Why would a manager of a multi-million dollar department reduce the department to a single-million dollar department? That would reduce the prestige of their own job. I've seen managers who were overstaffed by double work hard to double their staff again. And the only staff that actually accomplished anything were punished and culled.
It doesn't make sense until you realize that they operate in an environment where there is no competition that can disrupt their business model. If their costs go up, their rates go up. There is never an incentive for costs to go down.
I was baffled and urged him to be careful and assume he was wrong that it had to be wrong.
Anyways, he is still fixing it, getting some people to validate it.
I would think he will save at least hundreds of thousands a year.
But seriously, why a company that spends millions of dollars in an area would not hire an expert to try to save some money in it is beyond me.