Leads answer the same questions every shift.
The people who should run the floor spend the shift as a help desk.
What changes: The answer is on the page, at the station, in the words the floor already uses.
THE WORKFLOW STANDARD
21 daysFrom kickoff to accepted documents.
Fixed feeScoped on a call. 50% at signing. 50% at acceptance.
Your workflowsOne or many, scoped on the call. Instructions, exception trees and handoff rules.
4 hoursOf your subject matter expert's time per workflow.
SELECTED RESULTS FROM PRIOR ROLES
546,000Staffing hours eliminated across a 75-warehouse network consolidation (Amazon)
42%Higher pick rates with no increase in labor hours (Spirit Halloween)
$60M+Indirect labor savings from a $25M automation project (Amazon)
200+Person teams led on the floor. Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
Results achieved in employment roles. They describe past work, not a promise of results for another operation.
ORGANIZATIONS I HAVE WORKED FOR OR SUPPORTED
CURRENTLYAn asset for Spinnaker SCA, an AWS ProServe partner.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
The answer lives in two people.
When they are off shift, work waits.
Most sites do not have a documentation problem. They have a knowledge problem.
The system changed. The SOP did not.
The binder describes last year's configuration. Associates learn workarounds instead.
What changes: Every step is tested against how your system behaves today.
Specs describe settings, not actions.
WMS documents explain configuration. They do not tell an associate what to do next.
What changes: Technical documents become role specific steps with completion checks.
Exceptions wait for one person.
Problem cartons sit until the person who knows how to fix them gets back.
What changes: Every exception gets a trigger, an owner, an escalation path and a re-entry rule.
RUN THE NUMBERS
What repeat questions
cost your site today.
Enter your own numbers. The defaults are a mid size site.
Lead time lost per year
$17,500
500 lead hours a year spent answering instead of running the floor.
Based on 50 working weeks. Counts lead time only. Excludes errors, rework, mis-ships and slower ramp for new hires.WHAT IS INCLUDED
The Workflow Standard.
Workflows your floor can run.
You choose the workflows that cost you most. Receiving, putaway, replenishment, picking, packing, shipping, returns or inventory control.
Capture
Start from the floor.
Every step and decision gets a source before anything is written.
Workflow capture
Floor walk, subject matter expert sessions and system screen recordings.
The delete pass
Obsolete and duplicate guidance found and retired with your owner's sign off. You finish with fewer documents, not more.
Document
Write what the floor needs.
Verified against your system. Approved by your owner.
Verified work instructions
Role specific steps and completion checks, tested against how your system behaves at your site.
Exception decision tree
Trigger, first action, decision owner, escalation path and re-entry condition for the problems that stop the line.
Handoff standard
What "ready" means for the next department, written so both sides sign the same definition.
Integrator and technical doc translation
Integrator deliverables, WMS design specs, configuration notes and vendor training decks turned into short, role based documents your team can understand, execute and refresh in minutes.
Gap log and owner register
Every unresolved decision with a named owner and a next action.
Deploy
Prove it works.
A real user runs it before anyone signs off.
Acceptance walkthrough
A representative user runs the instructions live. We fix what they trip on before your owner approves the set.
Station ready formats
Editable masters in Word or Google Docs, plus one page station cards ready to print and post.
TERMS
Engagement
terms.
| Fee | Fixed fee, scoped on the call. 50% at signing. 50% at acceptance. No hourly billing. |
|---|---|
| Timeline | 21 days per workflow from kickoff to accepted documents. |
| Guarantee | Acceptance checks are agreed in writing before work begins. If the deliverables fail them, we keep working at no added cost until they pass. The final 50% is not due until they do. |
| Ownership | Every document and format we produce belongs to you on final payment. |
| Confidentiality | Mutual NDA signed before access. Working files stay in a folder your team controls. |
| Your team | One owner who can make decisions. One person who knows the work, for about 4 hours per workflow. Read access to current SOPs and the system. |
| Delivery | Remote by default. Onsite days available when the work needs eyes on the floor. |
HOW IT RUNS
Delete before we write.
Verify before we deploy.
The same Lean sequence on every engagement. Question it, delete it, simplify it, speed it up, then automate what is left.
