Proposal · HP-26-041
A warehouse network that plans itself
Ten weeks to audit Northwind Freight's fourteen-site network and prove self-planning replenishment between three of the sites, before any decision on a full rollout.
Your situation
Northwind Freight runs fourteen warehouses across the Netherlands, Belgium and North Rhine-Westphalia, four of them added with the Rotterdam acquisition in 2025. Each site still plans its own stock. Four regional planners set replenishment quantities from weekly spreadsheet exports, and when a site runs short, a neighbouring site covers it with a transfer.
The movement data you shared in August shows what that costs. In the first half of 2026, 23% of all pallet movements were transfers between Northwind's own sites, up from 15% two years earlier, at an annualised cost of about €1.9 million in handling and haulage. For the same product families, stock cover ranges from nine days in Antwerp to 41 days in Dortmund: the network is short and over-stocked at the same time.
Your team has already evaluated planning software and concluded, in our view correctly, that the tools are not the constraint. The constraint is that no one owns the network as a whole. There is no shared demand signal, no agreed service level per site, and no rule for when a transfer is cheaper than a stock-out. Software automates whatever rules it is given, so the rules have to come first.
What we recommend
Take Option B. A four-week audit of the whole network sets the rules and the business case; a six-week pilot then runs replenishment for Antwerp, Venlo and Dortmund from a single network model, on live orders. You decide on a rollout at the end of week 10 with measured results rather than a forecast.
We do not recommend committing to the full rollout (Option C) now. Data quality at the four acquired sites is untested, and the pilot will change how a rollout should be sequenced. The audit alone (Option A) tells you what is wrong but leaves your team to prove the fix.
What plans itself means in practice
Every night a shared network model proposes each site's replenishment quantities and inter-site transfers from actual demand, stock on hand, lead times and transfer cost. Your planners review exceptions and approve the plan instead of building it. In the pilot, nothing ships without a planner's approval.
What you have on 11 December
- A network model of all fourteen sites, built on your data and yours to keep.
- Agreed service levels per site and a written transfer rule.
- Six weeks of measured pilot results for three sites: transfers, stock cover and service level against the same weeks last year.
- A rollout plan, sequence and fixed price for the remaining eleven sites.
Three options
All three start on Monday 5 October and share the same four-week audit. They differ in how far you commit before seeing results.
Scope by option. Fees are fixed and exclude VAT. The recommended option is shaded.
| Scope | A · Audit only | B · Audit and pilot Recommended | C · Full rollout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Network data audit: 24 months of movements, stock and orders, all 14 sites | Included | Included | Included |
| Interviews and process mapping with 4 regional planners and 14 site leads | Included | Included | Included |
| Findings readout and business case (Gate 1) | Included | Included | Included |
| Replenishment pilot on live orders: Antwerp, Venlo, Dortmund | – | 6 weeks | 6 weeks |
| Network planning model built on Northwind data | – | Pilot sites | All 14 sites |
| WMS and forecast integration | – | File exchange, weekly | Live, nightly |
| Planner training | – | 4 regional planners | 4 planners and 14 site leads |
| Rollout to the remaining 11 sites | – | – | 3 waves, weeks 14 to 23 |
| Stabilisation and handover | – | Pilot handover, week 10 | 3 weeks, plus 60-day review |
| Harrowgate on site | 2 days a week | 3 days a week | 3 days a week |
| Duration | 4 weeks | 10 weeks | 26 weeks |
| Fee, excl. VAT | €48,000 | €96,000 | €180,000 |
Timeline
The gates are the point of the plan. Each option ends at a gate where you have new evidence and can stop, continue or change scope without paying for work not yet done.
Team
Three people, the same throughout. There is no hand-off to a delivery team after signature.
-
Marit Solberg
Engagement partner
Accountable for the recommendation. Leads both readouts and is your escalation point.
One day a week
-
Tomas Ekwueme
Planning lead
Runs the interviews, designs the transfer rule and service levels with your planners, and leads the pilot.
Three days a week, on site
-
Priya Venkataraman
Network analyst
Builds the network model from your data, keeps it running through the pilot and hands it over.
Full time, mostly remote
Assumptions and what we need from you
We assume
- Work starts Monday 5 October, which requires signature by Friday 2 October. A later signature moves every date week for week.
- The pilot sites are Antwerp, Venlo and Dortmund. A different set is possible if agreed by the end of week 3.
- Pilot orders are proposed by the model and approved by your planners. Nothing ships without approval.
- No new software licences are needed for the audit or the pilot; both run on our planning model. Licences for a rollout are quoted at Gate 2.
We need from you
- One counterpart with authority to decide at each gate. We suggest the Chief Operating Officer.
- WMS, order and forecast exports for the 24 months to August 2026, for all fourteen sites, in week 1, as files or read access.
- Two hours a week from each regional planner during the audit and four hours a week during the pilot.
- Thirty minutes with each site lead in weeks 2 and 3.
- A working space at your Rotterdam office two days a week.
Terms
Fees are fixed per option and exclude VAT. Travel and accommodation are billed at cost and capped at 8% of fees. Invoices are payable within 14 days.
Payment schedule as a share of the fee for each option.
| Option | On signature | Gate 1 · 30 Oct | Gate 2 · 11 Dec | Handover · 2 Apr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A · €48,000 | 50% | 50% | – | – |
| B · €96,000 | 30% | 40% | 30% | – |
| C · €180,000 | 25% | 25% | 25% | 25% |
Either party may stop at Gate 1 or Gate 2 by written notice. Fees are then due for completed phases only, and everything produced to that point is delivered.
Findings, the network model configured on your data and all training material belong to Northwind Freight. Harrowgate retains its methods and tooling. The mutual confidentiality agreement of 3 August 2026 covers this proposal and the work.
This proposal is valid for 30 days, until 25 October 2026.
Approval
Signing below accepts this proposal for the option marked. If no option is marked, Option B applies.
- Option A · €48,000
- Option B · €96,000 (recommended)
- Option C · €180,000
For Northwind Freight
- Name
- Title
- Signature
- Date
For Harrowgate Partners
- Name
- Marit Solberg
- Title
- Partner
- Signature
- Date