For organizations looking to outsource logistics operations or evaluate third-party providers, Divergence provides the operational engineering expertise to make the decision and the transition with confidence.

Third Party Logistics

We help organizations evaluate, select, and transition to different 3PL providers. Our role is to protect your operational standards and performance requirements through the handoff, ensuring the provider operates to the same accountability model as your in-house team.

Logistics Business Process Outsourcing (LBPO)

Not every company needs to build an internal industrial engineering team. LBPO is Divergence’s model for providing the labor management engineering function as a managed, outsourced service. We bring the engineers, the standards, the systems, and the coaching. You keep the operational results.

What LBPO Includes

Engineered Labor Standards as a Service
Divergence industrial engineers develop, implement, and maintain your engineered labor standards across all direct functions. Standards are built from time and motion studies under your real operating conditions using MOST and MSD methodologies. When processes change, we recalibrate. You do not need to staff, train, or retain your own IE team.

Performance Plus Platform Management

We deploy and manage the Performance Plus labor management platform in your facilities. Real-time productivity reporting, shift-level performance tracking, and variance analysis are delivered to your supervisors and managers without requiring internal system administration.

Ongoing Supervisor Coaching

Divergence coaches work inside your operation on a recurring basis. They train your supervisors to read performance data, identify barriers to productivity, and hold structured coaching conversations using the COACH methodology (Connect, Observe, Analyze, Coach, Habit). As your supervisors develop, the coaching cadence adjusts. The capability stays.

Program Management and Reporting

A dedicated Divergence project manager coordinates the engagement end to end. Monthly performance reports, standard accuracy audits, site-level progress tracking, and executive summaries are delivered on a fixed cadence. You receive the output without managing the process.

Multi-Site Rollout Capability

LBPO scales across facilities. Divergence follows a progressive deployment model: one site is stabilized before the next begins. This is the same approach used in the USCS program, where Divergence completed 20 installations across 12 states using a center-by-center rollout.

Who LBPO Is For

LBPO is designed for companies that need the results of a labor management program but do not want to build the internal infrastructure to run one. This includes:

• Distribution and warehouse operators running 3 or more facilities who lack an internal IE function
• 3PL providers that need to demonstrate measurable performance to their clients but do not employ industrial engineers
• Manufacturing operations expanding into new facilities where a temporary or permanent outsourced engineering function is more efficient than hiring
• Companies that previously ran a labor management program internally but lost the team to turnover and need to restart without rebuilding from zero

How LBPO Differs from 3PL Consulting

The 3PL section on this page covers how Divergence helps companies manage their third-party logistics providers. That is an advisory and oversight engagement.

LBPO is different. In an LBPO engagement, Divergence IS the outsourced function. We do not advise your team on how to do labor management. We do the labor management. Your facilities get engineered standards, a live LMS platform, trained supervisors, and recurring coaching without hiring a single industrial engineer.

Fractional Chief Operating Officer

Some operations need senior leadership before they can afford a full-time executive. A Fractional COO from Divergence gives your company access to 30+ years of operational engineering and executive leadership on a structured, part-time basis. You get the strategy, the systems, and the accountability of a COO without the full-time salary, benefits, and overhead.

What a Fractional COO Delivers

Operational Strategy and Execution Planning
Your Fractional COO defines the operational roadmap. This includes facility-level productivity targets, labor cost benchmarks, system selection priorities, and a phased execution plan with clear milestones. Strategy is tied to numbers, not to vision statements.

Performance System Design
Your operation gets the same engineered performance architecture Divergence builds for its largest clients. Engineered labor standards, Performance Plus deployment, KPI frameworks, and management operating rhythms are designed and installed under the COO’s direct oversight.

Leadership Development and Accountability
A Fractional COO does not just set direction. They hold the line. Your supervisors, managers, and site leaders report into a structured cadence of performance reviews, coaching sessions, and operational check-ins. Leader Walks and Floor Coaching can be integrated to build capability at every level of the organization.

Vendor and System Oversight
Your Fractional COO evaluates and manages relationships with WMS providers, 3PL partners, staffing agencies, and technology vendors. Decisions are made from an operations perspective, not from a procurement or IT perspective. The COO protects your operating model from vendor misalignment.

Board and Executive Reporting
Your leadership team and investors receive structured operational reporting. Monthly performance summaries, quarterly business reviews, and annual operational assessments are delivered in a format built for executive decision-making, not for slide decks.

Multi-Site Coordination
For companies operating across multiple facilities, the Fractional COO provides the single point of operational leadership that ties all locations together. Standardized processes, consistent reporting, shared KPIs, and a unified coaching framework across every site.

How It Works

The engagement is structured around a fixed weekly or biweekly commitment. A typical Fractional COO engagement includes:

• 2 to 4 days per month of direct engagement (onsite and remote)
• Weekly operating rhythm calls with site leadership
• Monthly performance report delivered to the executive team
• Quarterly business review with ownership or board
• Direct access between scheduled sessions for critical decisions

The commitment scales up or down based on the complexity of the operation and the stage of the business. Some clients start fractional and transition to full-time as the operation grows. Others maintain the fractional model permanently because the results do not require a full-time seat.

Who It Is For

• Mid-size distribution, manufacturing, or logistics companies generating $10M to $100M in revenue that do not have a dedicated COO
• Private equity portfolio companies that need operational leadership installed quickly without a permanent hire
• Family-owned businesses transitioning from founder-led operations to a structured management model
  3PL operators expanding into new facilities who need experienced operational leadership during the growth phase
• Companies between COOs who need continuity while they search for a permanent hire

What You Get That a Consultant Does Not Deliver

A consultant advises. A Fractional COO owns. The difference is accountability. Your Fractional COO sits in the operating rhythm of your business. They know your people, your numbers, and your constraints. They make decisions, not recommendations. They are measured on your results, not on deliverables.