Cutting Order-to-Cash by 31% at a Logistics Operator
The Engagement
Northwave Logistics, a mid-market freight forwarder, was losing margin to a fragmented order-to-cash (O2C) process. Polance ran a 10-week diagnostic-and-deliver engagement, redesigning the workflow and embedding new KPIs across operations, finance, and customer service.
Diagnose
Six weeks embedded with the operations and finance teams, mapping every hand-off in the O2C cycle and quantifying the cost of each delay. The headline finding: 42% of cycle time was spent on rework, not real work.
Redesign & Deliver
Co-designed a new workflow with the operators who'd live with it, introduced exception-based handling for 80% of routine orders, and stood up a control tower with daily KPIs the leadership team actually used.
The Outcomes
The numbers we agreed to move — and where they landed.
31%
Faster Cycle Time
Order-to-cash cycle reduced from 18 days to 12.4 days in one quarter.
$3.6M
Working Capital Released
Freed by reduced DSO, redeployed into route-network expansion.
94%
Adoption
Of front-line operators on the new workflow within 60 days of go-live.
Engagement Facts
- Client Lead
- David Chen, COO
- Organization
- Northwave Logistics
- Location
- Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Engagement Type
- Diagnostic & Implementation
- Program
- Cutting Order-to-Cash by 31% at a Logistics Operator
Outcome
31% reduction in order-to-cash cycle time within the first quarter, $3.6M in working capital released, and a control-tower operating rhythm the team now runs without us.
Let's talk about the outcome
you're trying to move.
Tell us where you're stuck — strategy, digital, data, or all three. We'll bring a senior partner to the first call, share an honest perspective, and only propose work if we genuinely believe we can move the number.
Typical response within one business day · NDA on request · No obligation