From Overloaded Chaos To A Repeatable, Scalable Fulfilment Operation
OVERVIEW
Ubbink UK, a $26M distributor of HVAC components, was struggling with facility overcapacity, unreliable stock control, and daily operational fire drills. The Brackley, UK warehouse couldn’t keep up with increasing customisation, back-to-back inbound arrivals, and mounting leadership gaps.
Trigger for Intervention: Operations collapsed under growing volume, failed stock logic, and a leadership vacuum after the Operations Director unexpectedly resigned.
THE CHALLENGE
The warehouse had lost control, and risk was rising fast.
- Facility Maxed Out — Aisles were blocked and safety compromised as inventory overflowed capacity.
- Stock Control Failure — 2–3 inbound trailers arrived simultaneously from HQ, disrupting operational stability and bloating on-hand stock.
- Leadership Gaps — Operations Director resigned mid-crisis with no immediate replacement or knowledge backup.
- No Operational Logic — Legacy system, with only one inventory balance record, offered no support for locations, replenishment, or tracking.
- Unmeasured, Unaccountable — No KPIs, fulfilment metrics, or planning rhythm existed across the supply chain.
THE APPROACH
Gary Newbury was brought in as an expert Supply Chain Management Consultant to design stable and repeatable operations, restructure team, and model a scalable fulfilment model.
- Redrew Org Structure — Created job specs for Operations Director, Sales Order Processing Controller, and Stock Auditor.
- Mapped Physical Flow — Rebuilt flow of goods, data, and decisions across coatings, assembly, picking, packing and dispatch.
- Quantified Inventory Risks — Audited $500K in dead stock. Unlocking this obsolescence created the space for implementing the design.
- Reimagined ayout — Redefined storage zones, aisle widths, and cross-docking areas with minimal civil work.
- Managed Dependencies — Navigated landlord permissions, H&S concerns, and system constraints during redesign.
THE SOLUTION
The team executed a controlled redesign while building the future-state system and handover model.
- Rebuilt Fulfilment Model — Introduced new day-2 shipping framework, with day-3 service for assembled items.
- Engineered SOPs and Shifts — Developed roles, responsibilities, and shift coverage aligned to fulfilment timing.
- Scoped Future System — Created WMS spec to enable kitting, tracking, and inventory control.
- Executed Facility Rework — Delivered phased changes including cage zones, mezzanine offices, and rack reconfiguration.
- Delivered Clean Handover — Transitioned full plan to newly recruited Operations Director, including risk mitigations and timeline.
Fixing fulfilment was the easy bit. Getting leadership to stop managing by instinct and causing chaos? That took work.
THE OUTCOMES
The warehouse gained capacity, confidence, and capability — fast.
- 25% Productivity Gain — Increased throughput via layout improvements and time-window alignment.
- 3 FTE Equivalent Saved — Freed capacity through redesign, not recruitment.
- 250% Assembly Throughput Lift — Custom order fulfilment rose from 100 to 250 units daily.
- Freed Up Floor Space — Disposed of $500K in obsolete inventory to unlock redesign capacity.
- System Plan Greenlit — WMS spec scoped, costed, and approved for staged investment.
WHY IT MATTERS
The transformation created sustainable control and removed long-standing friction points.
- Operational Visibility Restored — Introduced real metrics and planning across the supply chain.
- Sales Re-focused — Admin handoffs allowed sales team to shift back to growth instead of firefighting very poor fulfilment.
- Resilience Built In — Performance no longer dependent on tribal knowledge or manual workarounds.
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
“Gary adapted the scope in real-time as we uncovered more issues. We now have a robust layout, scalable workflows, and a clear performance framework. The change is real — not theoretical.”
— John Donovan, Managing Director, UBBINK Ltd