THE CUSTOMER

Bon Bon Bon, a 10-year-old artisan chocolate company with stores in Michigan and an ecommerce arm, creates bonbons with clever flavor combinations and eye-catching designs.

THE PROVIDER

Evans Distribution Systems is a full-service third-party logistics provider that offers warehousing, fulfillment, value-added, transportation, and staffing solutions.

From its start in the back room of a diner about a decade ago, Detroit-based Bon Bon Bon, which offers “the goodest goodies and sweetest sweets,” now operates a manufactory and four brick-and-mortar locations, has a presence at local markets, and ships across the United States and internationally.

Yet even as Bon Bon Bon has grown, its internal shipping department remained small—no more than a handful of employees. So, Bon Bon Bon partnered with Evans Distribution Systems, a third-party logistics (3PL) provider, also based in Michigan.

“We never would have been able to offer shipping solutions at the level of expertise that Evans has been able to,” says Alessandra Rodriguez, head of marketing for Bon Bon Bon.

A Life of Chocolate

At 19 years old, Alexandra Clark, Bon Bon Bon’s founder and head chocolatier, decided to dedicate her life to chocolate. With $32,000 she received from a taxi accident—it occurred as she was leaving a chocolate show—she opened a chocolate shop near Bon Bon Bon’s current manufactory.

Initially, the shop was open only on Saturday. Fast forward to 2024, and the company has multiple locations and is in action seven days a week, with operations significantly ramping up between Thanksgiving and Valentines Day.

Before Bon Bon Bon connected with Evans, a “small and mighty team of employees,” according to Rodriguez, filled and packaged online orders, among other responsibilities.

Along with the challenges of managing the growing volume of orders were the challenges of the chocolate itself, which is perishable and requires a temperature-controlled environment. What’s more, each order can be customized, including with a handwritten note and a choice of packaging tape designs.

Finding a Partner

In 2023, Bon Bon Bon began its partnership with Evans Distribution Systems. The team at Bon Bon Bon knew of Evans in part from its work with vegan cosmetics and skincare brand, The Lip Bar (TLB), whose flagship store is also in Detroit.

A 90-year-old company, Evans operates more than three million square feet of warehousing space in Michigan. Bon Bon Bon uses Evans’ fulfillment, shipping, logistics, warehousing, and product storage services.

Evans’ handling of these functions enables Bon Bon Bon to focus on its core competency—making great chocolate—as well as increasing sales and expanding to other markets, says Leslie Delekta, director of customer solutions with Evans.

Evans direct-ships online and corporate orders. To ensure a temperature-controlled environment, Evans has located a refrigerated container within its warehouse. The 3PL is able to add staff to the Bon Bon Bon account to manage the holiday increase in sales. As volume tapers off, Evans can shift those employees to other clients.

Bon Bon Bon and Evans are electronically connected through Shopify, which transmits most orders to Evans; currently, corporate and other large orders are handled separately. Once Evans receives the order within its warehouse management system (WMS), employees kit the product and place it into custom boxes, says Rich Huziak, senior operations manager with Evans.

When developing customized solutions for Evans’ clients, verbal explanations typically go only so far, Huziak says. To gain a thorough understanding of Bon Bon Bon’s operations, the Evans team toured its manufacturing facility and stores. Evans then built a solution that considered the processes already in place.

For instance, when Bon Bon Bon delivers inventory to Evans, it’s in trays of single bon bons. These are recorded in the Evans WMS. Evans developed a kitting process so employees know which chocolates to pull for each order.

Customized Fulfillment

Evans helps manage Bon Bon Bon’s fulfillment process, which is challenging because the chocolate is perishable and requires a temperature-controlled environment. The 3PL also helps with additional labor when orders rise dramatically between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day.

Many packages are finished with colorful wrapping tape; customers can choose from several designs. They also can request a handwritten note to accompany their orders. The WMS lets Evans employees know which packages will include these embellishments, as well the card, message, and tape to include. The employee who packs the box also initials and dates it before sending it on its way.

Depending on the destination and time of year, the order may be packed in ice. “It’s a very custom experience,” Delekta says.

