Capability

Operations & Manufacturing

We bring practical expertise in process, labor, automation, productivity, quality, capacity, and operating systems to improve and transform operations.

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Kelly Neuman Managing Principal, Operations & Manufacturing

Where we help

High-performing operations, from firefighting to flywheels.

We build resilient, data-driven operations that balance productivity, cost, quality, and employee engagement. Whether you are launching a new facility or optimizing an existing operation, we help your organization move from firefighting to flywheels of continuous improvement.

Typical outcomes: lower cost per unit, improved throughput, and stronger employee engagement.

What we do

Execution cadence. Operating rhythms that drive detailed planning, efficiency, and operational excellence.
Workflow design and standard work. Mapping and streamlining end-to-end workflows to improve throughput, eliminate waste, and standardize best practices across facilities.
Labor planning and flexible staffing. Predictive labor models that optimize shifts, reduce overtime, and align workforce capacity with demand.
Automation and digital tools. Integrating automation matched to process maturity and ROI goals, from evaluation and RFP to launch.
Continuous improvement. Kaizen programs and structured problem-solving that embed a culture of improvement.

Problems this capability solves

Ensure operations keeps pace with your business

Scale

Scale Complex Operations

Launch and ramp facilities, processes, and labor models that hold up as volume grows.

How we help Improve Performance

Improve Operational Performance

Raise productivity, increase throughput, and lower cost per unit by fixing the controllable drivers on the floor.

How we help Transform

Execute Complex Transformation

Turn automation and new operating models into results by redesigning roles, training, maintenance, and cadence before the pilot.

How we help

How we apply our model

Across your operations, from plan to habit.

Set DirectionDiagnose the operation
Assess asset utilization, labor mix, process flow, and capacity to find where performance is being lost.
Build SystemsRedesign the work
Design the processes, labor models, metrics, and automation plans, validated on the floor with the people who run them.
Execute & SustainLock in the gains
Implement alongside your team, then embed the cadence, standard work, and problem-solving habits that keep improving it.

Representative engagements

Recent operations work

Client names are kept confidential.

A new delivery model, scaled to 50+ markets

Client need: Scale Complex Operations: The client needed to improve delivery speed without heavy capital investment.
Capabilities: Supply Chain & Logistics, Operations & Manufacturing
What we built: Designed, launched, and scaled a new delivery model across more than 50 markets with minimal capital investment.
Outcome: Click-to-deliver fell from more than four days to under one day. The model was then adopted nationwide by a leading eCommerce company.

A national distributor’s move to data-centric, automated operations

Client need: Execute Complex Transformation: A national distributor was transitioning toward a data-centric, automation-enabled operating model.
Capabilities: Data, Analytics & AI Enablement, Operations & Manufacturing
What we built: Defined a new data architecture, analytics organization, metric governance, and decision systems, and strengthened automation evaluation, RFP, simulation, and maintenance-planning processes.
Outcome: A defined data, analytics, and decision foundation guiding the distributor’s shift to an automation-enabled operating model.

Business reviews that drive action

Client need: Build Sustainable Capability, Improve Operational Performance: Daily and weekly business reviews tracked a limited set of lagging output measures.
Capabilities: Operations & Manufacturing, Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness
What we built: Redesigned the reviews into performance mechanisms that connect input and output metrics, owners, root causes, and corrective actions.
Outcome: Stronger accountability and stabilized operational performance.

Flexible labor for an instant-fulfillment business

Client need: Improve Operational Performance: An instant-fulfillment enterprise needed labor capacity that could flex with demand.
Capabilities: Operations & Manufacturing
What we built: Designed and implemented an internal flexible labor and capacity strategy.
Outcome: Labor expense fell by $94K per week while resilience at peak demand improved.

We originally hired Cade Operations Consulting to build a flexible labor program for our warehouse network — and the results were strong enough that we kept extending the engagement.

Head of NA Operations

Capability leader

Led by an operator who has run some of the largest networks in the world.

Kelly Neuman

Managing Principal, Operations & Manufacturing

Kelly brings more than 20 years of experience building the planning models, operating cadences, and governance mechanisms that turn complex priorities into disciplined execution, across Amazon, Boeing, and Accenture.

Before Cade Ops:

Delivered initiatives with $1.2B+ in cost savings and $10B+ in revenue enablement across Amazon’s Last Mile network.
Scaled a global product and planning organization from 21 to 190+ people supporting 8B+ annual deliveries.
Led 700+ associates in fulfillment, cutting safety incidents by 35% and costs by 16% a year.
Led industrial engineering for Boeing’s 777X program, including capacity planning and rate readiness.

Kelly’s full profile

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