Consumer goods
Implementation plan

Maker of natural personal-care and household products · 1 plant in the Loire valley · 190 employeesThis War Map shows how we turn an operational review into an implementation plan. The dates show a possible sequence; the scope and schedule of a real engagement are agreed with you.

Implementation plan

What we fix, in which order and what stops slipping. 8 initiatives across 4 departments. €470-670K illustrative annual gross value.

Priorities at a glance

  • 8 initiatives across 4 departments
  • €470K to €670K in illustrative annual gross value
  • Sample target: claim matching and order status answers live before the December peak
  • Target: product data entered once, every promotion claim checked, launches weeks shorter

Automation Opportunity Map

The goal is not to add AI on top of chaos. The goal is to turn repeated fires into infrastructure: context assembled automatically, decisions routed to the right level, exceptions escalated only when human judgment is actually needed. The figures below show direct value by initiative. Broader operational value is modeled separately.

Matching and updates use deterministic rules. An agent can classify a free-text request, gather records or draft a response. Software-enforced access, validation, duplicate handling and named human approvals govern consequential actions.

The two estimates (direct value by initiative; projected annual value by operational effect) are alternative, overlapping views. Do not add them. Ranges are teaching assumptions without source measurements: volumes, time, loaded cost and error cost require validation. Investment, operation and adoption ramp remain to be deducted.

Low complexity
Med complexity
High complexity
Direct initiative value: €410-595K/yr
Product and regulatory2 items
€140-200K
Product Data Hub: entered once, published everywhere
€80-115KHigh
Current state
Product data is typed into Divalto, the PIM, the data pool and Amazon. The data pool sync has failed since March. 17% of SKUs carry a retailer data warning.
Target state
The PIM becomes the single source. Changes flow to Divalto, the data pool and Amazon after a check for gaps and contradictions. Manon approves each publication; regulatory fields stay locked to Bérénice.
€80-115K/yrWeeks 4-12High
Artwork Review Flow: one proof, tracked comments, a regulatory checklist
€60-85KMed
Current state
22 changes a month, 6 reviewers by email, 2.6 proof rounds and 23 days on average.
Target state
One shared proof per change with comments in one place, a checklist pre-filled from product data (claims, pictograms, recycling information, barcode) and printer proofs compared with the approved file automatically. Bérénice and Claire keep final sign-off.
€60-85K/yrWeeks 4-9Med
Sales and finance2 items
€135-185K
Promotion Claim Matching: every claim checked against its agreement
€95-125KMed
Current state
About 1,400 claims and €2.4M a year. Only claims above €2,000 are checked. 6.8% of sampled value had no matching agreement.
Target state
Every claim and offset matched to the agreed promotion, rate and shipped volume. Mismatches go to Jérôme with the evidence attached; he and the key account manager decide what to dispute.
€95-125K/yrWeeks 2-6Med
Promotion Calendar Link: signed promotions reach planning the same day
€40-60KLow
Current state
Promotion terms and dates live in Romain's Excel file. Planning hears about volumes by email, often after component lead times have passed.
Target state
Signed promotions entered once in a shared calendar linked to Divalto. Planning sees dates, SKUs and expected volume the same day. Romain confirms every entry.
€40-60K/yrWeeks 6-9Low
Supply chain1 item
€50-75K
Forecast Assembly: sell-out and e-commerce data ready every Monday
€50-75KMed
Current state
Laurent rebuilds the forecast weekly from six sources. Accuracy is 61% at SKU and month level.
Target state
Sell-out files, Shopify and Amazon sales and the promotion calendar assembled every Monday with a proposed baseline and uplift. Laurent adjusts and approves; the S&OP meeting starts from one agreed set of numbers.
€50-75K/yrWeeks 8-13MedDepends on: Promotion Calendar Link: signed promotions reach planning the same day
E-commerce and customer service3 items
€85-135K
Order Status Answers: replies drafted from carrier tracking
€40-60KLow
Current state
About 6,800 order status tickets a year, answered by hand. First reply took 3.4 days in December 2025.
Target state
Zendesk tickets about an order get a drafted reply with the Shopify order and carrier tracking status. Agents send or edit it. Refunds, damaged goods and complaints stay with the team.
€40-60K/yrWeeks 2-5Low
Marketplace Returns Check: refunds matched to items received
€25-40KLow
Current state
About 120 Amazon refund cases a month checked by hand. In a 3-month sample, 9% of refunds had no item received back.
Target state
Refunds matched daily to warehouse receipts. Items never returned are listed with the evidence for a reimbursement request, which Inès submits.
€25-40K/yrWeeks 3-5Low
Listing Health Watch: suppressed listings and data warnings flagged daily
€20-35KLow
Current state
Nine Amazon listings were suppressed last quarter, each for 2 to 6 days, and found when sales dropped.
Target state
A daily check of Amazon listings and retailer data warnings, with the probable cause and the PIM field to fix. Manon corrects at the source.
€20-35K/yrWeeks 11-14LowDepends on: Product Data Hub: entered once, published everywhere

Implementation Timeline

Weeks are relative to implementation start; months represent four four-week blocks. Dependent work can be prepared in parallel with test fixtures, but production release waits for sync acceptance. This is a scenario schedule.

