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DISTRIBUTION Saudi Arabia

Trading and distribution company: a new structure proven live before roll-out

INDUSTRY
Trading and distribution
LOCATION
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
ENGAGEMENT
6 months
FOCUS
Organisation restructuring, roles and authority, order-to-cash
60% fewer decisions waiting on the CEO's desk
35% faster order-to-delivery time
30% less slow-moving and dead stock
8 weeks of live pilot before full roll-out

The challenge

The company had grown from a small trading team into a business with several product lines, a sales force and its own warehouse. The structure had grown by adding people, not by organising the work. Reporting lines crossed, and almost every decision found its way to the top.

Sales, warehouse and accounts each ran their own way. Customers waited on orders, stock built up in the wrong places, and the leadership team spent its days clearing approvals instead of building the business. By then the company had about 85 staff and 6 product lines. It handled around 1,200 orders a month and held about SAR 9 million in stock.

What we found

We mapped who actually does what, traced orders from the salesman's visit to cash in the bank, and costed the delays, stock losses and duplicated effort along the way.

  1. 01
    Roles and reporting lines were unclear.Some people reported to two or three managers, and some tasks belonged to nobody. About 1 in 4 staff reported to more than one manager, and roughly 20 hours a week of work was duplicated across sales and accounts.
  2. 02
    Sales and stock were not connected.Fast movers ran out while slow movers sat in the warehouse. About SAR 1.6 million of stock had not moved in six months, while stock-outs on the top 50 items cost an estimated SAR 120,000 a month in lost sales.
  3. 03
    Everything waited at the top.Discounts, credit, purchases and staff issues all needed the CEO's sign-off. Around 70% of approvals went to the CEO, and orders waited 1 to 2 days for a signature.
    4.

What we built

Across the layers of the Organise to Grow model.

01 Operating model A new organisation structure with defined roles, responsibilities and authority levels, so decisions are made at the right level.
02 Operating backbone A documented order-to-cash process, role descriptions and a small set of KPIs for each role.
03 Design and live pilot The new structure ran in one part of the business for 8 weeks before roll-out. We adjusted it on real data and real friction, not on paper.
04 People and leadership Line managers prepared and coached to take decisions that used to go upward.

The results

The structure the company now runs on was tested before it was rolled out, so the team trusts it. Decisions move faster, orders flow from sales to warehouse to accounts without chasing, and the leadership team has time back for growth. Approvals reaching the CEO fell 60%, and order-to-delivery time dropped from 4.5 to 3 days. Dead stock fell 30% within six months.

Is your organisation ready for its next stage of growth?

Let's find out what is holding it back, and build what it takes to grow.