Fractional CFO for Manufacturing Companies

Your P&L shows a profit. Your bank account says otherwise. I find where the cash goes and fix it.

Book 30 Minutes with a Manufacturing CFO

Free, directly with me. No obligation.

Rafael Safiullin, manufacturing CFO, on a plant floor
15+
years in manufacturing finance
$2M–$10M
revenue of the manufacturers I work with
50+
projects delivered: growth, crisis, turnaround
The problem

Where manufacturing cash actually goes

There's no line in your books called “where the cash went.” So it keeps happening.

Case results

Recent results

$110K of cash freed in 3 months

Challenge

A $3M machine shop. Full order book, profit on paper, and payroll covered at the last minute every month.

What we did

  • One diagnostic pass in the first weeks: where cash sits, payment terms on both sides, receivables, inventory.
  • First $35K back by week 3: overdue receivables collected, non-essential spending stopped.
  • Then the process work: payment terms rebuilt, slow-moving inventory cut, a 13-week cash forecast in place.
Results

$110K of cash freed in 3 months. The credit line came down and stayed down.

Details anonymized. The results are real.

14 months of losses. Stopped in 5.

Challenge

A $4M plant losing money for over a year. Everyone saw the losses; nobody could point to the line where the money left.

What we did

  • Cash first: overdue receivables collected, inventory brought down to the production plan, prepayments reduced.
  • Overhead brought in line with the plant's real margin and volume, not its old structure.
  • The product portfolio reviewed line by line. The loss-making lines went.
Results

The plant stopped losing money in month 5. Profit came back gradually from there.

Details anonymized. The results are real.

A newly bought business: 7% more cash in 4 months

Challenge

He had just bought a $3M manufacturing business, sold to him as profitable. 4 months in: no pay for himself, late supplier payments, layoffs on the table.

What we did

  • The books were rebuilt first. Once the picture was clean, the real source surfaced fast.
  • It was not costs: new equipment was being paid for out of everyday cash, and old receivables sat uncollected.
  • A clear action plan. The owner executed it himself.
Results

7% more cash within 4 months. Payment delays ended. Not a single job cut.

Details anonymized. The results are real.

The process

Here's How This Works

  1. 1

    Book a 30-minute call. Nothing to prepare.

  2. 2

    You tell me what's going on. I ask the questions I ask every manufacturing owner, and tell you what I see: where cash most likely leaks and what to check first. Most businesses have 15 problems on paper. 2–3 matter.

  3. 3

    You leave with a first clear read on where cash is leaking and what to tackle first. If it makes sense to go further together, I'll say so. If not, I'll say that too.

Working together

What working together looks like

If we decide to work together after the call, here is what that usually looks like.

  1. 1

    A paid audit of your cash and profit. Fixed price, agreed up front. I go into your numbers and come back with where cash and profit leak, and the two or three levers that will move them.

  2. 2

    Then you choose how to run them. Take the plan and execute it with your own team. Or keep me alongside as your fractional CFO: the decisions a CFO makes, a few days a month, flat fee.

Rafael Safiullin on a plant floor

I'm Rafael Safiullin

15+ years running manufacturing finance. I launched new plants to profitability and brought loss-making sites back into the black.

Now I do that work for manufacturing owners as their fractional CFO.

FAQ

Questions owners ask

What happens on the call?

You talk, I ask. A rough sense of your monthly numbers is all you need. You get my honest read on where cash is leaking and whether I can help. Everything you share stays between us.

What does it cost?

The call is free. If we decide to work together after, the fee is fixed and agreed before anything starts: monthly, weekly, or per project. Sometimes a few hours is all it takes.

We're not big enough for a CFO.

If you're running $2M to $10M, you're exactly who this is for. You don't need a full-time CFO. You need the decisions a CFO makes, a few days a month. The execution usually stays with your team and your bookkeeper; my job is that the right calls get made.

I already have an accountant.

Good. Keep them. Your accountant tells you what already happened and keeps you compliant. I work on what happens next: cash, margins, and the decisions ahead. We work together, not instead of each other.

Do you work remotely?

Yes. Calls and reporting fit around your schedule.

Prefer to start by email?

Write me at rafael.s@safeo-advisory.com. I reply within one business day.

“None of it was obvious to us. We were stressed and spinning our wheels. It came down to a few simple things, and we got the result.”

— Arthur D., owner of a $3M manufacturer

Prefer to start by email?
rafael.s@safeo-advisory.com

Book 30 Minutes with a Manufacturing CFO