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Reviews and prices

See the price and scope before you talk to anyone.

Every standard piece of work we sell: what you get, what you give us, how long it takes and what it costs. A consultant does the work unless it says otherwise.

Who does the work

A consultant with 15 years running warehousing, transport and distribution operations. Software speeds up the analysis. A person checks every figure and answers for every recommendation.

After you pay

You get a tax invoice and an order page. Send your details or data from there. We check it within 2 business days, then deliver on the published date and walk you through it.

If it does not work out

Full refund any time before work starts, including when your data cannot support the review. And if a review does not identify at least its fee in annualised opportunity, we refund the fee. Your data stays confidential and we will sign an NDA first if you ask.

Remote | 90 minutes | Consultant

Problem Solving Session

One problem that keeps coming back. Late trucks on one run. A pick error rate that will not shift. Overtime you cannot explain. You want a decision and the actions in order, without a full project.

$1,200+ GST ($1,320 including GST)

  • FormatVideo or phone. 90 minute working session, then a written plan
  • DeliveredSession within 10 business days of payment. Written plan 2 business days after the session
  • You provideA few lines on the problem and any numbers you already have, through your order page after payment
  • TimesEarly morning, evening and Saturday sessions available
What is included, what is not and who it suits

What is included

  • We read your intake and any data before the session
  • A clear problem statement: what fails, where, how often, what it costs
  • Recommended actions in sequence, with suggested owners
  • The cause that still needs verifying and how to verify it
  • How you will know whether it worked

What is not

  • One problem at a time
  • No site visit and no detailed data modelling. If the problem needs either, we tell you in the session and credit the fee against a review booked within 30 days

Who it suits

Managers who know what the problem is but not why it persists. If we cannot find you a session time within 10 business days, you get a full refund.

Fixed price reviews

Pick the analysis that matches your problem.

Each is done remotely on your data by a consultant and ends with a model or report you keep.

ReviewYour problemData you needYou getPriceTurnaround
DIFOTDeliveries late or short, and nobody agrees why3 months of delivered orders with promised and actual datesReport, scored workbook, 60 minute walkthrough$5,900 + GST10 business days
RouteOwn trucks part full, drivers on overtimeTwo typical weeks of deliveries, vehicles and windowsReport with maps, route comparison workbook, walkthrough$6,900 + GST10 business days
Cost to ServeSales up, profit flat12 months of revenue, activity and cost lines by customerReport, full cost model in Excel, 90 minute walkthrough$8,900 + GST15 business days

Remote | Your order data

DIFOT Review

Deliveries are late or short and the weekly meeting argues about whose fault it is. You want to know which causes cost you the most orders and who needs to fix what.

$5,900+ GST ($6,490 including GST)

  • FormatWritten report, your data scored in a workbook you keep, 60 minute walkthrough
  • Delivered10 business days. The clock starts when your data is complete
  • ScopeOne site or one network, up to 3 months and 10,000 order lines
What is included, what is not and who it suits

What is included

  • A DIFOT definition agreed with you: order population, promised date rule, in full rule, exclusions
  • Every order scored at delivery
  • Failures separated into warehouse, inventory, order entry, carrier and customer causes, tested against release times where you have them
  • Recurring failure patterns by customer, lane, day and product
  • Actions matched to the failures they address, with suggested owners
  • A way to measure progress consistently

What is not

  • Implementing the fixes. That is a scoped improvement project if you want it
  • Carrier renegotiation or a transport tender
  • We do not substitute on time dispatch for delivery. If you have no delivery dates we will tell you what can and cannot be concluded

Who it suits

Distributors, wholesalers and manufacturers with their own warehouse who report a service number nobody quite believes.

Data you provide (CSV or Excel)
  • Delivered orders for the last 3 months: order number, customer, promised date, actual delivery date, quantity ordered and delivered
  • Order release or pick start times, if your system records them
  • Carrier and lane for each order, if available
  • Your current DIFOT definition and target, if you have one

Missing some of this? Buy anyway and send what you have. We check it within 2 business days and tell you what we can still deliver. If it cannot support the review and you would rather not rescope, you get a full refund.

