 1.89 and 57 days.

Food Manufacturers Carry 25 Days of Shipments as Inventory. Beverage Carries 57.

Inventory-to-shipments ratios of 0.82 for food and 1.89 for beverage and tobacco translate into very different working capital positions. The ratio is a cash number that most operations only read as a volume number.
Consumer Packaged GoodsBusiness Case & ROI
View Insight
Keep reading

More from CXO Insights

Selected writing from the practice.

Start with the process that costs you most.

A conversation first. A structured assessment when it earns one. Or see what a discovery finds before you book anything.

Book a discovery call → See what a discovery finds