Handing responsibility for packing customers’ orders and creating handwritten notes means entrusting another company to accurately represent the Bon Bon Bon brand. “It’s a big thing,” Rodriguez says.

When Bon Bon Bon receives very large orders—say, from corporate clients—it currently emails the information to Evans. This allows Bon Bon Bon to designate specific products for these customized orders.

Evans receives Bon Bon Bon inventory anywhere from several times each week, to almost daily during the busiest season. Because Bon Bon Bon’s products are perishable and custom-made, it’s not feasible to stockpile inventory in advance.

Getting up and running with the Evans team was fairly rapid, Rodriguez says. The longest piece of the puzzle was redesigning the website and creating new stock-keeping units. “It was almost as though we created a new store,” Rodriguez says.

The benefit? Setting up a new website and new SKUs from the beginning of the partnership minimized the need for Bon Bon Bon to retroactively adjust any information.

Once the new website was complete, testing took a couple of months. The teams mapped out multiple scenarios so everyone could be prepared for any type of order.

For instance, team members needed to learn what an order would look like, operationally, if it included multiples of one item, plus an item from another category or a gift card.

Similarly, if a customer ordered a box of bonbons with one tape design and another box with a different tape design, Bon Bon Bon and Evans needed to understand how the person packing the order would know which design went with which box. “We were able to work together on that,” Rodriguez says. “It was a collaborative effort.”

The Evans team needed to make sure the processes were functional, while also taking care that Bon Bon Bon’s website would be customer-friendly and provide a strong user experience. Through their combined efforts, the companies ultimately improved both the customer experience and internal operations.

More Efficient Order Processing

For example, orders can be filled more quickly than was possible previously, even with Bon Bon Bon’s dedicated internal team. One reason is Evans’ technology, which offers a step-by-step guide for processing orders. The systems in place for the fulfillment and packing teams make it easy for them to work efficiently, as they don’t have to figure out how best to process each order before they begin filling them.

This is key, as the faster rate at which orders are filled means customers have a longer time to enjoy their handmade bon bons, Rodriguez says.

The speedier processes are especially valuable with larger orders. Previously, handling a very large order could delay other orders. Now, Bon Bon Bon is able to manage all sizes of orders at the same time. Being able to accept more large orders, instead of being constrained by operational limitations “is largely beneficial,” Rodriguez says.

Tackling New Challenges

As soon as the two companies were up and running with regular orders, they began working on new opportunities, Rodriguez says. One was developing an effective pre-sale system. This allows customers to, for instance, place Valentine’s Day orders in January, but delay shipment until early February.

Later in 2024, Bon Bon Bon plans to release two new extensions to its website. One is a “box builder.” This will allow customers to select exactly which bon bons they want in their box. Bon Bon Bon actually offered this capability years ago, but it didn’t have the back-end operations ironed out. Now, through its partnership with Evans, Bon Bon Bon will be able to offer this feature to its customers, while also being confident it will work operationally.

Building Large and Customized Orders

Bon Bon Bon and Evans also are working on a large-order builder. Customers placing large—often custom—orders will be able to complete their transactions with several clicks.

If Bon Bon Bon was working with any other company, management probably would be more nervous about embarking on multiple new initiatives at the same time. “But Evans has already proven to us that they can handle it and that they’re willing to figure out how we can offer these things,” Rodriguez says.

The Bon Bon Bon team hails from across the city, as well as the world, and they are united in their belief that good people deserve good chocolate, Rodriguez says. “The Evans team has joined our efforts in accomplishing this mission in the most genuine and collaborative way,” she adds.

Casebook Study: How Sweet It Is

The Challenges

Finding a way to effectively and efficiently manage order fulfillment and shipping as Bon Bon Bon grew to encompass multiple locations and national and international shipments, while still creating quality chocolate.

The Solution

Partner with Evans Distribution to handle fulfillment, shipping, logistics, warehousing, and product storage.

The Results

A significant reduction in order processing time and greater ability to handle large orders.

Next Steps

Working on extensions to Bon Bon Bon’s website, including a pre-order feature and the ability to enable customers to create large orders with several clicks.

