OPERATIONAL MARGIN ADVISORY
Your revenue is growing.
Is your margin keeping up?
Meridian Operations Group helps product-based businesses keep more of every sale. We find where margin leaks across your supply chain, systems, and daily work. Then we help you fix it.
Take this short 2 minute assessment to gauge your margin-protection maturity.
10 yes/no questions · 2 minutes · Confidential · No software integration required
Executive Leadership
Operational Impact
Margin Recovered
SYMPTOMS
You May Have An Operating-Margin
Problem If:
These are common signals that operational complexity is quietly consuming margin, service, and working capital.
Identify your root friction points before revenue erosion compounds across your supply chain and fulfillment infrastructure.
Inventory is rising while availability or service remains inconsistent.
Freight, fulfillment, return, or warranty costs keep climbing without a clear root cause.
Your team is busy but operational initiatives do not produce sustained margin gains.
Technology investments have not translated into better execution or predictable margins.
You know what needs to change but lack the internal leadership bandwidth across functions.
Rapid growth has made handoffs across planning, fulfillment, suppliers, and customer experience harder to control.
ECONOMIC DIVERGENCE DIAGNOSTIC
Revenue Doesn't Tell You
What Each Sale Is Really Worth.
Top-line figures conceal compounding structural friction. Two consecutive quarters can show identical gross transaction volumes while enterprise cash generation contracts by double digits. When contract terms, line-item logistics, and localized operational penalties mutate in isolation, the real margin collapses silently between order intake and bank settlement.
Modern supply chains and multi-channel fulfillment models rarely suffer from a single catastrophic failure. Instead, profitability is dismantled by eight micro-leakages that standard accounting dashboards blend into blended averages and general operating expenses.
Carve-outs in freight accessorials rarely reflected in initial unit pricing
Channel-specific compliance chargebacks absorbing up to 6.2% of ticket value*
Return routing latency and restock degradation destroying residual asset value
*Illustrative example. Actual cost structures vary by company, channel, and operating model.
OUR 3 Rs APPROACH
The Supply Chain Advantage Method
Meridian's signature three-phase approach—Reveal, Reimagine, Realize—designed to pinpoint where operational breakdowns are costing you, connect every decision to profitability, and execute changes that show up in the numbers and hold.
PHASE 01 : REVEAL
Reveal
Pinpoint exactly where operational breakdowns are costing you—uncovering hidden challenges, financial leakage, and the highest-value opportunities for improvement.
- Cost-to-serve and margin-leakage fact base
- Working-capital exposure (inventory, returns, cash cycle)
- Service-impact and operational-variation hotspots
PHASE 02 : REIMAGINE
Reimagine
Build a supply chain blueprint that connects decisions to profitability—reimagining processes, operating models, and technology-enabled solutions around your strategic objectives.
Root-cause narrative leadership can stand behind
Redesigned processes, operating model, and technology options
Sequenced 12-month roadmap with owners, milestones, and decision points
Value model tied to P&L and cash outcomes
PHASE 03 : REALIZE
Realize
Execute changes that show up in the numbers and hold—partnering with your leaders to drive execution, establish accountability, and sustain results.
Cross-functional execution leadership and issue resolution
Quick-win execution while structural changes are built
Operational cadence (KPIs, routines, accountability)
Value capture tracking and sustainment mechanisms
OPERATIONAL DIAGNOSTIC AUDIT
Where Is Margin Leaking?
Identify the silent, systemic friction points eroding profitability across your fulfillment, vendor compliance, and supply chain ecosystem.
Retail & Customer Compliance
- OTIF delivery window violations & automated retailer fines
- Routing guide infraction deductions on big-box channels
- GS1-128 barcode & advanced shipping notice (ASN) mismatches
Inventory & Working Capital
- Carrying costs of aged SKU overhang and ghost inventory
- Safety stock inflation driven by uncalibrated lead times
- Unplanned inventory write-downs and salvage liquidation
Fulfillment & Transportation
- Unbudgeted accessorials, liftgate fees, and fuel surcharges
- Inefficient dimensional weight packaging driving freight spikes
- Split-shipment fragmentation across multi-node distribution
Order Management & EDI
- Manual exception handling & order rework latency
- EDI transaction set 850/856 sync failures triggering delays
- Mismatched unit-of-measure conversions between ERP and WMS
Returns & Reverse Logistics
- Excessive touch labor during return inspection & re-kitting
- Delayed restocking cycle times eroding seasonal resale value
- Unreconciled return freight chargebacks and transit damages
Settlement & Claims Recovery
- Unearned early payment cash discounts taken by customers
- Post-audit chargeback claims lingering beyond dispute windows
- Unreconciled co-op advertising and rebate leakage
Principal & CEO
Leadership That Understands Complexity
Tiffany Perkins, MBA
With more than 24 years of experience leading supply chain operations, technology, and business transformation, Tiffany Perkins founded Meridian Operations Group to give product-based businesses access to the executive-level expertise and hands-on leadership they need to thrive. Meridian serves as a single, trusted partner—bringing together a founder's mindset, technology expertise, and operational excellence to uncover hidden opportunities, protect margin, and turn strategy into measurable results.
