Launceston City Mission provides support and assistance to people experiencing physical, emotional, social and spiritual challenges across Northern Tasmania. Through a combination of retail operations, grants and donations, the organisation supports more than 10,000 people each year and engages more than 650 paid and volunteer staff in delivering its services.

With approximately 45% of organisational income generated through its network of 16 retail and resale stores, effective stock management is critical to supporting both operational sustainability and community outcomes. The Project Lab was engaged to investigate ongoing stock management issues and identify opportunities to strengthen processes, systems and accountability

Challenge: Understanding and resolving stock management discrepancies

Launceston City Mission was experiencing ongoing discrepancies in stock movements across its retail operations. These inconsistencies were creating uncertainty around inventory reporting and requiring significant time from managers and finance staff to investigate and resolve.

The issue extended beyond stock accuracy. Valuable organisational resources were being diverted towards managing discrepancies, while time that could have been spent on strategic priorities and service delivery was consumed by tracking, monitoring and reconciling stock movements. The organisation needed a clear understanding of how inventory flowed through its operations and where opportunities existed to improve consistency, accountability and performance.

Solution: Process mapping and operational improvement

The Project Lab worked closely with key stakeholders to understand how inventory moved through the organisation and identify the root causes of stock management challenges. Through stakeholder consultation, process mapping and operational analysis, we developed a practical roadmap for improving inventory management and strengthening organisational capability

Our approach:

• Reviewed existing stock management systems, processes and inventory data.
• Interviewed key staff members to understand operational challenges and validate identified pain points.
• Mapped current-state processes to identify inconsistencies, bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement.
• Clarified stock handling, sorting and storage procedures to reduce the likelihood of errors and misallocation.
• Provided targeted training and support for key operational roles.
• Recommended enhancements to stock management systems and supporting processes.
• Established quality control measures to support consistent ways of working and continuous improvement.

Project results

Working in partnership with Launceston City Mission, The Project Lab helped deliver a solution that was embraced by staff and supported lasting operational change. By creating greater visibility of inventory processes and strengthening ownership across the organisation, the team was able to improve both operational performance and confidence in stock management practices.

The engagement delivered:

• Greater staff understanding of inventory processes and their role in achieving accurate stock management outcomes.
• Increased ownership and accountability for stock management activities.
• Stock variations reduced to negligible levels.
• More efficient movement of inventory through the retail network.
• Increased revenue through faster distribution of higher-quality stock to stores.

Most importantly, Launceston City Mission gained greater confidence in its inventory management processes, enabling staff and leadership to spend less time investigating discrepancies and more time focusing on supporting the Tasmanian community

"The Project Lab really helped to clarify the challenge around procurement. I am glad we did the process work around the logistics because it helped us to understand the bigger challenges around procurement” – Brian Beswick, General Manager Corporate Services, Launceston City Mission

Looking to identify process inefficiencies, improve operational performance or strengthen organisational systems?

The Project Lab helps organisations understand how work is really getting done, uncover improvement opportunities and implement practical changes that reduce risk, improve consistency and support better outcomes.

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