From Manual to Digital Operational Transformation at a $200M Manufacturer
A $200M Canadian manufacturer with 600+ employees and 3 plants was losing margin to manual processes and disconnected systems. We designed and executed a digital transformation roadmap that reduced order-to-ship time by 35% and saved $4.2M annually.
Order-to-ship cut 35%$4.2M annual savings99.7% system uptimeMargin erosion reversed
What they came to us with.
A family-owned Canadian manufacturer with $200M in revenue, 600+ employees, and three production plants across Ontario had grown through acquisition over two decades. Each plant operated its own ERP instance, scheduling system, and quality tracking process. There was no single source of truth for inventory, no real-time visibility into production status, and customer service teams spent 40% of their time tracking orders across disconnected systems. Margins had eroded 3 percentage points over five years despite revenue growth. The CEO recognized the problem was operational — not commercial — but prior technology investments had failed because they were led by IT without executive alignment or change management. The company needed a strategist who could connect business outcomes to technology decisions and drive execution across resistant plant managers.
How the work actually ran.
- 01
Operational diagnostic
Conducted a 3-week diagnostic across all three plants. Mapped 47 distinct processes end-to-end and identified 12 critical failure points where manual handoffs created delays or inventory inaccuracy.
- 02
Executive alignment
Facilitated alignment workshops with the CEO, CFO, and plant managers to establish a shared transformation vision with measurable KPIs — not a technology wishlist.
- 03
Phased roadmap
Designed a 12-month roadmap prioritized by ROI: ERP consolidation, scheduling automation, quality digitization, and real-time customer visibility.
- 04
Vendor selection
Led RFP with 6 ERP vendors and negotiated a contract 22% below initial quotes through competitive leverage and phased deployment terms.
- 05
Change + handoff
Managed plant-floor change through town halls, supervisor training, and a digital champion network. Transitioned to advisory once the internal PM team could run Phases 3–4.
We'd tried digital transformation twice before and failed both times because we treated it as an IT project. This time it was led as a business strategy with relentless focus on execution. The results speak for themselves — we've recovered five years of margin erosion in twelve months.
Selected. Closed.
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Tell us what you’re facing. We operate from there.
Most first conversations happen on a call within the week. We respond personally within one business day.