The Margin Brief
Frameworks, data, and field-tested analysis for manufacturing leaders who manage by the numbers — not by gut feel.
What we write about
Every piece comes out of a live engagement or the benchmark data behind the ADEXMA Score. No trend commentary, no reheated whitepapers.
Tariffs and cost pass-through
How to quantify tariff exposure by SKU and lane, and what a defensible surcharge looks like when procurement volatility and price governance have to move together.
Pocket price and off-invoice leakage
Most manufacturers give away several points of invoice price below the line — rebates, freight terms, payment discounts, one-off concessions. Finding it, then closing it.
Inventory that only looks like safety
Excess stock carried under the label of safety stock is the most common capital drain we see in mid-market industrials. Service level, forecast bias, and lead-time variance, taken apart.
Quoting and win-rate discipline
The gap between top and bottom quoting teams is rarely effort — it is process: response time, configuration rules, and who is allowed to say yes to what.
Discount governance
High-volume reps often concede the most margin, because they can. Guardrail frameworks that stop the bleed without killing deals.
The PE first hundred days
Operating partners reach for revenue synergies. The faster, more certain win after close is almost always margin: pricing, procurement, and commercial leakage.
Read the data yourself
The intelligence behind the Brief is published live. Start here.
Margin Squeeze Index™
The monthly read on which industries are absorbing cost-price compression and which are holding ground.
See the indexMarket dashboard
Commodities, tariffs, currency, and the macro indicators that move mid-market margins — tracked in one place.
Open the dashboardThe free Margin Scan
Fifteen minutes across sales, pricing, and supply chain. Returns your ADEXMA Score, benchmarked against 1,231 scored companies.
Run the ScanThe Monthly Margin Brief
One brief a month. Market data, margin trends, and one framework you can put to work the same week. No mailing list, no drip sequence — ask and a real person sends you the latest edition.