Merlot Vango Tarping Solutions
Opportunity Overview
Starting with the shop floor, Continuim bolsters Merlot’s coverage of the rolling tarp market
Merlot Vango Tarping Solutions is a designer, manufacturer, and supplier of custom rolling tarping systems, replacement parts, and repair services for the commercial trucking industry. Merlot’s high-quality, durable product and the ease of use of the system drove significant demand for its systems. Continuim’s Operational Playbook was an ideal fit to help reduce lead times and accelerate growth by fulfilling on that demand.
EDGE
Continuim’s EDGE for Merlot Vango
1
Lean
Processes
Working together with Merlot’s entire employee base, hosted Kaizen events and re-imagined the shop floor to increase efficiency and throughput. In addition, supported capital investments to further enhance efficiency and production flows.
2
Go-To-Market Strategy
With newfound production capacity and reduced lead times, attracted new dealers and supplemented the Company’s direct customer relationships. Strategic sourcing initiatives also helped reinforce primary sources of supply and enhanced Merlot’s margin profile.
3
People, Culture, Environment, and Systems
Continuim built around the existing management team and provided additional resources to help achieve Merlot’s growth objectives. Enhanced back-end systems and processes provided improved visibility for decision making.
4
Strategic
M&A
Explored numerous acquisition possibilities, but ultimately decided to prioritize organic growth initiatives.
Outcome
We believe the implementation of Continuim’s Operational Playbook allowed Merlot Vango Tarping Solutions to more than double production capacity, expand and diversify its customer base, and ultimately led to a successful realization in August, 2023.
