How a Major U.S. Manufacturer Bounced Back Using C2FO

The flexibility and speed of the C2FO platform enabled a Fortune 100 manufacturer to launch an early payment program for suppliers in less than six weeks. 

The call came on April 8, when much of the United States economy was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A major U.S. manufacturer with more than $140 billion in revenue and thousands of suppliers needed funding quickly in order to reboot production across its supply chain after a temporary shutdown. The Fortune 100 company wanted to offer early payment to help its critical suppliers address their liquidity challenges, but it lacked cash to accelerate supplier invoices. The company had no supply chain finance programs, and its credit rating made it difficult to secure traditional funding from banks during an economic crisis.   

The looming pandemic and the cash crunch experienced across the manufacturer’s supply chain made speed and resourcefulness critical to all parties involved.

Fortunately, C2FO was up to the challenge. 

“It is incredibly rewarding to be a part of the support system providing liquidity to critical suppliers as they help re-ramp production for this iconic U.S manufacturer,” said Jordan Novak, SVP of Market Innovation for C2FO. “Our ability to go from our first conversation to first funding within six weeks was amazing to witness. Our organization marshaled itself in an unprecedented manner — especially during COVID-19 and while working to establish our new normal.” 

The C2FO solution in action

In less than six weeks, C2FO launched a customized Dynamic Supplier Finance (DSF) program, enabling the manufacturer and its suppliers to access capital in a number of different ways. A key advantage of DSF is that it enables companies to instantly toggle between their own balance sheets and third-party funders to accelerate payments to suppliers, providing greater control over how and when invoices are funded. 

Despite being in the middle of an economic shutdown, C2FO and its global funding network were able to secure a diversified set of funding sources to support the new program, which enabled suppliers to receive early payment on all of their invoices from the manufacturer at a predetermined, competitive rate. The straightforward, easy-to-use DSF program can get liquidity in the hands of participating suppliers in as little as 24 hours, helping them to quickly ramp up production. Signing up for the program requires only a few mouse clicks on the C2FO platform. 

“In most cases, supplier finance can be a long, convoluted process that includes navigating bank covenants, lien filings and other arduous paperwork,” Novak said. “The DSF process eliminates those traditional hurdles, so this program gets working capital into the hands of any supplier — large or small — that needs it, with just a few clicks.”   

As more suppliers continue to participate in the early payment program facilitated by DSF, the manufacturer plans to significantly expand the program to more of its suppliers worldwide, all on a single platform through C2FO.

The need for speed 

The flexibility of DSF helped the large manufacturer get its supply chain up and running again without leveraging the company’s cash or relying on a bank line of credit. Speed was another vital factor in the program’s success. While traditional supply chain finance programs can often take months to set up, the DSF program required less than six weeks, launching in the last week of May. 

To learn more about how the funding solutions on the C2FO platform might benefit your business, read our article, What is Dynamic Supplier Finance?