From a record grading backlog to a controlled recovery system.

Challenge

Recovery required more than pushing additional volume through the line. Leadership had to reconcile intake controls, service-level economics, facilities, staffing, technology, quality, and customer trust while preparing for latent demand that could return when Value reopened.

Situation

A 20% submission spike added 1.6 million cards in two weeks. The active backlog approached 10 million, four Value tiers paused, and a final pre-pause influx pushed the queue near 14 million. The visible queue was the symptom; the operating system around intake, capacity, quality, and decision timing determined whether recovery could hold.

Approach

The mandate was to identify the active constraint, deploy near-term countermeasures, and create the governance and capacity mechanisms needed to keep reducing the queue without trading away quality.

• Diagnose and stabilize the binding constraint and protect throughput.

• Build one decision-grade capacity system across facilities, staffing, technology, service levels, and quality.

• Install owners, thresholds, governance, and latent-demand triggers for responsible reopening decisions.

Analysis

The work separated rated capacity from effective throughput, traced causal relationships across the queue, and connected each recovery checkpoint to dated operating evidence. The operating arc moved from the May demand shock and intake controls through the mid-June peak, the June 30 downward trend, and the July 14 checkpoint.

• Current-state operating assessment

• Constraint and causal analysis

• Capacity and flow model

• Service-level economics and quality guardrails

Solution

The designed recovery system combined immediate stabilization countermeasures with capacity scenarios, queue controls, KPI architecture, executive governance, and a long-term operating roadmap. Reopening logic remained tied to operating thresholds and evidence rather than a calendar promise.

Implementation

The engagement sequenced near-term controls and countermeasures first, then defined the executive cadence, trigger framework, ownership, and roadmap required for PSA teams to operate the recovery system. Public company actions and results remain distinct from Luna Sol's advisory deliverables.

Impact

Luna Sol delivered the operating assessment, causal analysis, capacity and flow model, stabilization countermeasures, KPI and governance architecture, and long-term roadmap. PSA publicly reported a backlog arc from approximately 14 million to 11 million, 2.50 million June grading volume, output above the prior monthly high, and a 99.4% operational success rate during the engagement period. Those figures reflect the broader work of PSA leadership and operating teams and are not presented as solely attributable to Luna Sol.