"NLA is different from many other consulting firms. They often receive the bulk of their compensation over time from realized savings. They don't make promises and hope for the best. Their consultants are seasoned industry veterans who are past top executives of operating companies. They only use two or three specialists to do their initial visit - a less disruptive and less expensive approach."

Ron Decker
Director, Entrepreneur Program
University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire

Crisis Resolution-Distressed Company Assistance

In the direst of circumstances, NLA acts with urgency to assist distressed clients by making practical, low cost improvements to cut costs, decrease risk, and increase agility.

We encourage distressed clients to invest in near term gains with the objective of reducing known fixed costs, and correspondingly migrate toward variable cost relationships. Our pragmatic approach refocuses from longer term planning to near term gains. Among the strategies that often pay fast dividends are:

  • Making carriers compete for shipments.
  • Cutting transportation costs by engineering larger shipments and continuous moves.
  • Boosting fleet performance.
  • Consolidating shipments and cross docking.
  • Migrating from fixed to variable cost contracts.
  • Minimizing inventory deployment.
  • Building “cost+” dedicated carrier relationships.
  • Recovering vendor freight allowances.
  • Consolidating inbound shipments.
  • Improving inventory performance.
  • Hedging, trading and negotiating volatile supplies

Successes Include

  • Intervened on an emergency basis to stop the Gulf and Western repossession of 750 Freymiller trucks. Quashed the Rocor International unfriendly takeover of Freymiller. Enabled an orderly partial liquidation; continued streamlined operations generating revenues that sustained the business.
  • Within 30 days of being retained, went to the national LTL market with an intense and urgent RFP that reduced O'Sullivan Furniture Company's outbound logistics costs by more than $1 million annually.
  • Within 6 months, eliminated 24 of the then existing 26 external warehouses, instituted a flow distribution model, custom designed internal consolidation processes, reengineered finished goods warehouse space related storage processes, conducted urgent regional distribution RFP that reduced transportation costs by 41%, cut inventories by 26%, and enhanced first year bottom line by 2.3%, saving the enterprise from bankruptcy.