KCL Consulting combines current, hands-on work with small operations businesses and a background in enterprise supply chains.
Recent engagements
Third-party logistics (3PL) provider serving Canadian brands. Ongoing advisor on inventory control and warehouse operations for a 3PL that distributes products for small brands through wholesale orders to stores, e-commerce orders to consumers and Amazon FBA replenishment. The work has also included supply chain planning and organizational design as the business grew.
Operations software for small businesses. Project and product management for a boutique development team, building order management, warehouse management and B2B ordering software, from requirements and roadmap through release.
Selected results from previous roles
Before founding KCL Consulting, Kevin spent more than a decade at Mountain Equipment Co-op and Aritzia. Highlights:
- Opened a $9 million distribution centre with voice picking, sort automation and e-commerce fulfillment, on time, with 50 staff
- Reduced store on-hand inventory by 25% year over year without increasing stockouts
- Launched a vendor chargeback program that recovered more than $100,000 in its first year
- Re-slotted a warehouse to accept 15% more SKUs in some categories
- Standardized and automated inventory analyst work, supporting a team reduction from 25 to 16 FTEs
- Built KPI hierarchies for supply chain teams, from executive to individual level
- Improved year-over-year on-time retail delivery and implemented EDI invoicing for all outbound carriers
What former colleagues say
“Kevin is one of the most impressive and valuable individuals that I have ever had the privilege of working with… Kevin is the type of employee that can quickly adapt and hit the ground running in any circumstance and make a significant impact on any business.”
Gary Faryon, former Chief Operating Officer, who managed Kevin at MEC
“Kevin has a breadth of experience in process analysis and design demonstrating its benefits in warehouse, store, and office settings to reduce expenses and reveal value.”
Matt Thompson, Director, retail operations and e-commerce, former colleague at MEC
“Kevin is a unique individual who will use a combination of his genuine smarts […], natural gift for outside-of-the-box thinking, and relentless work ethic to solve just about any problem.”
Brad Jones, former Director of Planning and Kevin’s peer at MEC
“He was a strong advocate for leveraging analytics to make more data driven decisions… and he was extremely effective at leading discussions and change management at all levels of the organisation.”
Mark M. Chen, who reported to Kevin at MEC
From recommendations on Kevin’s LinkedIn profile.
Systems experience
- ERP: Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation, supply chain business lead
- Business intelligence: Microsoft Power BI implementation, supply chain data lead
- WMS: JDA MMS warehouse management with Dematic automation, internal product owner
- Replenishment: JDA automatic store and warehouse replenishment, product owner for allocation and reordering
Insights
Truth AND Consequences: a three-step exercise for deciding under uncertainty
When a team is stuck, the disagreement is often about the facts rather than the decision. This exercise gets a group to agree on what it knows before deciding what to do. Kevin uses it in executive decision sessions and strategy workshops.
- Truths. List the facts and assumptions about the planning horizon, without filtering.
- Consequences. Ask what each one means for the business over the next 4 to 12 weeks.
- Insights and actions. Turn the consequences into a prioritized, proactive response plan.
Read the full article on LinkedIn, first published in April 2020 with a worked supply chain example.