Week 0
Scope
Confirm the workflow, the users, the sources and the owner. Write the acceptance checks.
Done when the one page scope is signed.
Week 1
Interrogate and delete
Floor walk, expert sessions and system recordings. Retire what is wrong or duplicated.
Done when every step has a source.
Week 2
Simplify and verify
Write the instructions and the exception tree. Test each one against the system.
Done when drafts pass system checks.
Week 3
Walk it and accept it
A real user runs it live. Fixes go in. Your owner approves the final set.
Done when acceptance checks pass.
FIT
Built for operators.
Not for binders.
A good fit
Warehouse, DC, 3PL and fulfillment sites. A WMS that changed while the SOPs did not. Peak, a go live or high turnover in the next 90 days.
What you need: A site leader who can name the workflows that cost the most.
Not a fit
A compliance binder nobody reads. A site where nobody can approve how the work should run. Hourly billing with open ended scope.
BEFORE WE TALK
Common questions.
Updated November 2026.
What is Standard by Obsidian Axis Group?
Standard is a warehouse documentation service from Obsidian Axis Group. We turn your workflows and the technical documents behind them into work instructions, exception playbooks and handoff standards that a new hire can follow without asking a lead. Every document is verified against your WMS and approved by your owner.
What is the difference between an SOP and a work instruction?
An SOP states what must happen and who owns it. A work instruction shows one role exactly how to do one task, step by step, with completion checks. Most warehouses have SOPs, but the floor runs on work instructions. Standard delivers both, plus the exception rules that SOPs usually leave out.
How long does it take to document a warehouse workflow?
About 21 days per workflow from kickoff to accepted documents. Week one is capture and deleting what is wrong. Week two is writing and verifying against the system. Week three is a live walkthrough with a real user and owner sign off.
How do you document warehouse exceptions?
Each exception gets five parts: the trigger, the first action, the decision owner, the escalation path and the condition for returning work to normal. They are delivered as a decision tree and a one page station card.
Can you turn WMS integrator or technical documents into work instructions?
Yes. We take integrator deliverables, WMS design specs, configuration notes and vendor training decks and turn them into short, role based work instructions, station cards, exception playbooks and five minute refresher guides your team can execute.
How is Standard priced?
One fixed fee, scoped on a 30 minute call. 50% at signing and 50% at acceptance. No hourly billing. If the deliverables fail the agreed acceptance checks, we keep working at no added cost until they pass.
Where do you work?
Obsidian Axis Group is based in Upstate South Carolina. Work is remote by default for warehouses, distribution centers, 3PLs and fulfillment sites across the United States, with onsite days when the work needs eyes on the floor.
We already have SOPs. Why would we need this?
Your SOPs become source material. The first real step is deleting what is wrong, outdated or duplicated. Most sites finish with fewer documents and better ones.
Does it matter which WMS we run?
No. Manhattan, Blue Yonder, Körber, SAP EWM, Oracle or a homegrown system: every instruction is checked against how your system behaves at your site, not how the vendor manual says it should. When a procedure and the system disagree, we resolve it with your owner before anything is approved.
Why not hire a technical writer?
A writer documents what they are told. The value is in the interrogation: finding the missing decisions, the undocumented exceptions and the steps that should not exist. That takes someone who has run the floor.
How much of our experts' time does this take?
About 4 hours per workflow, in short sessions. We capture by observing, recording and asking. They review. They do not write.
Who does the work?
Cedric Corbett leads every engagement personally. If the scope requires additional specialists, their roles are agreed before work begins.
Can we document more than one workflow?
Yes. Most sites start with the workflows that cost them most. Department and site wide programs, and ongoing updates after configuration changes, are scoped on the call with one fixed fee.
START WITH YOUR WORKFLOWS
Name the workflows that keep breaking.
Tell us where work gets stuck. Then choose a time for a 30 minute scoping call. We confirm the workflow, name the owner and outline the acceptance checks.
Book a call
cedric@obsidianaxisgroup.com ↗
Or go straight to the booking screen.
RECEIVED
Now choose your call time.
30 minutes. We confirm the workflow, name the owner and outline the acceptance checks.
Open the calendarYour details are saved. If no time works, email cedric@obsidianaxisgroup.com.