THE CUSTOMER

Bobbie, the first infant formula certified organic according to both USDA and European Union standards, creates products made with wholesome ingredients and without fillers, corn syrup, and palm oil. Within one year after its launch, Bobbie became the fastest-growing infant formula company to enter the U.S. market since the 1980s.

THE PROVIDER

Saddle Creek Logistics Services is an asset-based third-party logistics provider based in Lakeland, Florida. The company specializes in designing and delivering omnichannel logistics solutions for manufacturers, retailers, and ecommerce companies.

“Saddle Creek has the appropriate people, systems, and locations to help us scale and grow,” says Dominic Mills, vice president of supply chain for Bobbie.

Helping companies manage rapid growth is one of Saddle Creek’s strengths. “We have a high-growth mentality and the resources required to accommodate increasing order volume, new products, and new markets,” says Luke Hendrix, the 3PL’s regional senior director of operations.

Formula is Food

At Bobbie, formula is food. Its products are made with wholesome ingredients and without fillers, corn syrup, and palm oil.

Laura Modi, co-founder and mom of three, started Bobbie in 2018 while pregnant with her second baby. She left her previous job, set up shop in the basement of her San Francisco home, and registered Bobbie Baby LLC, after the name her daughter had given her bottle. The company closed its first round of investment weeks before Modi gave birth.

By 2020, the FDA approved Bobbie’s launch. Within one year, it had become the fastest-growing infant formula company to enter the U.S. market since the 1980s. Its growth continues to remain at triple-digit levels. Saddle Creek has helped Bobbie manage that growth and continue to meet customer expectations.

Bobbie started with a subscription model and continues to be subscription focused. “This way, we can connect directly to our customers and provide information, resources, and a more personalized consumer experience,” Mills says. In addition, Bobbie has moved into the retail channel, enabling more parents to access its products.

At the onset of the baby formula shortage in 2022, Bobbie’s customer count doubled overnight. Management made the unprecedented move to prioritize the company’s existing customer base and stopped taking new subscription orders. This step helped ensure existing customers would have formula through the end of their feeding journey.

“We committed to our current customers; we made the decision for the benefit of our parents,” Mills says.

“As a team of mostly parents ourselves, we knew it was 100% the right decision,” Mills adds. “When you subscribe to Bobbie, we subscribe to you.”

When Bobbie launched with a national retailer during the baby formula shortage, providing increased accessibility to its formula during a time when formula-feeding parents across the United States needed it most, Saddle Creek was able to assist.

“We showed up on store shelves across the country—the only American-founded infant formula to do so during the shortage,” Mills says. “As a mostly subscription-based business, we also wanted to have product on the shelf for someone who needed it.”

Saddle Creek’s assistance in helping execute orders with the retailer was essential, and one reason Bobbie earned a vendor of the year award, Mills says. The company plans to expand its retail channel to augment its direct-to-consumer subscription business.

Focusing on Relationships

As an omnichannel solutions provider, Saddle Creek works with retailers, ecommerce companies, subscription companies, and other organizations, with a focus on designing the right solution for each client. “We don’t try to get clients to fit into a mold,” Hendrix says.

‘We focus on relationships,” he adds. “We collaborate to help build businesses. And when there’s an issue, we pick up the phone and work through it.”

A mutual connection brought Saddle Creek and Bobbie together in 2022. Bobbie had been looking for a partner that could scale with its own growth.

“We were looking for a partner that could adapt, scale, and open new fulfillment locations as we needed them,” Mills says. In addition, strong communication, close collaboration, and tight systems integrations have been key to the partnership between the two companies.

“We expect Saddle Creek to kit a high volume of orders, ship them on time in full without errors, and that’s exactly what’s happened,” Mills says. “If I’m not worried, things are good.”

Saddle Creek also is “quick to communicate, to own problems, and to put in place corrective action,” Mills says.

A thorough onboarding process, in which both sides talk through an extensive list of requirements and questions, allows Saddle Creek to put in place the right resources to ensure the company can deliver the solutions the client needs.

Exponential Growth

Since the two companies began working together, Bobbie has experienced exponential growth, achieving four times its volume projections in 2022. Saddle Creek quickly expanded its distribution operations from 22,000 to 53,000 square feet.

