I help white-label and private-label consumer brands plan inventory, evaluate China-based suppliers and understand true landed costs. AI-assisted analysis supports my recommendations; your commercial constraints guide the work.
Six areas. Most engagements start in one and pull in two or three as the real problem surfaces.
The commercial side of the supply chain: what to buy, how much, when, and what it does to cash.
I define the supplier evaluation process. China-based partners execute field checks, sampling and factory work to that process, so you can review the evidence before committing to a supplier.
Getting the first production run right, then making the second and tenth boring.
Route, compliance and timing planned together, because a cheap freight quote that fails customs is not cheap. I am not a domestic logistics or fulfilment provider.
I find the broken workflow step, simplify it and document a system your team can run. AI supports research and reporting; owners and review points keep the process accountable.
Closer to an experienced operator sitting inside the company than a consulting report that lands in an inbox.
If two or three of these sound like your last quarter, we should talk.
Understand the business, product economics and demand. Agree the decision your team needs to make and check where the work gets stuck.
Identify where the supply chain or workflow is breaking, and what it is costing in cash, time or margin.
Build the right sourcing, procurement, inventory, quality, logistics and operational workflow for your scale.
Turn the workflow into a lean, repeatable system with owners, triggers and documentation.
Work with your team and the relevant China-based partners to put it into production.
Keep improving speed, inventory, cash flow, margin and decision quality as the business scales.
These are operating experiences. They are separate from the AI-assisted advisory work I offer today.
I add product cost, allocated freight and insurance, duties, clearance, destination handling and other applicable costs, then divide by expected sellable units. Quotes must use comparable terms and destinations. Recoverable import VAT is tracked separately for cash planning; qualified customs and tax advisers confirm classification, valuation and tax treatment.
I model demand over replenishment lead time and the review interval, add a justified safety buffer, then subtract inventory position: usable stock plus confirmed incoming stock less outstanding demand. I check the result against MOQs, cash and seasonality. Arrival dates matter, so inbound stock must be time-phased when it arrives after the demand it needs to cover.
I help your team decide how products are bought, made and replenished, and what those choices cost. The scope can cover demand planning, supplier evaluation, landed costs, MOQs, quality and import considerations. China-based partners execute agreed field checks; your team approves purchase commitments.
I work on buying depth, true landed cost and supplier dependencies. Your team gets a plan with clear assumptions and repeatable workflows, so it can assess the next buy with the relevant evidence in view.
Start with the product and the compliance requirement for the destination market, then pick suppliers who can evidence both. After that: sampling and factory checks, landed cost including duty and freight, an incoterm and route that matches your cash cycle, and a reorder rule written before the first container lands.
I compare supplier identity, capability, samples and product-specific documentation against the specification. China-based partners execute agreed field checks to my process. I review the evidence and unresolved risks; qualified compliance professionals confirm applicable requirements, and your team approves the supplier commitment.
I assess demand variability, supplier lead times, MOQs and the cash available before recommending buying depth and reorder points. Smaller, more frequent orders may suit some SKUs; others need more cover. The plan makes those trade-offs explicit and is reviewed as the evidence changes.
AI helps organise supplier research, demand signals, landed-cost scenarios and operational notes. I check constraints, assumptions and missing evidence before recommending a next step. Your team retains approval of purchase commitments.
Document the steps, remove unnecessary handoffs and assign an owner and trigger to each task. Automate repetitive reporting where it is useful, with review points and SOPs that support a new team member.
My private-label sourcing checklist for China to the EU and UK covers supplier checks, compliance review, landed-cost assumptions, MOQ exposure and reorder quantities. Use it to prepare the question you want to work through.
For buying depth and timing, the inventory reorder planning guide explains stock position, review cycles and why late inbound cannot cover earlier demand.
Written by Prateek Lalwani; detailed engagements are scoped separately.
In a 30-minute introduction, we explore your buying, supplier or workflow question and clarify priorities. If there is a fit, we agree a separately scoped diagnostic or advisory engagement.
More on my AI-assisted supply chain workflows and my certification.