Reclaiming Capacity Where It Matters Most
XeP3’s process intelligence uncovered hidden inefficiencies across 30 warehouses — redirecting effort from admin to customer value.
The Challenge
Bunnings faced a range of operational challenges revealed through a comprehensive warehouse review.
Bunnings faced growing operational complexity across 30 warehouses in Australia and New Zealand, involving 2,032 team members and over 12,000 daily activities.
Key pain points included excessive admin, manual paperwork, inconsistent processes, stock management issues, and unstructured team engagement.
Leadership teams lacked visibility into how work was actually performed, limiting their ability to target improvement efforts.
“Noise” — inefficiencies, rework, and unnecessary process steps — accounted for over 40 per cent of effort in some roles.
Increasing complexity with more roles and stores added to the operational landscape, highlighting the need for robust methods to systematically address process waste.
The Approach
By viewing warehouse operations as an interconnected system, XeP3 identified how process changes in one area could deliver benefits across the whole network.
XeP3 was deployed for an advanced operational review, engaging over 2,000 team members in structured interviews and surveys to document tasks with time allocations.
12,185 individual activities were captured and analysed, identifying waste and improvement opportunities across every warehouse function.
Each warehouse role — from complex managers to cashiers — was assessed for “noise,” creating a detailed picture of how effort was distributed.
Activities were categorised by value, task, and service focus to determine where time could be shifted from administration to customer value.
Findings were grouped into six key opportunity themes, forming a roadmap for 66 target projects across the business.
Teams were engaged to validate data, align priorities, and embed continuous improvement practices into everyday operations.
The Results
The analysis translated data into tangible results, improving efficiency, service focus, and decision-making across the warehouse network.
56% more data captured than the 2020 baseline, giving a much richer operational view.
Identified opportunities equated to 5,963 hours per warehouse per month that could be redirected to customer service and sales-driving activity.
66 improvement projects defined, including rostering optimisation, stock management, admin reduction, and communication redesign.
Noise reduction of 4% achieved through refined coding and streamlined processes — equating to tens of thousands of productive hours released.
Developed an enduring, data-driven framework for ongoing process governance and improvement.
Why It Matters
The insights demonstrate how operational improvement directly supports business strategy, customer experience, and future innovation.
XeP3’s insight-driven methodology allowed Bunnings to address systemic inefficiencies (“Noise”) that traditional Lean frameworks often miss – leading to quantifiable cost and time savings.
XeP3 transforms operational reviews from slow, interview-centric processes into rapid, actionable change programs.
Demonstrates how multi-process optimisation drives measurable value in large, distributed networks.
Highlights the power of data visibility — moving from anecdotal evidence to actionable insight.
Shows that operational efficiency and customer experience are not competing goals, but outcomes of the same disciplined approach.
Builds a foundation for future innovation, including the introduction of AI-enabled diagnostics and workflow automation.
The Takeaway
From insight to action, the project revealed what truly enables sustainable performance at scale.
XeP3 transforms operational reviews from slow, interview-centric processes into rapid, actionable change programs.
Even highly successful, mature organisations can uncover substantial hidden inefficiency.
When improvement is guided by evidence, not assumption, meaningful capacity is released back to teams.
The Bunnings warehouse review illustrates XeP3’s ability to make complex operations simpler, smarter, and more synchronised, creating impact that lasts.