“We’re also exploring new locations and looking at building out new channels with Saddle Creek,” Mills says.

Saddle Creek’s order management system (OMS) and its multiple distribution locations also allow it to help clients more effectively manage supply chain risk. For example, early in 2023, major ice storms forced some Texas operations to shut down. Saddle Creek’s OMS could quickly fill orders from the other sites, minimizing the impact to Bobbie’s customers.

“We were able to shift orders to our California and Pennsylvania distribution centers within just a few hours,” Hendrix says.

Having multiple sites also allows Saddle Creek to be more flexible in allocating labor and space. If demand spikes, Saddle Creek can shift work to the site with available capacity and workers.

Ensuring Traceability

Recently, Saddle Creek also helped Bobbie introduce a new, gentle version of its formula. “Through our warehouse management system (WMS), we were able to receive and hold the inventory until they were ready to launch,” Hendrix says.

Among other solutions Bobbie is using, the Saddle Creek WMS supports kitting operations to create multi-packs in various sizes. As important, the system can manage the components and complexity, and track lots. Should issues arise, it’s possible to efficiently trace the products—a key capability for a product such as infant formula.

Indeed, when a business model like Bobbie’s involves a sensitive consumer product, traceability is paramount. When Saddle Creek’s WMS orchestrates kitting operations, it ensures each kit contains the correct lot code and inventory, which are critical to accurately tracking inventory.

As the individual items required for a kit move into the work-in-process area, the WMS assigns a new stockkeeping unit (SKU) for the complete kit, all managed through the assembly and kitting management module. The Saddle Creek system can manage the components and complexity and accurately track each lot.

In addition, Saddle Creek’s parcel capabilities help clients, including Bobbie, efficiently rate shop different carriers. They can identify those offering the best combination of price and service level for each order.

Saddle Creek also provides some ecommerce apparel fulfillment and returns services for Bobbie. It’s also expanding its client services resources and adding new channel partners and integration technologies.

Saddle Creek’s warehouse management system orchestrates Bobbie’s kitting operations and ensures each kit contains the correct lot code and inventory, which is especially important should the need for tracing products arise.

Connecting Locations

The connectivity that Saddle Creek can provide between the various distribution locations is critical.

“While the locations operate somewhat independently, over-arching communication and connections at multiple levels of our organization help us maintain a central vision and streamline operations,” Mills says.

A more segregated model would have required several times the amount of integration work and calls.

In addition, the warehouses are well-organized, clean, controlled, and secure. “All three have excellent housekeeping, which speaks to the overall way they operate,” Mills say. “There’s a place for everything and everything in its place.”

That’s one reason why a recent mock inventory audit at the Texas facility, which fulfills a range of wholesale and direct-to-consumer orders, found 100% accuracy.

The two companies continue to work together to streamline and improve operations. “Our next step is to examine everything we do,” Mills says, noting that a process that met the company’s needs when it was originally implemented may no longer be the best option.

“It’s a constant review of our network and operations, looking for ways to not just save money, but also to reduce steps,” Mills says.

For instance, Saddle Creek and Bobbie are evaluating how best to communicate orders, lower shipping costs, and more efficiently build kits.

Among other recommendations, Saddle Creek proposed a robotic shrink-wrapping machine as well as alternative options for tape and packaging that could help to reduce the amount of labor needed and control costs while providing the same quality customer experience.

Both companies are also reviewing the systems and facilities that will be needed for Bobbie to continue to grow its business.

Saddle Creek is “making sure we’re ready to take on that scale,” Mills says.

Casebook Study: Baby Boom

The Challenge

Find a logistics partner with the people, systems, and locations that could support Bobbie’s triple-digit growth, including both its subscription business and its move into retail.

The Solution

Partner with Saddle Creek, an omnichannel logistics solutions provider that utilizes a nationwide distribution network, advanced technologies, and a wide range of capabilities to custom-engineer the best solution to meet each client’s unique needs.

The Results

Saddle Creek helped Bobbie more than double the footprint of its distribution operations, quadruple its order volume, launch a new version of its formula, and add a retail channel to its subscription business—all while meeting (or exceeding) the company’s high standards for a best-in-class customer experience.

