You have been asked to lead a margin recovery effort for a manufacturing business whose sales volume has remained stable, but profit margins have declined for three consecutive quarters. Early signals suggest the issue could sit across procurement, plant operations, logistics, product mix, and overhead allocation rather than in a single cost line. The CFO wants a fact-based view of what is driving the erosion, while the COO is pushing for immediate savings actions and plant leaders are already arguing that current cost reporting does not reflect operational reality. You need to structure the work so the team can quickly isolate the biggest cost drivers, align stakeholders on what is controllable, and identify efficiency gains without disrupting service levels or creating false savings.
How would you investigate the cost structure and identify efficiency gains?