Three Locations, Three Clear Pictures: How Gleco Plating Sees Every Plant's Performance

Company

Gleco Plating, Inc.

Founded

1979 — 47 years

Locations

Rowlett & McAllen, Texas

Operations

Two plating, one paint & powder

Engagement

Fractional CFO alongside in-house bookkeeper

Focus

Location P&Ls, cash, ERP, succession

The Question Every Multi-Location Manufacturer Asks

"We're profitable overall — but how is each plant really doing? And if we're making money, why does cash always feel tight while we grow?"

It's one of the most common questions we hear from manufacturers who have expanded. Adding a location is a sign of success, but most reporting is built for the company that existed when it was set up. The consolidated numbers keep saying the business is healthy, while the detail leaders need to steer each operation — which plant is ramping, which needs attention, where the next dollar should go — stays out of view.

About Gleco Plating

Gleco Plating has been finishing metal since 1979. From plants in Rowlett and McAllen, Texas, it runs 13 plating lines and more than 150 finishing professionals — electroplating, anodizing, passivation, powder coating and industrial paint — to AS9100D, ISO 9001:2015, ITAR and DFARS. Customers include Lockheed Martin and Safran.

Gleco grew quickly, and it grew the way strong manufacturers often do: by adding locations. It expanded to three operations — two plating and one paint and powder coating — and its leadership wanted financials that could keep pace with that ambition, an ERP that matched the scale of the operation, and a clear foundation for handing the business to its third generation.

What the Numbers Revealed

Each location told its own story. With everything rolled into one consolidated picture, a strong plant and a ramping plant averaged into one number. And the two Texas plants serve different markets: Rowlett sits in the DFW industrial and aerospace corridor, McAllen sits on the border serving a different customer base. Different mix, different labor market, different margins — each deserving its own view.

Plating and paint and powder are different businesses. They look adjacent but behave differently on a P&L — different material costs, capital intensity, throughput constraints and rework economics. Measuring them separately gives leadership a far sharper picture of all three.

Profitable every month — and ready to plan for the cash that growth requires.

Growth has a cash cost, and it can be measured. In aerospace, defense and automotive supply, customers are primes and OEMs who pay on their terms. As revenue grows, receivables and work in process grow faster than payables — a plating shop makes weekly payroll for 150 people and buys chemistry long before the invoice it supports is collected. Nothing was wrong with the business. Its growth simply had a funding requirement worth quantifying, so it could be planned for rather than felt.

What We Built Together

1. Financials by location

Each operation now produces its own P&L, with shared and corporate costs allocated on a defensible basis. For the first time, each plant can be judged on its own performance.

2. Separate plating and paint and powder economics

The two processes now report as what they are: distinct businesses with distinct cost structures and margin profiles.

3. A clear view of the cash cost of growth

We modeled how receivables, payables and work in process move together as volume rises, so leadership can see what the next increment of revenue costs in cash before committing to it.

4. An ERP that matches the operation

Gleco had outgrown running QuickBooks alongside a shop-floor system. We helped evaluate the options, choose a fit and implement it — so the office and the plant floor share one version of events.

5. An outside perspective on the big decisions

Decades of experience inside one company run deep. We add a broader reference point from working across many manufacturers: first-hand experience of how other companies have handled the same decisions.

6. A plan for debt and structure

We evaluated the company's debt in the context of where the business is going, and on how the company should be structured to support growth across multiple operations.

7. Building on their bookkeeper, not replacing them

Gleco had a capable in-house bookkeeper who holds a great deal of institutional knowledge. The bookkeeper still owns the day-to-day; we layer the close and the CFO function on top.

8. A dependable month-end close and the CFO seat

A defined close producing consistent statements on a schedule — plus the interpretation that turns them into decisions.

9. Structure for succession

As the business prepares for its next generation of ownership, we model what a transition could look like — attaching numbers to the alternatives and giving the process structure.

The Results

• Three operations, three clear pictures. Investment, pricing and capacity decisions are made with each plant's own economics in view.
• Growth with a plan. The cash cost of expansion is known in advance and planned for.
• One system of record. The ERP gives the office and the plant floor the same numbers.
• Continuity protected. The day-to-day accounting stayed with the person who already knew the business.
• A business ready to hand over. Location-level reporting, a real ERP and a documented close are management tools — and they are also what makes a company transferable to the next generation.

Over time, the relationship grew beyond the statements and the close. Today Accounovation serves as a trusted second opinion on debt, structure, where to grow, and how to prepare a 47-year-old business for its next generation.

What This Means for Your Business

If you've added locations, ask whether your reporting has grown with you. Location-level financials let you see each operation clearly and invest where the returns are strongest.

If cash feels tighter than profit suggests while you're growing, that's normal — growth consumes working capital by design. The advantage comes from measuring it before the next expansion, so it's a plan rather than a surprise.

And bringing in outside financial expertise doesn't mean replacing your existing team. The strongest structure usually keeps what works and adds the missing layer on top.