Rebuilding a $220M logistics operating model

A family-owned contract logistics group had grown from $90M to $220M in six years, mostly by acquisition. Revenue scaled. The operating model did not. Three networks ran on three planning systems, pricing was inherited deal by deal from whichever acquisition had signed it, and margin had thinned for eight consecutive quarters while the top line kept rising.

The board's instinct was a cost programme. The harder question was structural, and it was this: could a business assembled from acquisitions run as one network without losing the customer relationships that each of those acquisitions had brought with it? Sixteen improvement initiatives were already in flight. None was finished.

Baselines fixed and audited before phase one. No figure above is self-reported.