Remote | Your delivery data

Route Optimisation Review

Your runs were set years ago and have had stops bolted on since. Trucks leave part full, drivers run overtime and freight cost is climbing faster than sales.

$6,900+ GST ($7,590 including GST)

  • FormatWritten report with maps, route comparison workbook, 60 minute walkthrough
  • Delivered10 business days. The clock starts when your data is complete
  • ScopeOne depot, up to 10 routes or vehicles, two representative weeks
What is included, what is not and who it suits

What is included

  • Your current plan measured: stops, kilometres, hours, fill, cost per drop
  • Feasible alternatives built under the same constraints you work with: vehicle capacity and weight, delivery windows, time on site, driver hours, access
  • Service, capacity and cost trade-offs for each option
  • What changing would involve: customer day changes, vehicle changes, driver impact
  • How uncertain the travel and service time assumptions are, and what that does to the result

What is not

  • Live dispatch or daily route planning. This is a planning recommendation
  • A guaranteed delivery promise or saving. Options are tested for feasibility, then you trial them
  • Multi depot network redesign, which is a scoped project

Who it suits

Businesses running their own or dedicated vehicles from one depot. If you use carriers for everything, the Cost to Serve Review is usually the better buy.

Data you provide (CSV or Excel)
  • Two typical weeks of deliveries: date, route or vehicle, address or suburb and postcode, quantity, weight or pallets
  • Depot address, vehicle list with capacities, driver start and finish times
  • Customer delivery windows and any site access limits
  • Average time on site per stop, if you know it

Missing some of this? Buy anyway and send what you have. We check it within 2 business days and tell you what we can still deliver. If it cannot support the review and you would rather not rescope, you get a full refund.

Remote | Your finance and activity data

Cost to Serve Review

Sales are up and profit is not. You suspect some customers cost far more to look after than their margin covers, but gross margin reports cannot show it.

$8,900+ GST ($9,790 including GST)

  • FormatWritten report, the full cost model in Excel with every allocation visible, 90 minute walkthrough
  • Delivered15 business days. The clock starts when your data is complete
  • ScopeOne business entity, 12 months, up to 50 customers or customer groups
What is included, what is not and who it suits

What is included

  • A model you can trace: every customer's cost back to activity counts and P&L lines
  • The period, allocation basis, exclusions and fixed versus variable treatment written down
  • Checks that prevent double counting, especially freight
  • Contribution after cost to serve by customer, with the drivers behind it
  • A test of whether conclusions survive a change of method
  • Commercial options by customer: ordering pattern, service terms, fees, price
  • Cash savings, costs avoided and capacity released kept separate

What is not

  • Negotiating with your customers
  • Product level or SKU level profitability, which is a bigger model

Who it suits

Distributors and wholesalers above about $5m revenue with a mix of large and small accounts.

Data you provide (CSV or Excel)
  • 12 months of revenue and product cost by customer
  • Orders, order lines and deliveries by customer
  • Operating cost lines from the P&L: warehouse, transport, customer service, order admin
  • Freight invoiced by customer, if you use carriers
  • Returns and credits by customer

Missing some of this? Buy anyway and send what you have. We check it within 2 business days and tell you what we can still deliver. If it cannot support the review and you would rather not rescope, you get a full refund.

On site

Full-Day Operational Review

A day on your floor with someone who has run sites like yours. You get what we saw, what it is costing and what to do about it in priority order.

