The Hidden Gold in Your Overlooked Contracts: How Re-Scoping Non-Core Services Can Instantly Boost Manufacturing Profitability

Profitability sometimes requires looking at “the invisible” with different eyes.

Introduction: The Cost You Don’t See Is the Cost That’s Killing You

Every manufacturing leader knows how to cut waste on the production floor: lean practices, preventive maintenance, and efficient scheduling are second nature.

But what about the waste that hides in plain sight?

The kind that sits quietly in your monthly vendor invoices.

From janitorial and security to landscaping and IT support, many service contracts are scoped for “comfort” instead of “efficiency.” Over time, these agreements compound into hundreds of thousands of dollars in unnecessary spend.

The good news?

You can reclaim that money (fast) without layoffs, disruptions, or sacrificing quality.

This approach is called re-scoping services: adjusting what you buy, when you buy it, and how much of it you actually need.

Below are five real-world examples showing how a small shift in scope can create meaningful savings and immediate cash flow improvement.

1. Cleaning Services: The 5-Day Habit That Costs You 40% Too Much

Most manufacturing offices are cleaned every single day.

A habit inherited from pre-pandemic times when offices were always full.

Today, that frequency is rarely necessary.

If your office runs at 50% - 60% daily occupancy, shifting to two or three cleaning days per week maintains hygiene standards while reducing cost by up to 40% annually.

Critical areas like restrooms and cafeterias can remain on daily rotation, while desks and meeting rooms follow an alternate schedule.

The result? A cleaner budget without a dirty office.

Quick win: Review your cleaning contract and separate “essential” from “optional” cleaning zones. You’ll likely find 1–2 days per week that add zero measurable value. After a month of this new scope, you might not even notice the difference in cleanliness; but you will definitely notice the impact on your cash flow.

2. Security Services: Smarter Coverage, Not More Guards

Security in manufacturing is critical, but that doesn’t mean it should be uniform.

Most plants keep security staff on-site 24/7. Yet during weekdays, your facility is already full of employees, supervisors, and managers. Human presence itself is deterrence.

Instead, shift the bulk of guard hours to nights and weekends, when the facility is empty and the risk of theft or vandalism is higher. During the day, rely more on cameras, smart locks, and access logs.

You’ll not only save between 15% and 25% on labor costs but also strengthen your weekend perimeter coverage where it actually matters.

Quick win: Rebalance your guard schedule. You’ll improve security effectiveness and lower total cost simultaneously.

3. Landscaping: The “Weekly Mow” Myth

Many manufacturers maintain large grounds or outdoor areas, often serviced weekly year-round. But growth cycles don’t justify that frequency, especially during colder or dormant months.

By reducing landscaping frequency from weekly to bi-weekly or monthly in off-season months, you can achieve 20% to 30% annual savings without any visible degradation in appearance.

Combine that with smart scheduling (such as skipping rain weeks or focusing more on high-visibility zones) and your facility stays professional while your budget stays lean.

Quick win: Review your landscaping invoices over a 12-month period. You’ll often see identical billing amounts even in December. That’s your opportunity.

4. Waste and Recycling Pickup: Matching Service to Output

Trash volume fluctuates with production. Yet most waste removal contracts are fixed (daily or every-other-day pickups whether bins are full or not).

You’re literally paying to move air.

By adjusting pickup frequency to align with actual waste generation, you can save up to 35% per year.

A simple audit (weighing bins or tracking fill rates for two weeks) is often enough to right-size the service.

Quick win: Ask your waste management provider for a variable schedule or weight-based pricing. The best vendors will accommodate it if you just ask.

🔥 PRO TIP: In some instances, your scrap is someone else’s treasure. Look for companies that actually buy it from you. You will not only be reducing the amount of work for your regular trash services, but also making money!

5. IT and Maintenance Support: Right-Sizing the Retainer

Outsourced IT and maintenance vendors often sell “all-you-can-eat” support contracts that sound great but go under-used.

The typical manufacturing company uses only 50% - 60% of the hours they pay for.

By switching to a tiered or on-demand model, you maintain support continuity while eliminating unused retainer time.

We do recommend you have some history to identify the right metrics to measure, before you switch to a tiered or on-demand model.

Pair this with internal training or cross-skilling to handle minor issues in-house, and you’ll see instant ROI improvement without jeopardizing uptime.

Quick win: Ask for an hour-usage report from your IT or maintenance vendor. If utilization is below 70%, renegotiate.

The Bigger Picture: From Vendor Spend to Value Creation

These examples share one principle: efficiency is about doing more with less.

Re-scoping services helps manufacturers reclaim control of indirect spend, strengthen vendor relationships, and free up cash for strategic priorities like automation, hiring, or debt reduction.

At Summa Consulting, we routinely find 5% – 15% in bottom-line impact from re-scoping alone (without changing suppliers, compromising quality, or reducing output).

When you pay only for what drives value, every dollar starts working harder.

Conclusion: The Profit Is Hidden in the Scope

Manufacturers often chase growth through new clients or capital projects while ignoring the low-risk savings already sitting in their service contracts.

Re-scoping cleaning, security, landscaping, waste, and IT isn’t just a cost-cutting exercise.

It’s a mindset shift.

It’s about aligning services with today’s operations, not yesterday’s assumptions.

Start small. Audit one contract this week. You might discover the easiest six-figure saving you’ll ever make.