Did I Get What I Paid For?

A Post-Implementation Review of Warehouse Automation Performance and ROI

Major warehouse automation investments are approved based on clear business cases, detailed designs, and defined performance expectations.

But after go-live, many leaders quietly begin asking a difficult question:

Is the system actually delivering what we paid for?

Throughput is not meeting expectations
Labor reductions did not fully materialize
Downtime and workarounds are becoming "normal SOP"
ROI conversations are getting more uncomfortable

Is this You?

You are a warehouse leader at a growing company that has just implemented a major automation project.

The system went live. It works.

But, getting throughput is harder than expected.

Labor is higher than modeled.

The system performs, but not at the level the business case assumed.

Now you are asking a question that is both simple and difficult:

Did I get what I paid for?

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How Good Projects Get Off Track

Drawing from real-world warehouse automation experiences, this paper explores patterns that frequently erode performance and ROI, such as:

Leadership bandwidth constraints
Change orders that quietly impacted the system
Optimistic substitutions made to protect schedule
Incomplete design data
Your business changed faster than you thought

These are not stories of failure. They are examples of how good projects drift when assumptions, business realities, and operational complexity evolve over time.

Read the Stories

A Disciplined Three-Phase Framework

The paper introduces a structured framework to objectively assess performance and define practical next steps:

Phase A – What was designed and agreed?
Clarify original business case intent, design assumptions, and performance commitments.

Phase B – What is the current state today?
Measure real throughput, labor, downtime, and demand conditions.

Phase C – What can be done about it?

Quantify financial impact and identify focused, realistic improvement paths.

This approach is not about blame, redesign, or vendor defense. It is about clarity, accountability, and measurable improvement.

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What You Will Get

With the "Did I Get What I Paid For?" engagement, you will get:

A structured way to evaluate automation performance post go-live
Clear questions to ask internal teams and vendors
Insight into whether performance gaps are structural or execution-based
A framework for quantifying unit cost, downtime cost, and ROI sensitivity
Guidance on when additional investment is justified, and when it is not

If you are questioning whether your automation investment is delivering the value it was intended to provide, this guide offers a disciplined way to step back and assess it objectively.