One site | One shift | One day

$7,500+ GST ($8,250 including GST)

  • On site7 hours, normally 6.30am to 2.30pm so we see start-up, a pick wave and dispatch
  • ReportWithin 7 business days of the visit, then a 60 minute debrief by video
  • TravelIncluded for Greater Sydney, Illawarra, Central Coast and Newcastle. Elsewhere quoted at cost before you commit
  • PaymentNothing until we confirm your date. Then 50% ($4,125 including GST) locks it in. 50% when the report is delivered

Read a sample report (PDF)

The day, hour by hour
TimeWhat happens
6.30amInduction. Walk the flow from receiving to dispatch with your manager before start-up
7.15amObserve start-up, first release of work and the first pick wave from the floor
9.00amConversations: two or three floor staff, inventory, dispatch
10.30amChecks: a location accuracy sample, replenishment, how orders reach the floor, dock and yard
12.00pmConversations: customer service, transport, the site manager. Review the numbers together
1.00pmObserve the afternoon peak and dispatch cut-off
2.00pmClose out with you: first impressions, what we will check before writing, any safety issue seen raised immediately
Coverage, what you provide and what a day cannot do
  • BeforeUp to 2 hours reviewing the numbers and layout you send
  • CoverageOne site up to about 10,000 square metres and 60 people on shift. Receiving to dispatch, plus the office functions that feed the floor
  • PeopleConversations with up to 6 people you nominate, from the floor to the manager
  • RescheduleNo charge with 5 business days notice

What you need to provide

  • A site contact and induction on arrival. We bring our own PPE
  • Permission to observe and talk to people
  • Whatever you already have of: last 3 months volumes, headcount and roster, overtime, service measure, a site plan. Do not build anything new for us

What a day cannot do

It finds the two or three things that matter most on one site and one shift. It will not find every problem in a business. Larger sites, several shifts or multiple locations need an extra day (quoted) or a scoped review. Layout or racking comments are operational concepts. Engineering, load and compliance sign-off are separate work by qualified specialists.

Request a date

These are requested dates. We confirm the actual date by email within one business day. Nothing is charged until the date is confirmed, and the scope is confirmed in writing with it.

Remote | Consultant reviewed

Operational Health Check Report

You have done the health check and want someone who has run operations to read it properly. You get what the pattern means, which problem is feeding the others and what to do first.

$490+ GST ($539 including GST)

  • FormatWritten report (PDF, 3 to 4 pages) by email, plus an optional 20 minute call
  • Delivered3 business days. The clock starts at payment
  • You provideYour health check answers. They travel with the order automatically
  • Difference from the online resultThe online result scores you and lists first actions. The report adds a consultant's reading of your answers, strengths as well as gaps, and the evidence that would change the conclusion
What is included, what is not and who it suits

What is included

  • Findings written for your own business
  • Two or three priorities in order, with the reason for the order
  • First actions you can take internally at no cost
  • Evidence to collect where you answered 'I don't know'
  • What would change our view

What is not

  • It is based on your answers alone, with no data or site visit, and it says so
  • No implementation plan beyond first actions

Who it suits

Owners and operations managers who want an informed outside read for a few hundred dollars before deciding whether anything bigger is needed.

Ongoing support

Ongoing support, with the limits written down.

What you getSupportSupport Plus
Price$2,400 + GST a month ($2,640 including GST)$4,900 + GST a month ($5,390 including GST)
RhythmMonthly 90 minute reviewMonthly 90 minute review and a fortnightly 30 minute check in
DataYour KPI pack reviewed before each meeting, with written commentsSame, plus one deeper look a quarter at a measure of your choice
ActionsShared action tracker. We chase it, you own it
Consultant time includedUp to 5 hours a month, meetings includedUp to 10 hours a month, meetings included
Questions between meetingsEmail and phone, answered within 2 business daysAnswered within 1 business day
Site visitsNot included. Quoted if wantedOne site day a quarter, travel terms as for the review day
Implementation workNot included. Scoped and quoted separately so support hours are not quietly used up
Unused hoursDo not roll over. If you regularly need more, we will tell you and quote it
Term3 month minimum, then 30 days notice either way. Invoiced monthly in advance, 7 day terms

Most customers start support after a review or project, so the first month builds on what is already known instead of starting again.

Bigger than any of these?

Relocations, consolidations, layouts, network redesign, restructures and integrations start with a short brief.

Discuss my project

Benchmarking yourself? We published what a good DIFOT actually is. Not sure where to start? Take the ten minute health check. We work on site in Sydney and Melbourne.

Call 0494 820 639 Free health check