Situation
The retailer's largest distribution center was run by a 3PL. Cost per unit was rising, service quality was inconsistent, and the retailer had limited visibility into labor, damage, and inventory accuracy. Leadership wanted control of the customer experience and the cost structure without disrupting peak season.
Approach
Warren Stout led the conversion as the operating executive. The work covered facility and lease transition, WMS and systems cutover, recruiting and onboarding a full management team and hourly workforce, standard work and SOPs for receiving, putaway, picking, and outbound, safety program launch, and a daily operating cadence tied to service and cost metrics.
Transition risk was managed through a phased handoff with parallel operations and clear go or no-go gates.
Results
- Conversion completed in under six months
- Approximately $8 million in annual savings
- Customer experience metric improved by roughly 11 percent
- Full visibility into labor productivity, inventory accuracy, and damage
- In-house team and leadership bench in place
What made it work
The decision to run the conversion as an operations program rather than a procurement exercise. Leadership capability was built before the keys changed hands, and the daily cadence made problems visible within hours instead of at month end.
Results reflect Warren's executive and advisory roles and the teams involved. See all case studies.