Fractional · Pharma & CPG · AI-Native

Operations analytics for pharma and CPG, delivered in days, not months.

Estrada Operations is the practice of a former McKinsey Engagement Manager and twenty-year operations transformation leader. We use AI the way a master craftsman uses a power tool — to move faster without losing judgment. We work inside your transformation, not around it.

Live · Maturity assessment in progress
Hero demo loop
hero_demo.mp4  ·  45s · muted autoplay
§ 01
The practice

What we are, and what we're not.

We are former site leaders and transformation practitioners who spent years inside WCM, TPM, and Lean programs at global manufacturers — now working as a fractional team, with AI as a force multiplier.

We are not a content agency, an LMS vendor, or a deck factory. We are not a Big Four substitute for multi-year transformation programs.

We are the analytical muscle that operations leaders use when they need a maturity assessment shipped before the next steering committee, a QDCI framework rolled out across four sites, or a capability curriculum built for a workforce of 2,000. We also work directly with private equity operating partners whose portfolios include pharma and CPG assets — see below.

The work that used to take three analysts four weeks, we deliver with one analyst in ten days — and a senior operator reviewing every line.

Median throughput vs. traditional analyst teams, measured across comparable engagements.
10 days
Typical delivery window for a single-site maturity assessment, from intake to findings.
100%
Of deliverables reviewed by a senior operator before client handoff. No unsupervised AI output ever leaves our door.
§ 02
Services

Six deliverables. Fixed scope, fixed price, every time.

01 / Diagnose

Operational Maturity Assessment

A scored diagnostic of a site or network against WCM, TPM, Lean, or a framework of your choosing. You receive a maturity scorecard, a findings deck, and a prioritized roadmap — ready for the next steering committee.

Timeline 3–8 weeks
Ballpark $25K–$200K
Output Scorecard + Deck + Roadmap
Watch · 45s
02 / Design

Performance Management System

QDCI boards, tier meeting cadence, KPI trees, shift handover standards, escalation logic. A full performance management system you can roll out next week — with a playbook that supervisors will actually use.

Timeline 4–8 weeks
Ballpark $40K–$120K
Output Playbook + Templates + Rollout kit
Watch · 45s
03 / Run

Transformation PMO-in-a-Box

Program tracking, pillar dashboards, steering committee packs, cross-site harmonization artifacts. We run the operating rhythm of your transformation so your leadership can focus on landing the change.

Engagement Monthly retainer
Ballpark $15K–$40K / mo
Output Live dashboard + Monthly pack + Operating rhythm
Watch · 45s
04 / Build

Capability-Building Curriculum

Role-differentiated training mapped directly to the gaps your assessment identified. Operator, supervisor, and site lead versions, with facilitator guides and built-in assessment tools. Your people deliver it — we design it.

Timeline 6–10 weeks
Ballpark $50K–$150K
Output Curriculum + Self-paced modules + Train-the-trainer
Watch · 45s
05 / Sustain

Assessor & Champion Certification

A certification program that turns your own people into internal assessors and change agents. Framework, assessor guides, practical exam, and coaching — so the capability stays with you long after we leave.

Timeline 8–12 weeks
Ballpark $60K–$180K
Output Certification framework + Practical exam + Coaching
Watch · 45s
06 / Illuminate

Operational Data Diagnostic

Hand us your KPI exports, shift logs, and OEE files. We'll return a structured diagnostic that identifies the three to five levers most likely to move the metric that matters. Often a fast on-ramp to larger work.

Timeline 2 weeks
Fixed price $12,500
Output Diagnostic brief + 60-min readout
Watch · 45s
§ 03
For operating partners

A productized operating resource for your pharma and CPG portfolio.

If you're an operating partner with manufacturing or brand-ops assets in your portfolio, we've built a set of offerings tuned specifically for PE hold-period economics. Fixed scope. Fixed price. Repeatable across portcos. We move at the pace your deal timeline demands — and we know how to work inside a management team that is just learning to be operationally disciplined.

A / Post-close

First-100-Days Operating Diagnostic

A post-close operational assessment for newly-acquired manufacturing or brand-ops assets. We identify the three to five value-creation levers and deliver a sequenced 100-day plan your portco CEO can execute against on day one.

