Lean Six Search Group
Specialties · Logistics & Distribution

Move products
without surprise.

True competitive advantage is built in this area, where genuine expertise cannot be faked. Ensuring products move seamlessly from suppliers to customers is the backbone of efficient, reliable, and scalable business operations.

The discipline

What this
function owns.

In the past, logistics was seen as a basic support function. Today, it is recognized as a core strategic element. It drives customer experience, reduces costs, and enables agility in a fast-changing market. Exceptional professionals in this field make the critical difference between thriving and falling behind.

We place logistics leaders who run resilient networks, not just tactical fulfilment. The seniors we move have rebuilt distribution footprints, renegotiated 3PL portfolios, and designed transport networks that survive shock without bloating cost.

Sub-specialties

Where we search,
in this function.

01

Customs Clearance

Cross-border compliance, tariff classification, and the regulatory rigor that keeps shipments moving.

What good looks like
  • Manages classification, valuation, and origin determination
  • Builds AEO / trusted-trader status across jurisdictions
  • Coordinates with brokers, freight forwarders, and authorities
  • Treats compliance as competitive advantage, not overhead
02

Distribution

The network design and operational discipline that gets products from DC to customer reliably and at the right cost.

What good looks like
  • Designs distribution footprints that survive demand shock
  • Owns service-level targets by customer segment
  • Manages 3PL relationships as strategic partnerships, not contracts
  • Reads cost-to-serve at the right level of granularity
03

Freight Forwarding

International freight orchestration across sea, air, road, and rail, plus the carrier relationships that make it work.

What good looks like
  • Builds carrier networks tuned to the customer's flow patterns
  • Manages rate volatility through contract design and hedging
  • Owns mode-choice decisions as a cost-and-time trade-off
  • Treats forwarders as extensions of the operation, not vendors
04

Imports / Exports

Global trade flow management, documentation discipline, and the trade-compliance posture that scales with growth.

What good looks like
  • Manages the documentary control chain end-to-end
  • Stays ahead of trade-policy and sanctions changes
  • Designs trade structures that minimize duty exposure legally
  • Coordinates with customs, finance, tax, and operations
05

Warehousing

Inbound, storage, and outbound flow within a node, including the labour, layout, and tech decisions that make it efficient.

What good looks like
  • Designs slotting and layout for the actual flow profile
  • Owns warehouse productivity and accuracy as P&L levers
  • Selects WMS and automation against payback, not feature sheets
  • Builds labour models that absorb seasonality without bloat
06

Contract Logistics

Outsourced operations design, 3PL/4PL relationships, and the commercial structures that align incentives over multi-year horizons.

What good looks like
  • Designs gainshare and pain-share models that actually work
  • Manages 3PL transitions without breaking service
  • Builds open-book and closed-book commercial frameworks fit-for-purpose
  • Treats the 3PL relationship as a long-term partnership
07

Transportation

Movement of goods between nodes: modal strategy, carrier mix, and the network resilience that matters when things go wrong.

What good looks like
  • Owns transport spend as a strategic, multi-year category
  • Designs modal mix against cost, carbon, and reliability
  • Builds carrier relationships that absorb capacity volatility
  • Treats sustainability as a real lever, not a PR line
The operators

The operators we place in Logistics & Distribution.

Logistics leaders carry the weight of customer promise. The seniors we place have rebuilt fulfilment networks under capacity pressure, renegotiated 3PL portfolios with hundreds of nodes, and designed transport networks that survive shock without ballooning cost.

Seniority bandManager · Senior Manager · Director · VP · COO
Accountable for
  • 01Service level to the customer across the network
  • 02Cost-to-serve as an active P&L lever
  • 033PL / 4PL relationships and commercial structure
  • 04Network design, footprint, and resilience
  • 05Transport, customs, and trade-compliance posture
Recent placements

Leaders we’ve
recently placed.

Recent searches in logistics & distribution. Titles and industries are public; the names sit confidentially with the client and the placed leader.

  • 01

    Director, Customer Logistics

    CosmeticsUSA
  • 02

    Director Logistics Services

    FMCGUSA
  • 03

    Senior Director, Global Logistics

    FMCGUSA
  • 04

    Packaging and Logistics Category Manager

    ElectronicsSingapore
  • 05

    Head of Seafreight

    Freight ForwarderGermany
  • 06

    General Manager, Contract Logistics

    LogisticsSaudi Arabia
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