Standard Wool - Product Strategy

Phase 1 — In progress

Data Platform

Connect the data. Replace gut feel with numbers. For the first time, the business can see where it actually stands — stock position, margin, cash, recipes, aging.

app.standardwool.com/reports

Stock Position — NZ Scoured

-4,200 kg

Short against forward commitments

! Short position on 28-micron NZ scoured. 3 forward contracts unfilled.

Daily Margin (replacing monthly)

13.2%

Weighted average, updated before 8am

Home Scour

14.8%

Merchanting

10.1%

Punta

11.9%

Cash Flow Forecast

12 weeks

Extended from 4-week WTS view

Wk 1Wk 4 (old limit)Wk 12

Stock Aging — Top Concerns

Lot	Type	Days	Holding Cost
H-4472	Chilean Greasy 26mic	94 days	£1,840
H-4301	NZ Greasy 30mic	72 days	£1,120
SS-2891	Chilean Scoured 28mic	61 days	£890

Blend Recipe — John Cotton / 28mic NZ Scoured Tops

Input	Avg %	Last 5 Blends
NZ Scoured 28mic	62%	58–65%
Chilean Scoured 30mic	25%	22–28%
UK Scoured 32mic	13%	10–16%

ROCE by Division

Not calculated

Components visible for first time

Margin Reporting

Monthly batch

Daily, before 8am

Cash Forecast

4 weeks

12 weeks (3–6 months)

Stock Aging

Not tracked

Per lot with holding cost

Position Accuracy

Gut feel

Data-driven report

Recipe History

Trader memory

Queryable by product + client

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Now the business can see. But looking at reports still means logging in, navigating screens, and manually acting on what you find. The data is visible — but the operation still runs on the old system.

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Phase 2 — Next

Trading Platform

Replace WTS. The full trading lifecycle on a modern platform — contracts, stock, blending, invoicing, position tracking, Sage integration. Every action triggers downstream updates automatically. WTS risk eliminated.

app.standardwool.com/dashboard

ROCE (Group YTD)

15.1%

Open Contracts

14 sales · 9 purchase

FX Exposure

$342k

USD $218k · NZD $124k

Pending Actions

1 overdue · 1 aging · 2 info

overdue

Invoice SC-2026-0847 — Client Z

6 days past payment terms. £14,200 outstanding.

Sales contract SC-2026-0847 for 1,800kg 28mic NZ Scoured Tops. Invoiced 20 March, 30-day terms. No payment received. Previous invoices to this client paid within 25 days on average.

aging

Lot H-4472 crossed 90 days

Chilean Greasy 26mic. Holding cost £1,840.

Received 26 December. 2,400kg at £6.80/kg. Financing cost £12.40/week, warehouse storage £8.20/week. No allocation against any open sales contract. This lot was purchased speculatively — market has moved away from this micron range since January.

results

Blend BL-1247 — packing list from Chadwicks

28mic NZ Scoured Tops for John Cotton. Ready for resulting.

Packing list received. 14 bales, total weight 2,380kg (target was 2,400kg). Yield 68.4%. Bale weights pre-populated from Chadwicks data — review and confirm to complete resulting.

on confirm Greasy lots consumed, scoured lot SS-2921 created
on confirm Costs rolled up, position recalculated
on confirm Margin calculated against sales contract

expiring

SC-2026-0812 — 2 delivery stages unfulfilled

Due Friday. 1,200kg of 2,400kg still to deliver.

Client Y — 30mic NZ Scoured. Stage 1 delivered (1,200kg). Stages 2 and 3 outstanding. Stock available: SS-2856 (620kg) and SS-2844 (580kg) are allocated. Dispatch instruction can be generated now.

What the system did automatically today

auto 3 invoices posted to Sage 50

auto 2 packing lists generated from blend results

auto Position recalculated across 14 events

auto Cash forecast updated from new contracts

alert 1 margin alert triggered (Client Z below threshold)

Position by Product

28mic NZ Scrd

-4.2t

26mic Chilean

+8.1t

30mic NZ Gsy

+3.4t

32mic UK Mrch

-1.8t

24mic NZ Fine

+1.9t

ROCE by Division (YTD)

Home Scour

18.4%

Merchanting

14.2%

Punta

11.8%

Daily Margin

13.2%

Weighted avg. across yesterday's trades

Stock Aging Summary

0–30 days42 lots

31–60 days8 lots

61–90 days3 lots

90+ days1 lot

Position

End-of-day report

Real-time, attribute-based

ROCE

Components visible

Calculated by division, live

Invoice Creation

Manual PDF per invoice

Auto-generated, review and send

Sage Posting

Manual entry

Automatic via API

FX Exposure

Not tracked

Real-time across open contracts

Audit Trail

None

Every action logged

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Now the trading operation runs on a modern platform. But trading and processing are still separate worlds. Chadwicks operates on verbal updates, paper schedules, and Excel. Standard Wool can't see production capacity, lot performance, or processing costs.

