Business cases
The kind of problems we take on
These are anonymised, illustrative sketches — the shape of the work while the practice is new. Real names and figures will replace them as engagements complete.
Anonymised / illustrative
Independent retailer
Stock that was tying up cash
The pressure. A multi-site retailer knew the warehouse felt full, but could not say which lines were slow, or how many weeks of cover they were carrying.
What we looked at. We pulled sales and stock into a weekly view: cover by category, dead lines, and a short list of what to stop ordering. Shrinkage and labour were added so margin was not looked at in isolation.
What changed. Illustrative: stock cover brought toward a six-week target, with cash released from the slowest lines and a Monday dashboard the owner still uses.
Anonymised / illustrative
Small manufacturer
Overtime hiding a throughput problem
The pressure. A family manufacturer was running regular Saturday overtime. The instinct was to hire. The numbers pointed to stoppages and rework on two machines.
What we looked at. We tracked downtime, scrap, and labour against plan for six weeks, then ranked the causes in euros rather than hours. A simple daily board replaced the month-end spreadsheet.
What changed. Illustrative: overtime dropped once the two bottleneck causes were fixed; hiring was deferred. The board is still the first thing reviewed at the morning meeting.
Anonymised / illustrative
Service business
Jobs that always ran long
The pressure. A regional service firm was busy, yet cash felt tight. Jobs were quoted on a standard day-rate that no longer matched how long the work actually took.
What we looked at. We compared quoted hours to actual hours by job type, flagged the work that consistently overran, and put a weekly pipeline view in front of the owner — work sold versus work delivered.
What changed. Illustrative: pricing and scheduling were adjusted on the two job types that were losing money; the weekly view made it obvious when the diary was over-committed.
A sample of the weekly view
Four weeks in one picture: where stock, labour and margin moved, and what that movement is starting to say.
Sample operations snapshot
Midlands retailer — four-week view
20 July – 10 August 2026
Gross margin
31.4%
-1.2 pts vs prior week
Stock cover
8.6 wks
-0.3 wks vs prior week
Shrinkage
1.8%
-0.3 pts vs prior week
Labour vs plan
+42 hrs
+24 hrs vs prior week
Stock cover — last week vs this week
- Grocery7.5 → 7.2 wks
- Fresh4.4 → 4.1 wks
- Household11.8 → 11.4 wks
- Seasonal15.2 → 14.8 wks
Grey is last week; navy is this week. Gold mark is the six-week target.
Overtime hours — four-week trend
Overtime eased for three weeks, then rose again — the kind of movement a weekly view is meant to surface.
Not sure where to start? Let’s identify where the opportunity is.
Tell us about your business and the operational challenges you are facing. We’ll assess where improvements in cost, efficiency, performance or working capital could have the greatest impact.