CapEx360® Manufacturing Case Study

Hood Companies & CapEx360®

One Capital Governance System Across Four Industries and 125 Sites

5 Companies

4 Industries

125 Sites

120+ Spreadsheets Replaced

Executive Summary

Hood Companies, Inc. is a privately held holding company overseeing four North American manufacturers operating in different industries across 125 sites. Each subsidiary ran capital planning in the way that suited its own operations, and the parent company consolidated quarterly reports manually. Hood set out to bring the group onto one capital system, evaluated three providers and selected CapEx360®. The group went live on 1 January 2026, on schedule and within budget, replacing an estimated 120+ site-level spreadsheets with one system covering budgeting, approvals, forecasting, actuals and reporting.

Challenge

Hood Companies grew over several decades into a group of manufacturers spanning four different industries, and each subsidiary was given the autonomy to run capital planning in the way that fit its own business. Capital data lived in Excel spreadsheets, Docusign and ShareFile, and each company reported to the parent quarterly. Once budgets were approved, project spending was tracked inside each company's own ERP and site systems, leaving the parent with almost no line of sight into capital performance until the next quarterly roll-up. What the group did not yet have was a shared system underneath them. Hood had recognized the need for stronger group-level reporting for some time and made it a priority as it continued to invest heavily in modernization and capital improvements across the companies.

Key Pain Points

Capital planning, budgeting and forecasting handled independently by each subsidiary
A separate capital request form and approval workflow in each company (Building Products, Forest Products, Flexible Packaging and Pulp, Paper & Corrugated Packaging)
Requests below a set dollar threshold sitting outside the parent company's reporting line
An estimated 120+ site-level spreadsheets, alongside Docusign and ShareFile documents
Quarterly reporting formats that differed by company and were consolidated manually
Weeks to pull group capital data together for meaningful use
Approved projects tracked in each company's own systems, leaving the parent without project-level visibility between quarterly reports
No single place to see actuals and commitments, carryover projects and future cash flow across the group
Capital figures reaching leadership only as current as the last quarterly report and the manual roll-up behind it

Solution

Hood Companies deployed CapEx360® as a single capital governance system across the parent company and all operating subsidiary companies, with site-level security so no company sees another's capital data.

One System Across Four Industries

Building products - roofing, insulation and molded EPS
Forest products - lumber, plywood and specialty wood distribution
Flexible packaging - multiwall paper bags and industrial plastic packaging
Pulp, paper and corrugated packaging - kraft paper, linerboard and corrugated
125 sites across roughly 30 U.S. states, Canada and Mexico
Site-level security so the operating subsidiary companies cannot see each other's capital budgets or project data

Why Hood Chose CapEx360®

Three capital management providers evaluated, shortlisted to two
The Excel import and export templates allowed teams to keep working in files they already knew
Offers consistent navigation across modules, with little training required
Capital request approval from within email, for executives away from their desks
Organization-specific customizations delivered on time, with responsive support through implementation

CapEx360® connects to the ERP systems already in place, so actuals and commitments flow in and capital data is entered once and carried forward rather than re-keyed between systems.

Governance and Control

CapEx360® routes every capital request through the correct workflow automatically, with Global Administrators managing the delegation of authority
Dollar limits route requests to the proper approvers
Rules require supplemental AFEs (Capital Requests) when spending exceeds approved amounts
Fully funded budget mode requires unbudgeted projects to be funded from existing projects, so companies plan, prioritize and confirm funding before approving
All capital requests carry the NPV, payback and IRR justification section
Approval history, supporting documents, category tagging, carryover visibility and closed project tracking in one place
Fixed asset transfers - the system was extended to cater for internal fixed asset transfers between sites, with financial justification and approval requirements, so existing assets can be moved to sites where they yield better returns

Timeline and Rollout

Implementation team formed: April 2025
Environment build: April to July 2025
User acceptance testing: August to September 2025
Data load and validation: October to December 2025
Go-live: 1 January 2026

Delivered within the agreed timelines and within budget, with the target go-live date met

Before and After

Measure	Before CapEx360®	After CapEx360®
Consolidating budget inputs across teams and sites	2 weeks	Instant
Capital and board reporting at the parent	About 16 hours per quarter	Instant
Pulling group capital data together	Weeks	Instant
Spreadsheets used to manage capital across sites	120+, roughly one per site	Combined into one system
Visibility of committed and actual spend	Not available until the 15th of the following month	Real time where ERPs feed in, otherwise within 10 days of close
Assurance on group capital figures	Only as current as the last quarterly roll-up	Balances to the financial statements provided monthly
Administrative spreadsheet time per budget cycle	Approximately 40 hours a week per company	Significant reduction

What the System Manages

530

budget items across the group, 315 of them new

190

planned carryover items and 25 unplanned, visible at group level

237

fund transfers processed under fully funded budget mode

Hood Companies

Testimonials

“The team saw value immediately. We were able to produce reports that gave us company-wide data we had never had before.”

- Leah Ladner

Corporate Controller, Hood Companies, Inc.

“The software is flexible, easy to use and implement, yet robust enough to handle hundreds of locations, multiple AFE workflows, rules and customizations.”