Next Steps

The two companies are continuing to work together to streamline and improve operations, including how best to communicate orders, lower shipping costs, and more efficiently build kits. They’re also evaluating the systems and facilities that will help Bobbie continue to grow its business.

THE CUSTOMER:

Morton Food Service is an independent distributor that supplies food and beverage products to independent restaurant owners and food service operators across southwestern Ontario and the Niagara region. The company offers more than 6,500 local and national products as well as many international products.

THE PROVIDER:

VAI is an independent mid-market ERP software developer offering solutions that automate critical business functions for the distribution, manufacturing, retail, and service sectors, including specific ERP solutions for hard goods, food, and pharmaceutical companies.

Among other actions, Morton implemented VAI’s S2K Enterprise for Food software, as well as its advanced software applications such as Mobile Order Entry, Suggested Purchasing, Warehouse Management, and Analytics. Together, these solutions are helping Morton Food Service improve productivity and visibility and grow sales.

An Aging ERP

Morton Food Service offers more than 7,000 products from numerous brands to 1,000-plus customers and specializes in providing locally sourced food to restaurants across southwestern Ontario and the Niagara region. In 2019, the company celebrated its centennial anniversary.

Before it connected with VAI, Morton had been making do with an aging ERP solution that lacked support. It also lacked many of the capabilities Morton wanted to implement for its own operations and to offer its clients.

“We realized that there were a lot of opportunities to improve our operations and our processes,” says Patrick Lenover, Morton’s director of project management.

For example, picking operations had been largely manual and paper-based. The company’s sales reps lacked access to updated and live inventory, and special orders were treated with a combination of manual methods, such as stickers and spreadsheets. Morton also handled routing manually.

“We put a lot of manual effort into almost all aspects of the business,” Lenover says. Not only was this less than efficient, but it largely disconnected different functions from each other.

Implementing a new ERP solution would address this, while also providing an opportunity to offer Morton’s customers features such as mobile capabilities.

“We wanted to improve our operations and we knew that we couldn’t do it with the solution that we had at the time,” Lenover says.

To help identify the best ERP solution, Morton brought in Patrick Rivait, an external project consultant. Working together, the Morton team and Rivait mapped all the company’s business processes across multiple areas, including warehouse management, purchasing, sales, and finance.

“We broke things down to a very granular level to come up with a shopping list of the different functionalities we needed,” Rivait says. In total, the team identified more than 1,000 process components, which they ranked according to importance to the organization.

Then they reviewed a range of ERP solutions. In their evaluations, the team focused on requirements unique to the wholesale food distribution space, such as the ability to provide lot traceability and handle expiration dates.

Through this research, the pool of potential partners was winnowed down to four or five solutions. Rivait and other team members asked these vendors to demonstrate how the system would function daily. For instance, how would an employee add a new vendor to the system? Asking all solution providers to show how their system would handle common operations gave Morton a level playing field to analyze and compare the various solutions.

“Overall, we found that VAI fit the needs of the organization,” Rivait says. In addition, Morton could continue to grow and work together with VAI.

VAI’s solutions leverage business intelligence, analytics, mobility, and cloud technology to help companies make informed business decisions and build a competitive edge.

Assessing the Needs

In working with clients, VAI starts with a requirements analysis, says Peter Zimmerman, North American software sales manager. Once VAI team members understand what a client is looking for, they can recommend best practices drawn from the knowledge they’ve gained through their work with numerous customers.

Every implementation process also includes plans for data conversion, pilot testing, and training, among other steps. These actions help ensure that the solution meets the company’s needs, while also strengthening buy-in among both management and end users.

A critical component in the success of the partnership between the two companies was Morton’s decision to dedicate several staff members to the ERP team. These employees were responsible for learning about the software and its configuration, as well as for training, testing, and retesting to ensure that everything was working as it should.

Also important was Morton’s decision to avoid testing in “silos,” or individual functions, Rivait says. Instead, the teams conducted “cradle-to-grave tests” to check that information flowed accurately from one function to the next.

