Insights — Ad Astra Advisory

Smart sourcing: never rely on just one source

One factory, one port, one broker is a price-taker's position. Why redundancy across the supply base is the discipline behind every dollar we recover — from the buying seat.

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Supply ChainCPG

Supplements brand cuts packaging cost 18% — factory-direct

Three packaging components routed through one agency for six years. Two of the three came from factories we already used — at list price.

$640Kannual reduction · factory-direct, MOQ, freight consolidation

HRHospitality

5-state restaurant group recovers a workers’ comp surcharge

Three NAICS codes on file — two of them wrong. The experience mod ran inflated for two policy years before anyone checked.

$310Krefunded surcharge + premium reduction over 24 months

ITBeverage

Craft beverage brand consolidates ERP, e-commerce, and 3PL

Six platforms, four integrations, and a retired storefront still quietly billing $1,200 a month.

$220Kannual recovery + 14 hrs/week back to the team

Supply ChainMulti-State CPG

Freight bill never audited — 7% came straight back

Parcel and LTL invoices auto-paid for five years: billing errors, phantom accessorial charges, and a carrier contract never re-bid.

$210Kannual recovery — recurring, not one-time

Supply ChainBeverage

Glassware importer cuts landed cost 14% — same factory

The margin was hiding in the middle: HTS misclassification, broker fees never benchmarked, drayage through the wrong port.

$260Kannual savings · duty reclass, broker re-bid, port-to-door

Multi-CategoryLifestyle / DTC

Apparel brand rebuilds the operating layer end-to-end

PEO, HRIS, ERP, WMS, packaging — never integrated. Each category fixed alone leaves half the value on the table.

$1.2Mannual recovery across HR, IT, and supply chain

HRHospitality

14-location uniform program rebuilt

One broker for nine years. Pricing never benchmarked, inventory marked up on every replenishment.

$185Kannual recovery · factory-direct + program redesign

Supply ChainLifestyle / DTC

Retail fixture spend cut 42%

Custom fixtures sourced through the design agency — the same fixtures available factory-direct from a builder we already worked with.

$420Kannual savings on fixture refresh + POP consolidation

Supply ChainBeverage

Six promo vendors consolidated into two

Three of the six were sourcing from the same factory — at three different prices.

$310Kannual savings · consolidation + group buying

HRCannabis

4-entity operator reconciles payroll, badge, and state systems

Roles reclassified across four state entities so HR records matched the actual work. Audit-ready linkage between payroll, badge access, and state reporting — the CPA filed the recovered position.

6 figuresrecovered position, filed by the operator’s CPA

Benefits that pay the team back

Pre-tax structure plus $0 virtual care: employees take home more per paycheck, and the employer’s payroll-tax bill drops. A complement to existing benefits — not a replacement.

~$682employer savings per employee, per year

AI & Automation

Order-to-invoice reconciliation, automated

The manual matching that quietly ate a week of an ops hire’s month — killed with boring, dependable automation. No GPT wrappers.

12 hrsper week returned to the team

* Representative composites built from typical engagement outcomes. Copy a card straight into an email — that’s what they’re for.

What recovery looks like, story by story.