Supply chain × AI enablement
From tangled
to instrumented.
Hodenote untangles mid-market supply chains — then tunes the systems you already own so they stay clear. Network design, ERP tuning, AI where it genuinely fits, and the dashboards that prove it worked.
Independent · direct senior access
Built for
- Manufacturers
- Distributors
- Scale-ups
- Agencies & consultancies
The tangle
Nothing is broken.
Everything is
expensive.
Tangled supply chains rarely fail outright. They just quietly charge you rent — in cash, in freight, in the hours your best people spend reconciling instead of deciding.
Cash asleep in inventory
10–15%Safety stock set once, years ago, and never revisited. Coverage where demand died; stockouts where it grew.
of inventory value, across recent engagements
Expediting as a habit
7–15%Air freight and overtime became the plan, not the exception. The premium never shows up as a line item anyone owns.
of freight spend, across recent engagements
One spreadsheet, one person
The forecast that runs purchasing lives on a laptop. It works — until they take a vacation.
An ERP that reports history
The system records what already happened accurately. It just never tells anyone what to do next.
The untangling
Four moves, in order.
No transformation theater.
Every engagement runs the same spine. You always know which move you are in, what it costs, and what you get to keep when it ends.
01
Diagnose
Dive into your actual data — not a survey. Where cash sits, where service breaks, which decisions are made blind.
Ends with a ranked list, sized in dollars.
02
Design
Network, inventory policy, and planning process redrawn together — because changing one without the others just moves the problem.
Ends with a plan your team can defend.
03
Fit
Your existing systems configured to do the job properly first. Only the genuinely missing piece gets built, and it gets built small.
Ends with something running in production.
04
Hand off
Documentation, training, and source code in your repository. The goal is a client who no longer needs the consultant.
Ends with it yours, in writing.
Clarity
The tangle resolves into something you can steer.
Same business, same people, same ERP. What changes is that the signal finally reaches the person who can act on it — on a Monday morning, without asking anyone to run a report.
Service vs. working capital
Rolling 12 mo- Fill rate
- Inventory value
Forecast accuracy
+11 pts
improvement
Planning cycle
3 days
down from 30 days
Selected work
Anonymized, but real.
Over half
of 15 distribution centers closed, two-day delivery held
Half the network, same two-day promise
Consolidated a 15-site North American distribution network without giving up the two-day delivery window customers had been promised.
Read this one4-step
S&OP cycle built from the ground up
Rebuilding planning after a customer disappeared
One of the largest retail customers filed for bankruptcy. Process mapping, Kaizen events and a new four-step S&OP cycle put planning back on its feet.
Read this one60s
fill rate at the start, accounts at risk
Recovering fill rate, and the accounts that depended on it
COVID supplier disruption drove fill rates into the 60s and put the largest retail accounts at risk. Forecasting software, training and an S&OP link brought them back.
Read this one60s → 90s
fill rate, target — engagement in progress
A small company carrying a large company’s complexity
Bills of material running past eight levels with 100–200 components each, and no practical control over them. AI-driven finite scheduling attached to the existing ERP.
Read this one
Tell us where it hurts.
A 30-minute call, no deck. Describe the symptom and you will leave with at least one thing worth trying — whether or not we work together.
Replies come from a person, usually within one business day.