In early 2023, Miles Arnone, cofounder and CEO of Re:Build Manufacturing (Re:Build), a reimagined conglomerate model, was facing pressing organizational challenges. Re:Build, a collection of companies with unique and innovative engineering and manufacturing capabilities that worked together when needed to meet a customer’s needs, was experiencing growing pains. First, when Re:Build companies collaborated on a program, it was unclear which of the businesses had ultimate ownership of the deliverables and the client relationship, resulting in a lack of accountability internally and a sense among customers that their work wasn’t being overseen in a coherent or efficient manner. Furthermore, Re:Build’s commercialization capabilities were lacking, even as it was attracting larger, more complex, and longer-term projects. And finally, Re:Build had an opportunity to invest in what would be its first full-scale manufacturing facility, which would reassure potential customers that Re:Build could handle their large-scale production needs, but Re:Build did not yet have firm contracts to fill the facility and there were many uncertainties around rehabilitation of the site and supply-chain issues.
At the Darden School of Business, this field-based case is taught in an “Operations Strategy” elective. It could also be used in a strategy course exploring mergers and acquisitions.
