From Internal Drift To Design-Led Direction
OVERVIEW
Lex Auto Logistics, a $160M aftermarket automotive parts logistics provider, operated a 500,000 ft² site, holding $40M in inventory. Following the loss of a major client, the business sought to consolidate operations into a right-sized facility. But its capital programme had ground to a halt.
Trigger for Intervention: Eight months of design drift produced no outcome, and the board feared the design and build stage was slipping beyond recovery.
THE CHALLENGE
The capex build was spiralling — no outputs, no structure, no progress.
- Design paralysis — Internal team had failed to generate outputs or direction after months of work
- Inefficient legacy site — Landlocked, split-level layout blocked growth and disrupted daily flow
- Lack of structure — $5M capex and $1.4M savings targets had no supporting plan or delivery model
- Missing baselines — No benchmarks for headcount, shift cadence, or cost-to-serve
- Board-level frustration — PE stakeholders attempted rescue effort as trust and timelines eroded
THE APPROACH
Gary Newbury was commissioned, as an expert Supply Chain Management Consultant, to reboot the stalled design project and reinstate delivery control.
- Rebuilt governance — Introduced a milestone-led framework with workstreams and clear ownership
- Introduced real metrics — Modelled the post–Leyland-DAF scenario with validated headcount and cost assumptions
- Activated the team — Reallocated dormant workstreams and coached design leads to restore momentum
- Drove granular design — Replaced cube estimates with six weeks of SKU-level actual measurement across 65,000 parts
- Advised the board — Presented planning scenarios, surfaced $8M in unmanaged overstocks, and reset the go-live path
THE SOLUTION
A full redesign was executed to align layout, capital, and operational targets.
- Capital budget matched — Delivered a right-sized infrastructure plan within the original $5M allocation
- Layout reengineered — Designed wide aisle operations and vertical carousel storage to utilise 12m height planned in new facility
- System risk neutralised — Finalised PKMS configuration aligned to new storage and workflow requirements
- Savings strategy locked — Tied $1.4M in Opex savings to revised shift planning and replenishment logic
- Growth built in — Created capacity for 20% additional cube without requiring rework
You can’t deliver a design project on assumptions and silence. I brought the structure, data, and urgency the board had been waiting for.
THE OUTCOMES
The board regained confidence. The build was ready. Execution was back on track.
- Project resuscitated — Design locked in time to integrate with contractor sequencing.
- Savings made real — $1.4M in opex reductions grounded in executable logistics models.
- Overstock exposed — $8M in long-stock flagged and planned reduction prior to site transition.
- Facility fit for future — Layout designed for SKU complexity, throughput growth, and smarter flow.
- Go-live secured — Operational launch date aligned with the legacy site’s hard exit deadline.
WHY IT MATTERS
This wasn’t just design. It was delivery under pressure.
- Redefined project leadership — Shifted the culture from delay to focused execution.
- Tied design to financials — Linked every layout and process choice to cost, flow, and volume.
- Protected strategic capital — Rebooted a stalled $5M capex plan with pace and control.
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
“Gary didn’t just design a warehouse — he gave us the commercial case, the delivery plan, and the urgency we were missing. He got it moving when no one else could.”
— Tony Evans, Interim CEO, Lex Auto Logistics