Operations

My role expands the breadth of project management. I’m responsible for the research, design, implementation, documentation, and iteration of various projects. Where most projects have a start and end with associated goals, I’m responsible for the “pre” and “post” work as well. To me, a project is never finished - it can always be improved!

Warehouse/Storefront Design

Warehouse and storefront designs come with their own set of challenges. Managing all aspects of the project from design, to budget, to implementation requires hard work, communication, patience, and not to mention a lot of adaptability!

The most challenging project to date was designing a 100,000 SF warehouse that consolidated the inventory from 3 warehouses into one - without liquidation of product. The extra kicker - no one item was like the other! This project required lots of strategy and coordination of various contractors in order to meet a short timeline. We successfully moved over 60,000 items in less than a month, without any operational downtime.

My design aimed at ensuring safety (both of product and personnel), space maximization, future expansion capabilities, and efficiency. The designs and implementation of infrastructures were all properly permitted by the city.

Photography Studios

Omni - Original Photo Station

This was the original photography station design. The pain points in this design included: Only front access mobility of item staging, inconsistent lighting on heavy panels, and inability to take a photo of an item as a top view image.

Omni - Redesigned Photo Station

This is the final product of my photography station redesign. This design allows for consistent lighting, ease of product movement through the station, top and front imagery, and safety (no cord jungle). It also is built to be reproducible and was built in multiple markets.

Yerdle - Photography Studio

Here is the photography studio at a glance. This studio grew from one photo station to at most 10 with the ability to house two photographers at any given station. The ability to create stations that were cost effective and successful aided in immense scalability.

Yerdle - Mannequin Photo Station

Through constant user research, it was determined that certain items were more aesthetically pleasing when styled on a mannequin. Improved imagery trended positively with increased purchases.

Photo Editing Software

At Yerdle and Omni, the photography editing process proved to be a large time sunk. In order to increase throughput while maintaining high and consistent image quality, finding the right photo editing software was crucial.

Each company dabbled with internal software, all of which proved to be too expensive to maintain.

Fostering an environment that provided hands on training of editing software (CaptureOne and Photoshop), learning from peers, and constant portfolio management, all proved to drive throughput and maintain quality.

Processes

User studies and data analysis can determine pain points in any process. Inefficient processes are costly. While there have been many projects in my career that are process focused - identifying, designing, and implementing a new photography process had the biggest impact.

After working for companies who’s product varies so greatly (as in no one item is like the other), the highest operational unit cost per item always lends itself to item imagery. It was my mission to design multiple studios/stations conducive for quick item staging, consistent lighting, easy troubleshooting coupled with a repeatable photo editing process. It is an extremely iterative process that involves constant usability tests. It was a huge accomplishment to reduce unit costs by 80% in less than 6 months.

Documentation and Training

No design or processes is complete without proper documentation and training.

As a creator, I personally cringe if documentation is not presented in an appealing matter. I create documentation and visual aids that encourage people to ACTUALLY read them. Retention and follow through of important information is crucial to maintaining the highest levels of efficiency, safety, and best customer experience possible.