I'm an experienced manufacturing and supply chain consultant working mainly on post-merger projects; overhead reduction, capacity utilisation, logistics synergies etc. I realise that this is a consulting forum but I've seen enough PE stuff on here to think these are reasonable questions..1. Do PE firms employ supply chain people who can calculate/summarise operational benefits / supply chain synergies as an important input to their decisions?2. If so, at what level are these calculations made? - is it ball-park stuff or very detailed 'deal breaking' level? (I know it will depend on sector etc..). i.e. how much is 'strategic fit' and how much is 'operational synergy'?3. If PE firms employ the likes of me, what's the 'in'? I've done the usual web research etc but it seems to be almost a 'secret society'. I would really like to get into pre-merger and/or pre-investment advice work in the maunfacturing and supply chain areas, any pointers would be much appreciated.Many Thanks

Can't really see it myself.Sure it's a question that PE firms will ask as part of their DD, but to employ someone purely to do this seems a bit of an extravagance. They just employ a consulting firm that is good at DD as and when they need one. I have done at least one CDD for a logistics firm, and we looked at the supply chain, but not to the degree of detail that you seem to be alluding to.Personally, I would imagine it's far more interesting to join the acquired firm (with share options) and to actually do it, rather than just examining whether someone else might be able to do it

Thanks for the quick response DI've done the 'aquired' bit - without share options, unfortunately.. from what you say the place to look is the transactions practices of consultancies? (I've worked for a SC practice of a 'big 4' and this didn't give me the pre-investment/opportunity appraisal stuff i was looking for). Cheers