How is pricing structured?
Fixed fee per engagement, quoted in writing after the initial consultation. You know the total before work begins. Extended implementation support is billed monthly with 30 days' notice to conclude.
Overview / Services
Capabilities
Consulting services for life sciences and distribution operations
Three practice areas, delivered as fixed-price engagements with defined deliverables and a documented handoff.
Practice area 01
Data collection & reporting
Leadership asks a reasonable question — why supply spend jumped, how long intake actually takes, which shift generates the rework — and the honest answer is that nobody knows. Not because the team is careless, but because no one ever designed a way to capture it.
OEP determines what is genuinely worth tracking, then build collection into the existing workflow rather than bolting it on. If a lab technician or a warehouse lead has to open a separate spreadsheet to record something, it will not survive the month.
- Definition of the small set of measures that drive decisions
- Collection designed to fit the workflow, not interrupt it
- Extraction from existing EHR, ERP, or WMS systems where possible
- One-page management reporting rather than an unused dashboard
- Data audit method to verify the numbers stay trustworthy
- Separation of operational metrics from PHI and regulated records
Typical engagement
A focused review of one department or process, producing a written measurement plan, the collection tools themselves, and a reporting format your managers will actually use.
Common triggers
- Budget variances nobody can explain
- Conflicting numbers from different departments
- Reporting that takes days to assemble by hand
- A new system that nobody trusts yet
Practice area 02
Supply chain management
Stockouts and overstock are the same failure wearing different clothes. Both come from par levels set by memory, ordering driven by whoever noticed an empty shelf, and no visibility into what is sitting in a back room two floors away.
In regulated settings the stakes are sharper. An expired item is an audit finding, an untraceable lot is a serious exposure, and some materials have no substitute. OEP works through those specifics rather than applying a generic retail inventory model.
- Par levels rebuilt from actual consumption data
- Vendor and contract review, including unused GPO terms
- Receiving and put-away processes that catch errors at the dock
- Expiry rotation and lot-level recall traceability
- A reorder method your staff can run independently
Typical engagement
A full assessment of inventory, procurement, and distribution for one facility or site, followed by implementation of revised par levels, processes, and controls.
Common triggers
- Recurring stockouts of critical items
- Expired product write-offs
- Supply spend rising faster than volume
- A survey or audit finding on materials handling
Practice area 03
Workforce training & onboarding
In most laboratory, manufacturing, and distribution environments, training is an oral tradition. A new hire shadows whoever is available, absorbs that person's particular habits, and learns the rest by making mistakes. It works, slowly, and it quietly penalizes your best people by adding a second job to their day.
OEP converts what experienced staff already know into material that teaches without them, then train those staff to run the program so it outlives the engagement.
- Written procedures for the tasks that actually cause errors
- A structured ramp with checkpoints at week one, 30 days, and 90 days
- Competency verification that measures skill rather than attendance
- Preceptor training so the load is shared and consistent
- Documentation that stands up to inspection and audit requirements
- Competency records aligned to CLIA personnel requirements
Typical engagement
Design and pilot of a complete onboarding program for one role or department, including all written materials, competency tools, and preceptor training.
Common triggers
- Turnover concentrated in the first 90 days
- Errors traced to inconsistent training
- Senior staff overloaded with training duties
- Rapid hiring ahead of an expansion
Our approach
How an engagement works
Every project follows the same four stages, scaled to the size of the problem.
STAGE 01
Initial call
An initial call to understand the situation. If we are not the right fit, we will say so.
STAGE 02
Scope & proposal
A written proposal with fixed pricing, a defined end date, and a clear description of deliverables.
STAGE 03
Assessment & build
Time observing the actual work — the stockroom, the production floor, the receiving dock — then building the fix.
STAGE 04
Handoff
Documentation, templates, and a trained internal owner so the improvement holds after we leave.
Practice area 04
Market research & intelligence
Operational decisions are commercial decisions. Whether to add a product line, qualify a second supplier, enter an adjacent segment, or replace a system are all questions that get answered with whatever evidence happens to be at hand — which is usually a competitor's website, a vendor's pitch deck, and one board member's instinct.
OEP assembles the evidence properly. Research is scoped to a specific decision with a date attached, not delivered as a general industry report that sits unread. The output states what was found, what it means for the decision, and where the analysis is uncertain.
- Competitive landscape and positioning analysis
- Market sizing and segment prioritization
- Supplier, CDMO, and contract partner scanning
- Technology and vendor evaluation, including LIMS, ERP, and QMS platforms
- Pricing and cost benchmarking against comparable operations
- Distribution channel and 3PL assessment
- Regulatory pathway landscape for a product or test under consideration
- Ongoing industry monitoring briefs for leadership
Typical engagement
A defined research question, a stated decision deadline, and a written findings document with a recommendation and the reasoning behind it. Primary interviews where the answer is not in public sources.
Common triggers
- A build, buy, or partner decision with real capital behind it
- Sole-source dependency that needs a second option identified
- A system replacement where every vendor claims the same thing
- Board or investor questions the team cannot currently answer
Engagements scoped to finish
Fixed pricing, defined deliverables, and a documented handoff to a named internal owner. No open-ended retainers, and no dependency on the consultant remaining in place.
Engagement details
Frequently asked questions
Do you work on site?
Yes, and for this work it is usually necessary. Par levels cannot be rebuilt and training cannot be written without observing the work directly. Analysis and documentation happen remotely.
How small is too small?
Not very. A single laboratory, one distribution site, or a single department inside a larger organization are all workable. What matters is whether someone has authority to change how the work is done.
How is protected health information handled?
Laboratory and diagnostics environments generate PHI whether or not an operational engagement needs it. OEP scopes work to avoid PHI wherever possible, since supply, throughput, and process data rarely requires it. Where access is unavoidable, OEP operates under your business associate agreement, your access controls, and minimum-necessary principles.
How is proprietary and controlled data handled?
Batch records, validation files, formulations, and controlled documents stay inside your systems. OEP works under your confidentiality agreements and quality system procedures, and designs deliverables so operational reporting does not carry regulated content into general circulation.
Not sure which practice area fits?
That is what the first conversation is for. Describe the situation and we will tell you honestly whether we can help.