A primary benefit of an ERP solution is its ability to link together different functions so information flows seamlessly, Rivait notes. To fully leverage the value of an ERP implementation, testing needs to ensure information moves accurately and completely between functions.

Information Leads to a Bump in Sales and Profitability

Typically, companies that implement the S2K solution can expect a bump in sales and profitability because they easily can see what customers are buying. They can also see profit margins by product, which leads to more informed inventory management decisions.

For instance, through the Suggested Purchasing module, if a new type of bakery bread is taking off, a company will see this and know it probably makes sense to boost orders of it, Zimmerman says.

Along with offering recommendations, the Suggested Purchasing module lets Morton see sales and average movement, among other data, on each product. It’s possible to make adjustments if, for instance, it’s clear a bump in sales was due to an event or to a holiday.

The system also can recalculate suggestions, enabling users to make more informed decisions about how and what they’re buying. As important, the module offers visibility into the calculation behind its suggestions. “There’s no guessing or wondering, ‘Where did that number come from?’” Lenover says.

Paper Picklists

S2K also streamlined multiple operational processes. Previously, for instance, Morton employees would print stacks of picklists on paper, by order and storage area, such as freezer, dry, or cooler. Then they’d distribute the picklists, one or two at a time, to selectors.

Using a pushcart, selectors would walk through the warehouse picking the items listed and labeling each product by writing the appropriate stop number on the box with a magic marker.

Selectors left the completed carts and orders at a staging area, where a supervisor checked them for accuracy. Another worker palletized and loaded the products onto trucks. Completed picklists were left with a clerk who manually entered the shipped quantities and catch-weights into the system before generating an invoice.

“This process was slow and required workers to rehandle a lot of boxes and paperwork,” Lenover says. It also provided opportunities for error.

The current process is decidedly more automated. To start, orders are imported into voice picking software—another addition to Morton’s mix of technology tools. Selectors wear headsets, barcode scanners, and mobile label printers, and drive a double pallet jack, where a driver is in front with two trailing pallets.

When the selectors log in to the voice picking software, it assigns them a unit of work for each pallet based on the route, stop number, storage area, and other information.

Through the headset, selectors are instructed to proceed to a bin location, where they scan the barcode. Once the correct product is scanned, the system identifies the quantity to pick. Labels automatically print from the mobile label printer, and the system instructs the selector to place the product on the appropriate pallet, where the labels are applied, and the process continues.

“The selector is able to completely pick two pallets of product by moving through the warehouse once,” Lenover says.

Quantities shipped and other information is captured at the time of selection, as voiced by the selector. Cases are clearly labeled and picking data is automatically sent back to the S2K solution. The supervisor generates the invoices when the route is complete.

“This process is much more efficient and accurate,” Lenover says.

Streamlining Ecommerce

By using the Roadnet Transportation Suite, a third-party application that interfaces with S2K, Morton is getting a better handle on its routing needs.

The tools within Roadnet allow Morton to map orders and identify the most efficient way to direct its trucks. Importing this information back into S2K streamlines and provides visibility to multiple operations, like dock scheduling and product receiving. “We have visibility to everything now,” Lenover says.

Plans for the Future

Morton is currently implementing VAI’s ecommerce solution, which provides each customer with their own portal to place orders, review pricing schedules, and check accounts receivable, among other functions.

Eventually, Morton plans to also implement VAI’s Smart Center solution. This includes customer relationship management, and customized dashboards and KPIs, among other features.

Through S2K analytics, Morton has created dozens of reports that offer users the information they need to make informed, insightful decisions. Among other metrics, the solution can provide inventory turns and customer fill rates, forecasted demand versus actual, and picking and shipping performance.

Adding these tools has impacted Morton’s revenue, as well as operations. The company says sales have grown more quickly after implementing S2K than they had previously.

Casebook Study: Upping the Food Chain

The Challenges:

An aging ERP system meant many processes within Morton Food Service remained manual, time-consuming, and at risk of errors. It also kept Morton from offering customers mobile and other capabilities.

The Solution:

Partner with VAI to implement its S2K Solution, as well as other solutions that work with S2K, like mobile order entry.

The Results:

Streamlined, automated picking and fulfillment operations and transportation routing, as well as greater sales growth.

