An acquisition, a lost supplier, or a growth plan with seven priorities. The business still has to run.
How we approach it
Keep the company running while the plan changes underneath it.
Every case here ran on A3 thinking, from the problem to the fix:
1
Define
Pin the problem down with data: what's happening, what should be, and how big the gap is.
2
Diagnose
Get from what to why, until the root cause is backed by evidence.
3
Fix
Turn the root causes into tests, run them, and watch the number.
Methods used in these cases: A3 thinking, gap analysis, Kaikaku, scenario planning, annual and quarterly planning.
Results
Where we've fixed this
Cheetah · M&A
A post-acquisition operations turnaround
Watch how a $1M monthly burn became a profitable operation
Shrink: ~17–18% → ~2%
To October 2023
The problem
After three acquisitions, fulfillment fell apart: fill rate near 75%, shrink at 17–18%, on-time delivery as low as 24%, and about $1M a month in contribution margin burned.
The diagnosis
A3, gap analysis
The warehouse had been rebuilt with new racking and hundreds of new locations, but the warehouse system's logic was never updated. The system undid the crews' work faster than they could clear it.
The fix
Triaged by hand every day: cleared staging, replenished the top 1,000 items, one location per product
Rebuilt the warehouse system's slotting for the new layout, so it consolidated stock instead of scattering it
Added barcode checks across receiving, picking, loading and delivery, written into daily standard work
The whole business ran on one supplier. In July 2018, at about $75M in annualized revenue, that supplier said the partnership no longer worked.
The diagnosis
A3, Kaikaku, scenario planning
Getting better at buying from the supplier couldn't fix depending on it. The system itself was the constraint, so it needed a redesign, not small improvements.
The fix
Designed the new supply chain backward from the target state, across five scenarios
Turned a seven-flows gap analysis into a build list: pricing, 2,800 SKUs, a warehouse, a 35-person crew
Ran it as a separate team and tested it with a worst-case drill before go-live
Time to rebuild14 months
Revenue during the transition~$75M→~$155M
Supply modelOne supplier→owned warehouses and direct sourcing
It starts with a Hoshin workshop to agree on the few goals that matter, then 3–6 months of embedded implementation alongside your team, so the fix and the business run together.
