Home | 5th Gear Consulting

At 5th Gear Consulting, we help businesses maximize efficiency, optimize operations, and improve decision making. Inspired by a car’s 5th gear, its first overdrive gear, we enable organizations to generate more profit with the same operational input. Many companies underutilize their systems, data, and processes, applying temporary fixes instead of addressing root causes. This leads to wasted resources, inefficiencies, and stagnant growth. We identify and resolve these gaps, ensuring operations run leaner, faster, and smarter while delivering sustainable long-term results.

We take a two-pronged approach—fixing operational inefficiencies while equipping teams with the knowledge and tools to maintain success. Your people are your greatest asset—our goal is to make them and your operations thrive.

Rob Brooks
Principle

Initial Consultation
A time to answer questions and learn what we can do for your business.
1 hr
Request to Book

Why 5th Gear?

Businesses are often likened to "well oiled machines", or cars. In the lower gears (1st - 3rd), you're working hard—burning fuel, making frequent shifts, and accelerating in small bursts. It's necessary at the start, but it’s not sustainable for long distances as you grind through inefficiencies, manual processes, and bottlenecks. In your direct drive (typically 4th gear), your output is nearly equivalent to your input. You're gaining momentum, optimizing workflows, and improving productivity. 5th gear (and above) is the sweet spot where speed, power, and efficiency come together. You’re covering more ground with less effort, reducing wear on the engine while maximizing performance. Systems are streamlined, automation is in place, leaders are well developed, and operations run smoothly with minimal wasted energy.

Hitting 5th gear means reducing costs, maximizing data, and scaling seamlessly—all while using fewer resources. If your company is stuck in the lower gears, I can help shift you into higher gears with optimized operational strategies, automated data management, and leadership development.

Let’s get your business into 5th gear!

Track Record

With strong leadership and the strategic use of data analysis and management information system advancements, these achievements span industries ranging from global giants like Amazon and Safran Aerospace to companies generating sub-$100 million in revenue.

Scale

Led multi-site operations with $350M+ annual revenue, overseeing 2,000+ employees.
Ran the largest site in Amazon's SSD network with a half a billion in revenue.
Responsible for customer delivery operations development to scale network operations for a 5x increase in volume, supporting $5B revenue.

Achievements

Achieved $10M+ in inventory reductions through optimized planning and procurement strategies.
Cut operational costs by $2M+ annually through process improvements and standardization.
Reduced supplier costs by 5% annually through a long-term agreement (LTA) contract program.
Improved supplier on-time delivery from 42% to 90% and reduced stockouts from 13% to 2%.
Delivered $886K annual savings via streamlined manufacturing processes.
Reduced late deliveries by 72% and defect rates by 51%, setting network performance records.
Improved on-time delivery to 99%+ controllable impact across multiple sites.
Increased raw material turnover by 25% and WIP turnover by 48%.
Reduced quality defects by 34% and achieved 46.1% YoY quality improvement.

Education

Currently, Rob is a Professor of Business Operations at Trinity Western University in BC, Canada. Responsible for the development and delivery of curriculum, Rob teaches Operations Management for both the Undergraduate and MBA programs.

Rob holds:

MBA in Supply Chain Management from Arizona State University (Top 5 Program in the US)
Masters in Organizational Communications from Northeastern University
Bachelors in Management from Northeastern University