Industry Insights From Renewal Logistics:
Supporting Distribution Centers on a Temporary Basis
Another thing that makes Renewal Logistics special is that we work with many Distribution Centers on a temporary basis, where we will supplement or actually take over their shipping operations.
I shared before about how we partner with brands to handle their daily wholesale or Amazon FBA prep needs, while they maintain their own Distribution Centers. We will also support our clients by taking over or supplementing their distribution operations on a temporary basis.
We have a client that I spoke with recently that offered a great story to share with you to explain what this process looks like.
We began working with this company during Covid, when their retail stores suddenly had a HUGE uptick in sales, and products were selling so fast that their Distribution Centers could not keep up with the volumes to generate enough throughput to fully capitalize on their sales opportunities.
This client is an off price seller, and they have about 500 retail stores in the southeast.
They needed us to do the following for their account:
1. Receive product that they bought at a discount/closeout.
2. Inventory the product and reconcile what was received against their Purchase Orders.
3. Communicate about any variance.
4. Manage the allocation process to determine what product should ship to which stores.
-We were given an inventory plan from our client, and if there were changes in what arrived versus what was planned, we’d have to adjust the allocations for each store.
5. Prep all of the product for sales in the store. This included ticketing the product by adding a price sticker. It also included breaking packs of goods into smaller bundles. As well as kitting multi-sku cases from single sku cases, or creating prepacks.
6. Create shipping labels and apply shipping labels to all multi-sku cases.
7. Coordinate with UPS to ensure everything is shipped out by 4pm each day.
8. Provide tracking data back to the client on every package, that corresponded to exactly what product was inside that box, and which store was receiving what product.
This client had in the past worked with vendors who did this process manually for them, and it was a bear.
-It was painfully slow
-It was expensive because there were so many workers involved
-Any time humans are involved there is going to be human error, and so the data they received back was unreliable
Our Solution
We were able to automate a large part of this process, including the receiving, accounting, and reconciliation, the allocation revisions, and the compiling of the tracking and case data.
We built a solution that used bots. And we built this solution within a few days.
This solution allowed us to create a bypass of the clients Distribution Center, and their WMS, by feeding the needed data back into the ERP on a daily basis via uploading the data from the revised allocation reports into the system each afternoon.
This project lasted about 8 weeks, and then the sales slowed down to the point that their DCs could keep up again. And so they didn’t need us any more!
What Came Next
The following year, this client had a need for our services over a short-term because they were expanding their Distribution Centers, and lost capacity due to some of the main thoroughfares being under construction.
Now we are working together again, as they’re converting to a new ERP. This time they wanted a contingency plan to ensure that they will not lose capacity due to the required systems change. We’re receiving about $2MM in goods this week that will go out the same or next day, and we’ll be following this exact same process over three months for them.
This is a great example of the way relationships start between Renewal Logistics and our clients. We often start on a project basis, and work together temporarily. Once we get to know each other, understand how to communicate, understand the systems, nail down the needs, our clients see us perform. And then all of a sudden there’s a partnership in place. Our clients come back because they know that we understand their needs, and trust we can provide the results they’re looking for, and they become comfortable leaning on us, and that relationship deepens and grows.
Processes That Work
We have other accounts that started just like this. Another account currently has 3 closed distribution centers due to lack of staffing. Now all of that volume is coming through the Renewal Logistics facility now. We created a streamlined solution to hand off all responsibility to us. This client was confident with our processes, our people and our commitment to always come through for their customers. To date we have delivered on our promise, even through the COVID-19 pandemic.
When you are focused on creating trust, providing relief and committing discretionary effort to relationships, they can’t help but be successful. And that’s why these are 3 of our core values.
Looking For More?
If you ever want to chat with our existing clients, many of them we have NDAs with, so I can’t share their names on the website or in our newsletter, but I assure you, you’ve purchased product from them, and if you want to verify our consistency, accuracy, and ability to handle complexity with ease, they’ll be happy to talk to you.