Next Steps:

Implement VAI’s ecommerce solution and possibly its Smart Center solution, which includes customer relationship management, customized dashboards, and other features.

THE CUSTOMER

Tiger Tail USA pioneered making muscle recovery mainstream in the United States and around the world. The company, based in Kent, Washington  was the first to successfully create and market the hand-held foam roller, which is now a part of top-level training rooms across the country.

THE PROVIDER

Pacejet, a division of 3Gtms, is an enterprise multi-carrier shipping software that seamlessly connects users to every part of their shipping ecosystem, ensuring the best shipment rates with fewer clicks.

As her company grew, Faussett needed an efficient way to package and ship its flagship muscle massage stick foam rollers, as well as massage balls, self-help books, handheld massagers, and other products. Tiger Tail has also grown to offer a corporate wellness and employee injury reduction program called “Happy Muscles 365.”

In 2016, Faussett opened a factory in the United States and searched for a solution to help her manage order packing and shipping. She turned to Pacejet from 3Gtms Inc., a provider of multi-carrier shipping and parcel solutions. Pacejet has been able to support Tiger Tail’s manufacturing and distribution operations, ensure reliable product fulfillment, and help it grow.

A Painful Idea

After years in competitive sports, including as a varsity soccer player at Washington State University, Spring Faussett was used to dealing with pain. Then she tore her ACL and underwent a hamstring autograft harvest. The result? “Piercing pain,” she says.

Faussett’s physical therapist recommended she use either a rolling pin or a roller to help manage the pain. Faussett gave both a try, but she couldn’t get down to the ground to use the roller, while the rolling pin offered no relief.

An idea was born, however. “I wondered what would happen if I crossed a rolling pin with a foam roller,” Faussett says. That lightbulb moment led to the launch of Tiger Tail USA.

Ubiquitous Foam Rollers

Today, Tiger Tail USA’s orange and black handheld foam rollers are part of training rooms across the country. They also can be seen on the sidelines of multiple professional sporting events across the United States and around the globe.

The foam roller actually is one of several product lines Faussett, who has invented products since she was a tween, has created. Her other inventions include SoundFlips Acoustic Ear Warmers and the ZooKeeper Pet Barrier.

To start Tiger Tail, Faussett spent several hundred dollars on supplies, created a prototype foam roller, and then made 125 of them. She hauled them all to a trade show, where they quickly sold out. She built another 150 and took those to another show. Once again, she sold out. Several trade shows later, it was clear her idea was viable.

Even so, when Faussett was beginning, few people knew what foam rollers were, let alone their benefits. She has since attended more than 350 trade shows to educate people about muscle knots, why addressing them is important, and how her tools work.

Along the way, Fausett built 20,000 units in her garage, sometimes with her husband’s help. “Pretty soon, we got to a point where we were selling more than I could make even in a day or a week,” Faussett says. “It got crazy.”

Finding a System

Eventually, Faussett connected with an outsource manufacturing partner. She noticed the company’s ability to automate the steps from taking a sales order to shipping the package, including weighing, packing, and labeling the shipment. Once the package shipped, the tracking number and package details would be emailed back to the company’s front office.

“The system was efficient and cool and made a serious impression on me,” she says.

In 2016, Faussett opened a Tiger Tail factory in the United States. Operations weren’t as automated as they had been at the outsource manufacturer, however. It could take eight to 10 minutes to pack a box and type the shipping label, often retyping data already in the system. Then, employees needed to weigh the box, add the tracking numbers, and other steps. “It was a lot of labor,” Faussett says.

A Shipping Solution

While Tiger Tail’s ERP system handles accounting, sales orders, and inventory, it wasn’t able to provide the sort of shipping capabilities the company needed.

Faussett and her team turned to Pacejet, which provides multi-carrier shipping and transportation solutions. “We make shipping much more accessible as part of the business operating systems that most companies use today,” says Ron Lee, chief product and technology officer with 3Gtms, a provider of cloud-based end-to-end transportation management software (TMS) and the company behind Pacejet.