  1. Promotion Claim Matching

    Weeks 2 to 6

  2. Order Status Answers

    Weeks 2 to 5

  3. Marketplace Returns Check

    Weeks 3 to 5

  4. Artwork Review Flow

    Weeks 4 to 9

  5. Product Data Hub

    Weeks 4 to 12

  6. Promotion Calendar Link

    Weeks 6 to 9

  7. Forecast Assembly

    Weeks 8 to 13

  8. Listing Health Watch

    Weeks 11 to 14

  9. Retailer sell-out feeds and price files

    Weeks 14 to 16

Month 1: Claim matching starts on the two largest retailers. Order status answers and the returns check go live before the December peak. A person reviews every drafted reply and every flagged claim.

Month 2: Artwork review flow used for all new pack changes. Product data hub in progress, starting with the data pool connection. Promotion calendar shared with planning.

Month 3: Product data published from the PIM to Divalto, the data pool and Amazon. Forecast assembly ready for the January S&OP. Target: measure proof rounds, data warnings and claim recoveries against the September baseline.

Month 4: Listing health watch live and retailer feeds in progress. A second product data coordinator and a second planner run each workflow before handover is accepted.

Projected Annual Value

Promotion claims overpaid (6.8% of €2.4M, 60-80% recovered)€100-130K
Earlier launch margin (2-3 weeks gained × 60 launches × ~€1,400 weekly gross margin)€170-250K
Released capacity (55.6 person-hours/week × 46 weeks × €40-48 loaded hourly cost)€100-120K
Fewer promotion shortages and less scrapped packaging€60-100K
Peak service without overflow staffing; unreturned refunds reclaimed€40-70K
€470-670K
projected annual value

Direct initiative value counts each build on its own; projected value adds launch timing and shared effects. Earlier launch margin assumes the listing date is the constraint and applies only where shelf space is already agreed. Released capacity means hours moved from copying and chasing to brand, sales and supply work; no headcount reduction is assumed. Claim recoveries depend on retailer agreement and are estimated from a sample.

Phase 1
War Map
Sample deliverable
Phase 2-3
Implementation
12-16 weeks
Phase 3+
Ongoing
Usage-based

How much time could this free up?

Choose one non-overlapping task category and the people who actually perform it. These inputs are scenario assumptions; replace them with a measured baseline.

180
52,000
40
31
40

2,232

Task hours per week

€2,901,600

Annual cost allocated to this work

892.8

Potentially released hours per week

€1,160,640

Annual gross value of that capacity

Hours = people × weekly hours × task share. Allocated cost = people × annual loaded cost × task share. Potential capacity multiplies each by the releasable share.

This is not net ROI or a payroll saving. Necessary manual work remains. Adoption and quality must be measured; actual uptake may be lower. Implementation investment, model and hosting costs, maintenance and supervision are excluded. Cash savings require a separate spending decision; otherwise the benefit is capacity available for other work.

How We Work

1
War Map Review
We walk through this deliverable together. You challenge the numbers, confirm the priorities, and tell us what we missed. This is your map. We built it, but you own it.
2
Remediation
Before we build anything, we fix what needs fixing. Data quality, missing SOPs, system access. Your team gets briefed on the plan. No surprises.
3
Build + Deploy
We work directly with your operations team. Systems go live one at a time, in priority order. Release gates cover representative cases, permissions, failures and escalation; consequential actions retain the agreed human authorization. This illustrative schedule targets first production results in month 1.
4
Transfer
We train your team. We document everything. We make sure the people who run your operations can run these systems without us. The capability is yours permanently.
5
Exit
Handover is accepted when your team can operate and recover the agreed systems. Any continuing support is separately scoped, with a named owner and a documented exit.

War Map

A real engagement is scoped in the Strategy Session and may begin with a War Map or a bounded Feasibility Sprint.

Request a Strategy Session

Direct accountability. Scope agreed before work begins.