Manufacturing sales are longer than service business sales for structural reasons: there is more to count, more to inspect and more that a buyer's lender or insurer will ask about. Knowing where the weeks go makes the process predictable instead of frustrating.
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Preparation, six to twelve weeks
An asset schedule with age, service history and remaining life. A working capital analysis month by month. Customer concentration set out honestly with contract terms. Environmental history for the site. Inventory records that support a count. None of this is difficult and all of it takes longer than expected when it has never been assembled before.
Marketing to offer, two to four months
Strategic acquirers, funds with platforms in your sector and selected competitors, approached by name under agreement. Manufacturing does not sell well from a listing because the buyers who pay best maintain their own target lists. Offers arrive as letters of intent with a price and a working capital assumption, and that assumption matters as much as the price.
Diligence to closing, three to five months
Site visits, an inventory count, the working capital true up mechanism, environmental questions and the purchase agreement. Agreeing the working capital target and the counting method in the letter of intent removes the most common argument at the end of a manufacturing sale.
Questions people ask about selling a manufacturing company
What is the most common price adjustment?
Working capital, followed by inventory obsolescence. Both become arithmetic rather than argument if the mechanism is agreed early.
Should I include the property?
Decide before marketing. A lease back at market rent widens the buyer pool and often produces a better total outcome than selling both together.
Do I need an environmental report?
Where the site has an industrial history and you own it, expect the question. Knowing the answer first lets you price it rather than react to it.