Selling a Manufacturing Business in Texas

Light Manufacturing

My operating background is in the trades and in a metal fabrication shop, not in product manufacturing — but the machinery economics, the WIP accounting, and the inventory questions that decide a fabrication sale are the same ones that decide a contract-manufacturing or assembly sale.

What buyers actually scrutinize

Buyers examine program and customer concentration, whether your recurring production runs are contracted or habitual, the age of your equipment, and how much of the margin depends on the owner quoting every job.

What kills multiples

An OEM relationship that could be resourced at any time, inventory that hasn't turned in years, and equipment that needs immediate capital after close all pull the multiple down.

What you should fix now

Get your recurring programs under written agreements. Count and value the inventory honestly before a buyer does it for you. Build quoting and scheduling processes that don't run through your desk.

The closing mechanics

Inventory valuation and the working capital true-up dominate closing. Raw material, WIP, and finished goods each get argued separately — the owners who do well have already done that math.

How much is a manufacturing business worth?

The method — adjusted EBITDA, add-backs, what moves a multiple — is covered on the valuation page. What's specific to this trade:

Customer and program concentration
Tooling and intellectual property
Inventory treatment in the true-up

[Placeholder — 400–600 words to be written by the owner, covering the topics above. Any stated range must be attributed to a named source with a date, and must describe the market in general — never the reader's own business.]