Timeline8–12 weeks
Ballpark$75K–$200K
B / Hold period

Portfolio Performance System Standup

For portcos that were never run with a performance management rhythm: QDCI, tier meetings, KPI trees, operating cadence — delivered in a compressed timeline and ready to show in the next board meeting.

Timeline6–10 weeks
Ballpark$60K–$180K
C / Exit prep

Exit-Readiness Operational Brief

For assets 12–18 months from exit: an operational diagnostic that surfaces the value-creation claims a buyer's quality-of-earnings team will scrutinize, and a remediation plan for the ones that won't survive diligence.

Timeline4–8 weeks
Ballpark$50K–$150K
Building a portfolio of pharma or CPG assets?
We can prepare a one-page briefing pack for you to share with your portfolio CEOs, co-branded with your fund on request. A clean hand-off artifact that makes the referral easy.
Request the OP briefing pack →
§ 04
Operating rhythm

How an engagement moves from intake to handoff.

01

Intake

You describe the work. We return a ballpark range and a scoping call invite — usually within 24 hours.

02

Scoping call

A focused 30 minutes to understand context, constraints, and what "good" looks like to you.

03

Fixed proposal

A written proposal with fixed scope, fixed price, fixed timeline. Mutual NDA and DPA before any data moves.

04

Delivery

Weekly checkpoints. Draft artifacts by week two. Senior reviewer on every deliverable, always.

05

Handoff

Deliverables, source files, and a brief of what we'd do next. Your team owns what we built.

§ 05
Sample work

What our deliverables actually look like.

PDF · 42 pages

Maturity Assessment — Pharma manufacturer · Anonymized

Anonymized scorecard and findings deck from a single-site DS manufacturing diagnostic.

PDF · 28 pages

QDCI Rollout Playbook — Atlas CPG

Tier-1 through tier-4 cadence, board templates, and supervisor field guide.

PDF · 35 pages

Supervisor Curriculum — Pharma manufacturer · Anonymized

Role-differentiated capability program tied to assessment gaps. Facilitator guide included.

§ 06
Anatomy of an engagement

Ten minutes inside a real project.

We walk through a full single-site maturity assessment from first call to final handoff — the AI tools, the judgment calls, the three moments where our senior reviewer pushed back on the model.

This is the video we wish someone had shown us before we hired our first fractional analyst. Watch before you book a call.

Anatomy of an engagement · 10:42
§ 07
Scope a project

Tell us the shape of the work. We'll send a ballpark and a call invite.

Not a committed quote — we don't believe in those without a conversation. What you'll get: a typical range for engagements in this shape, and a calendar link to scope it properly.

Live ballpark
Select a service and scope, and we'll show the typical range for engagements in this shape. The real proposal comes after the scoping call.
§ 08
The people

Senior operators. Not a talent marketplace.

[ Founder portrait ]

Estrada Operations is the practice of Jose Garza — a former McKinsey Engagement Manager and twenty-year operator who has spent his career inside the analytical and operational systems that pharmaceutical and consumer goods companies run on.

As AB-InBev's Global Capability Manager, he led a lean manufacturing transformation across 50+ sites that delivered over $150M in operational value. He has since designed pricing transformations, supply chain redesigns, and capability programs for global manufacturers — and most recently built AI-augmented operations work, including RAG-based knowledge systems and predictive analytics integrations, across a global pharmaceutical manufacturer's site network.

He holds master's degrees from MIT in Supply Chain and in Systems Design, and an MBA from Instituto de Empresa.

Every engagement has a senior operator on it. We don't subcontract the hard parts. We don't use junior analysts as cover. When you hire Estrada Operations, you hire the person whose name is on the work. Reach out directly: jose@estradaoperations.com.

Career McKinsey · AB-InBev · Global pharma
Education MIT (×2) · IE Business School MBA
Frameworks Lean · WCM · TPM · Six Sigma
Scale delivered Programs across 50+ manufacturing sites
Sector experience Pharma · CPG
Languages English · Spanish · French · Portuguese · German