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Phase 2a — Connect processing

Processing Platform

A shared digital layer with Chadwicks. Standard Wool is roughly 90% of their volume — this is not a supplier integration, it is a joint operating platform. Production scheduling, quality feedback, cost tracking, warehouse optimisation.

app.standardwool.com/processing

Chadwicks Production — March

47.2t

processed

vs breakeven (60t)

78%

iAt current rate, you hit breakeven by the 22nd. Above threshold = maximum margin on fixed costs.

Processing Schedule — Next 2 Weeks

Date	Type	Blend	Status
Mon 31	Bleach-free 28mic	BL-1251	confirmed
Mon 31	Fine NZ 24mic	BL-1252	confirmed
Wed 2	Chilean 26mic	BL-1253	pending wool
Fri 4	Solubor treatment	BL-1255	scheduled
Mon 7	Bleach-free 30mic	—	available

Lot Performance

Lot	Yield	vs Expected
H-4501	68.4%	+2.1%
H-4488	65.2%	-0.3%
H-4312	59.8%	-4.7%

Feeds back to traders for procurement decisions

Wool Call-in Timing

2.1 days

Average lead time before processing

iDown from ~8 days. Aligned to actual Chadwicks schedule.

Wool Grease

£3.80/kg

12-month range: £2.10–£4.90

YTD: 32.4t produced (~£123k revenue)

Production vs Breakeven

Verbal estimate

Live — monthly kg vs threshold

Scheduling Visibility

5–10 days (verbal)

2–3 weeks (digital)

Lot Scouring Performance

Not tracked

Ranked by yield and quality

Wool Call-in Lead Time

~8 days early

Aligned to processing schedule

Energy / Effluent

Not tracked

Monitored and trended

Wool Grease Revenue

Volume known, price not managed

Active monitoring

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Now trading and processing are connected. The platform sees everything — every contract, every blend, every lot's processing performance, every cost. But the system still only shows you what happened. It does not tell you what to do differently tomorrow.

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Phase 3 — AI optimisation

Structured AI Products

Always-on AI optimisation engines embedded in the platform as a copilot. Each one analyses historical outcomes, recommends actions, measures results, and gets smarter every cycle. The AI recommends — the trader decides.

app.standardwool.com/trading — copilot active

New Blend — John Cotton

28mic NZ Scoured Tops — 2,400kg

Cloned from BL-1198 (last delivery)

Input Lot	Type	Qty	Cost/kg	%
SS-2901	NZ Scoured 28mic	1,440kg	£8.20	60%
SS-2856	Chilean 30mic	620kg	£7.10	26%
SS-2844	UK 32mic	340kg	£5.90	14%

Margin: 12.8%

Material cost: £17,542

Position Impact

NZ Scoured 28mic: -4.2t → -5.6t

Chilean 30mic: +3.1t → +2.5t

UK 32mic: +1.8t → +1.5t

Trading Copilot

Blend Optimisation

I've analysed this blend against your last 14 deliveries to John Cotton and current warehouse stock.

Recommendation: Switch SS-2856 (Chilean 30mic) for SS-2912.

SS-2912 is the same spec but £0.40/kg cheaper. Chadwicks processed a similar lot Monday with 67.2% yield — above your 65% average.

Material cost drops £248. Margin improves to 13.4% (+0.6%). John Cotton accepted this substitution on 3 of the last 4 orders.

What about the NZ scoured? We're going more short.

This takes your 28mic NZ position to -5.6t.

Stock intelligence shows 3 clients typically order this in the next 6 weeks. Price is £8.20/kg and trending up.

Buy 6t now. Chadwicks has a Monday slot week 15 for the scouring.

Blend Material Cost

Tracked per blend

AI recommends lower-cost substitutions

Position Management

Real-time visibility

AI predicts future position + buy timing

Margin per Trade

Visible daily

AI identifies drift and recommends pricing

Chadwicks Throughput

Tracked vs breakeven

AI optimises scour scheduling

Cash Conversion

Forecast visible

AI optimises payment + FX timing

Stock Days

Classified and alerted

AI predicts demand, recommends clearance

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Now the platform optimises. But Pete still opens the app, navigates to the right screen, reads the copilot's recommendation, and acts. Paul still checks the dashboard every morning. The AI is smart — but it waits to be found.