Where multinational consultancies deploy junior associates with generic playbooks, Meridian delivers senior-led diagnostic rigor, aligning operational workflow, logistics infrastructure, and capital allocation directly with your bottom-line margin retention.
24+ Years
Transformation Leadership
Boutique
Founder-Led Advisory
Direct Execution
Zero Junior Delegation
EXECUTIVE ADVISORY & MARGIN RECOVERY
Stop Giving Back The Profit
You've Already Earned.
Find where margin leaks across fulfillment, logistics, and vendor compliance with a full diagnostic led directly by Tiffany Perkins.
Confidential Assessment • Led Directly by Tiffany Perkins • No Capital Expenditure Required
Meridian Operations Group
Operations and supply chain advisory for product-based businesses. We also support manufacturing, logistics, and consumer packaged goods teams.
PRACTICE AREAS
• Margin Leakage Diagnostics
• CPG SKU Profitability Audit
• Manufacturing Yield Stabilization
• Freight & Fulfillment Restructuring
• Executive Operations Retainers
EXECUTIVE OFFICE
Meridian Operations Group
2501 Chatham Road Ste R
Springfield, IL 62704
Advisory Inquiries:
[email protected]
Certified Minority Business Enterprise (NMSDC)
© 2026 Meridian Operations Group. All rights reserved. Operations and supply chain advisory for product-based businesses.
STRUCTURED ADVISORY ENGAGEMENTS
Ways to Engage
Focused reviews and senior leadership to stop margin leaks in product-based businesses.
30 DAYS DURATION
Margin Diagnostic
Best For: Product-based businesses seeing margin slip or service problems that no one has measured yet.
Choose this when: You know something is wrong and need clear facts before you spend money to fix it.
Typical Outcome: Root cause clarity, calculated financial exposure, and an actionable executive decision memo.
6–8 WEEKS DURATION
Margin Blueprint
Best For: Product-based businesses with problems spread across inventory, 3PLs, manufacturing, systems, and customer experience.
Choose this when: You know where it hurts and need a clear, step-by-step 12-month plan.
Typical Outcome: Validated operational fact base, operating-model diagnostic, prioritized opportunities, and a sequenced 12-month roadmap.
6 MONTHS DURATION
Margin Recovery Engagement
Best For: Leadership teams that know what to fix but don't have the time or people to get it done.
Choose this when: You have a plan and need someone to lead the work until results show up and hold.
Typical Outcome: Hands-on workstream governance, disciplined value-capture cadence, and measurable P&L margin improvement.
ONGOING ADVISORY
Fractional CSCO Advisory
Best For: Growing product-based businesses that need senior supply chain leadership without a full-time hire.
Choose this when: Your team is stretched running the day-to-day. You need an extra set of hands to find root causes and failure points, and drive change that sticks.
Typical Outcome: Embedded executive leadership, high-stakes decision support, internal team mentorship, and vendor escalation authority.
Not sure which one fits? You don't have to choose. The 20-minute call is for leaders of product-based businesses who see margin slipping. We'll look at what's going on and decide together which path fits, or if none does.
RESULTS FROM PAST LEADERSHIP ROLES
Measurable Impact
Results Tiffany led in past leadership roles, before founding Meridian. Company details withheld.
CASE BRIEF 01 / ORDER MANAGEMENT
Situation: Sales order processing sat with local teams across Americas markets and had to move to an offshore team with a 13-hour time difference, without disrupting customers.
What Tiffany Did: Led the transition from local markets to the offshore delivery model, establishing KPIs and SLAs to drive accountability and standardizing reporting across markets.
Key Outcome
The first region to transition seamlessly, completed in mid-September just ahead of peak, in under 90 days, with no missed deliverables or adverse effects. Regionalization then uncovered issues that, once fixed, cut PROFECO cases in Mexico 60%.
In a past leadership role: Regional Supply Chain Director, Americas, consumer technology
CASE BRIEF 02 / REVERSE LOGISTICS
Situation: A backlog of roughly 20,000 consumer returns was delaying refunds and exchanges, dragging down NPS and driving customer escalations. Returned product couldn't be released to refurbishment until each return transaction posted, so refurbishment velocity slowed.
What Tiffany Did: Ran a Pareto analysis of failure points, fixed outdated serial-number fraud rules and misrouted returns, and applied automation and predictive analytics.
Key Outcome
Cut returns turnaround time 80%, raised NPS 40+ points, and increased no-touch returns 60%.
In a past leadership role: Regional Supply Chain Director, Americas, consumer technology
CASE BRIEF 03 / ORDER-TO-CASH COMPLIANCE
Situation: Recurring retailer deductions looked like a shipping-performance problem, and order management processes carried avoidable cost and regulatory exposure.
What Tiffany Did: Traced the root cause to a system setting (a load-balancing parameter set to 1,000 instead of 4), then streamlined order management processes and controls.
Key Outcome
Drove more than $3M in targeted annual cost avoidance, identified within a 30-day window.
In a past leadership role: Regional Supply Chain Director, Americas, consumer technology
20-minute call • Work directly with Tiffany Perkins