Warehouse Strategy · Assessment
Warehouse Operations Assessment
Find out where your warehouse is losing time, space, and money, and what to fix first. Our consultants walk your floor, measure what matters, and hand you a prioritized roadmap, not a slide deck.
- Led by former operators
- Vendor-neutral findings
- On-site anywhere in the U.S.
Most warehouse problems are diagnosed late and fixed in the wrong order.
Rising labor cost, missed ship windows, and inventory that is never quite where the system says it is rarely come from one cause. They come from the interaction of layout, slotting, process, labor standards, and the warehouse management system (WMS) that ties them together. Fixing one in isolation usually moves the bottleneck somewhere else.
A warehouse operations assessment looks at the whole building at once. We observe receiving through shipping, pull the data your WMS and labor systems already collect, benchmark productivity, and separate quick wins from structural constraints. You leave with a clear view of what is driving cost and service problems, and the sequence that will fix them with the least disruption.
Because SIS is not tied to a single software vendor or automation brand, the recommendations follow your operation. Sometimes the answer is a new WMS or automation. Often it is better slotting, cleaner processes, or configuring the system you already own.
Signs it is time for an outside look at your operation.
Labor cost keeps climbing
Overtime and temp labor have become the default answer to volume, and units per hour are flat or falling.
Inventory accuracy is slipping
Cycle counts keep finding variances, pickers short orders, and the team no longer trusts on-hand quantities.
You are out of space, or think you are
Aisles are congested and overflow is everywhere, but nobody is sure whether you need a bigger building or a better layout.
Peak season is a fire drill
Every holiday or seasonal surge requires heroics, and service levels drop exactly when customers notice most.
Workarounds run the building
Spreadsheets, paper lists, and tribal knowledge fill gaps the WMS was supposed to cover.
A big decision is coming
You are weighing a new WMS, automation, or another facility and want an objective baseline before you commit capital.
A baseline you can act on.
Every assessment is scoped to your operation, but most include the following.
Current-state process map
Receiving, putaway, replenishment, picking, packing, shipping, and returns, documented as they actually run on the floor.
Productivity and cost benchmarks
Units per hour, cost per order, dock-to-stock time, and order cycle time measured against your own targets and comparable operations.
Inventory accuracy review
Where variances originate (receiving, putaway, picking, system configuration) and the controls that close the gap.
Space and slotting analysis
Cube utilization, travel patterns, and velocity-based slotting opportunities before anyone signs a lease on a new building.
Systems and WMS fit review
What your WMS, labor tools, and integrations can already do, what is misconfigured, and where the platform is genuinely the constraint.
Prioritized, ROI-ranked roadmap
Quick wins, mid-term projects, and capital decisions sequenced by payback, effort, and operational risk.
From first call to roadmap in weeks, not quarters.
- 01 · Week 0
Scoping call
A conversation with a senior consultant about your goals, constraints, and the decisions you need to make.
- 02 · Weeks 1-2
Data and discovery
We pull WMS, labor, and order data and interview leaders across operations, IT, and finance.
- 03 · Weeks 2-3
On-site observation
Time on the floor across shifts to see how work actually flows, where it stalls, and why.
- 04 · Weeks 3-5
Findings and roadmap
A working session with your team on findings, quantified opportunities, and the recommended sequence.
MAWM implementation recovery, 13 fulfillment centers delivered
$36B medical supplier. Recovering a stalled Manhattan Active Warehouse Management rollout and turning it into a scalable, multi-site deployment engine.
The recovery started the way an assessment does: by finding where technical plans and floor operations had drifted apart, then rebuilding a path both sides trusted.
Read the case study- Fulfillment centers
- 13Fulfillment centers
- Peak site cycle
- 30dPeak site cycle
- From WMOS
- MAWMFrom WMOS
Assessments from people who have run the building.
Operators, not theorists
Our consultants average more than 15 years in warehouse operations and systems. Recommendations account for labor, shifts, and peak, not just the floor plan.
Vendor-neutral
We implement Infor WMS and have delivered Manhattan and robotics programs, so we know the options without needing to sell you any one of them.
We stay for execution
When the roadmap calls for a project, the same team can deliver it, from configuration and testing through go-live and stabilization.
Headquartered in the Columbus, Ohio metro and working on-site with clients across the United States. Where we work
Warehouse assessment questions
What is a warehouse operations assessment?
It is a structured review of how your warehouse or distribution center performs today, covering processes, labor productivity, inventory accuracy, space utilization, and the systems behind them. The output is a baseline plus a prioritized list of improvements ranked by payback and effort.
How long does a warehouse assessment take?
Most single-site assessments take three to five weeks from kickoff to final roadmap, depending on the size of the operation and how quickly data can be pulled. Multi-site networks take longer and are usually phased.
Do you need to be on-site?
Yes, for part of it. Data analysis happens remotely, but there is no substitute for watching work flow across shifts. SIS consultants travel to client sites across the United States.
Will the assessment just recommend a new WMS?
No. SIS is vendor-neutral and many recommendations involve layout, slotting, process, or configuration changes to the system you already own. When a platform change is warranted, we explain why and what the alternatives cost.
What does it cost to start?
We begin with a complimentary conversation to understand your goals and scope the work. Assessment pricing depends on the number of sites and depth required, and we provide a fixed scope before any engagement starts.
Which types of operations do you assess?
Retail and e-commerce fulfillment, omnichannel distribution, third-party logistics (3PL), wholesale distribution, and manufacturing warehouses.
Start with an honest look at your operation.
Tell us about your building, your volumes, and the decision in front of you. A senior SIS consultant will follow up within one business day.