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Phase 4 — The destination

Action-Oriented Experience

An AOE is a persistent, personal AI agent experience that works alongside a person. It knows their role, their context, their rhythm, their voice. It sits inside the tools and channels they already use — WhatsApp, Teams, Slack, email — not in a separate app they have to visit. It creates and delivers work on their behalf: drafting communications, surfacing decisions with options, acting on approvals. And it gets better the longer they work together. Not a dashboard. Not a chatbot. Not a report. A working partner.

Pete's Agent

WhatsApp · 07:48 · Wool Trader

SW Trading Agent

online

Morning, Pete. Three things.

1. NZ scoured trending short. Buying recommendation ready — 6t at current prices, Chadwicks has capacity week 15.

2. Yesterday's BL-1247 yield: 68.4%, 2.1% above model. Good for the John Cotton quote.

3. Client Z margin below threshold on the last 3 trades. Pattern is FX timing. Options in your briefing.

07:48

What's the best blend for the Bronte order?

08:12

Based on Bronte's last 6 orders and current warehouse:

SS-2912 NZ 28mic (62%) £7.80/kg
SS-2901 Chilean 30mic (24%) £7.10/kg
SS-2844 UK 32mic (14%) £5.90/kg

Margin: 14.1% (up from 13.2% — SS-2912 is cheaper). Chadwicks can process Monday.

Blend instruction drafted.

08:12

Paul's Agent

Teams · 07:45 · Managing Director

SW Operations Agent

online

Teams

Morning, Paul.

Cash: £284k. 3 invoices overdue (£42k) — chase drafts ready.

Chadwicks: 47.2t this month, on track for breakeven by the 22nd. Energy costs +4%.

FX: $342k unconverted. Rate at 3-week high. Recommend converting 60% today.

ROCE: 15.1% group. Punta dipped to 11.8% — processing costs on last two runs.

07:45

What's happening with stock days?

08:03

Up 8% this quarter. Concentrated in merchanting — 4 speculative purchases haven't matched to orders.

60% will move within 30 days. The other 40% is the slow-moving stock you've flagged.

My recommendation: clear the 2 oldest lots now (holding cost is eating the upside), hold the other 2 for the predicted market upturn in 6–8 weeks.

08:03

Decision Speed

Hours (open app, find data, analyse)

Minutes (agent presents options where you are)

Admin Time per Trade

Reduced by automation

Near-zero (agent handles end-to-end)

Key Person Risk

Decision patterns in models

Institutional knowledge in agents

Missed Opportunities

Reduced by alerts

Near-zero (agent acts proactively)

The compounding effect

The platform gets smarter the longer you use it

Phase 1 connects the data
Phase 2 generates events from every trade
Phase 2a connects processing data
Phase 3 learns from trading and processing outcomes
Phase 4 personalises the learning for each person

Usage generates more data. Models get smarter.
Recommendations get better. Trust deepens.
More decisions flow through the platform.

Each phase delivers value on its own. Each phase makes the next one possible. The journey is deliberate — phased investment, compounding returns.

Every improvement idea has a home

Team Ideas Mapped to Phases

Ideas raised by Paul and Pete across discovery sessions, emails, and working sessions.

P Paul's Ideas

P1ROCE as key metric, broken down by division

P1Stock turnover ranking — top 10 / bottom 10

P1Cash flow extended to 3–6 months

P1Stock classification: right materials vs speculative

P2Auto-generated invoices and packing lists

P2Dispatch-without-invoice control

P2FX under/over reporting

P2BG storage invoice cross-checking

P2aChadwicks production vs breakeven

P2aLot scouring performance feedback

P2aWool call-in timing (biggest bug bear)

P2aWarehouse barcoding

P2aEnergy, effluent, consumables tracking

P2aWool grease price monitoring

P2aWarehouse capacity forecasting

P3AI shopping list from sales patterns

P3AI-guided sales forecasting

P3Blend substitution for slow stock

P3Rules-based FX via Airwallex/Wise

P4Decision-making system, not management system

P4Sidekick / chief of staff via Teams

P Pete's Ideas

P2Visual similarity to WTS (sheep icon)

P2Contract cloning

P2Smart search

P2Batch-level allocation

P2Blend clone-and-modify

P2Shipping cost calculator

P2Estimated vs actual shipping variance

P2aNext processing date for sales offers

P2aScour schedule aligned to wool types

P2aLot switching to avoid double-handling

P3Demand forecasting 1–2 weeks ahead

P3Optimal blend schedule pushed to Chadwicks