While many companies of any size use enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for accounting, order entry, and other functions, these solutions typically don’t provide much help when it comes to interacting with carriers, nor an efficient way to determine shipment cost. “Shippers want to know, ‘What will it cost and who can I use?’” Lee says.

What’s more, for many companies, shipping products regularly consumes both time and money. A company that reduces this expense will save on most shipments moving forward.

Visible Benefits

And as e-commerce continues to grow, accurate and timely shipping has become part of many companies’ go-to-market strategy. “Accurate shipping is a visible cash savings and a visible element in the customer experience and operational efficiency,” Lee says.

Pacejet helps companies efficiently identify carriers and determine their shipping costs. Organizations using the systems range from small companies, especially those that are hitting their growth curve, to large corporations.

Tiger Tail is an example of a company that’s hitting a growth curve and needs better tools for shipping, Lee says. While many ERP solutions offer some shipping solutions, it’s generally not their specialty. In contrast, “it’s all we do,” Lee says.

At the same time, most shippers look for a solution that can augment the capabilities of their ERP solutions, and remain tightly connected to it. Along with its core functionality, Pacejet already has connections to numerous carriers and ERP solutions.

“The key to fast and reliable implementation is that we’ve done this for hundreds of other companies,” Lee says.

Faussett had looked at other technology solutions, but none integrated as seamlessly as Pacejet. “With Pacejet we never have to worry about data dropping or not being in sync,” she says. “It’s seamless.”

All fulfillment data on the sales order translates into Pacejet. So, when Tiger Tail employees send orders into the warehouse, workers can take them from the printer, scan the label or barcode on the packing slip, weigh the package, and produce and attach a shipping label.

Once the shipping label is produced, a tracking number attaches to the shipped record. This also integrates into Tiger Tail’s ERP and attaches to the invoice that’s ready to go to the customer. Because of its integration with Tiger Tail’s ERP system, the system also knows the items have been pulled from inventory. In addition, tracking data comes back to Tiger Tail.

The integration between Tiger Tail and the ERP solution is a true field-to-field integration, so no data is lost. Packing and shipping can be completed in a few minutes, versus the eight or nine it previously took.

“Pacejet solved the challenge of how we are able to ship a package efficiently,” Faussett says. Just as important, the steps required to ship packages are simple and easy, no matter what an employee’s background or skillset.

The implementation required 15 to 20 hours of time over the course of about a month on Tiger Tail’s end. “Pacejet was great at taking my hand and being a Sherpa through the process, which was fast, efficient and streamlined,” she says.

The Pacejet solution has cut warehouse delays and slashed order processing by about 75%. It has also enabled more accurate inventory forecasting “Now, we have enough product to fulfill orders without carrying excess inventory,” Faussett says.

In addition, as Tiger Tail works with more corporate clients, it’s able to, for instance, take employee names and ship products that are part of a corporate wellness account either to their homes or to the company’s location—a capability that enables Tiger Tail to pursue this new market.

“We’re seeing that section of the business grow,” Faussett says.

Looking Ahead

Tiger Tail is looking at other features from Pacejet. One is the LTL shipping comparisons it can offer. Another is an enhancement that could speed data transfers with Tiger Tail’s EDI provider.

Given the commitment and dedication required to run a company, many business owners “live through the grind and the grit of making a small business work,” Faussett says. Often, they’re unaware of solutions that can streamline operations and ease some of the grind—like Pacejet.
“Sometimes you don’t know what’s possible until you see it,” Faussett says.

Casebook Study: A Roaring Pace

The Challenge

As Tiger Tail’s business grew, the company needed a way to streamline its packing and shipping operations.

The Solution

Partner with Pacejet by 3Gtms for multicarrier packing and shipping solutions.

The Results

Fewer warehouse delays, a 75% reduction in order processing time, and more accurate inventory forecasting.

Next Steps

Tiger Tail is evaluating Pacejet’s capabilities to compare LTL shipping options, as well as enhancements that could speed data transfers with its EDI provider.

THE CUSTOMER

National Oak Distributors is an automotive paint, body, and equipment (PBE) warehouse distributing company with more than 400 employees. Headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, its portfolio consists of 50,000-plus products from more than 200 manufacturers stocked in 24 warehouses across the United States.

THE PROVIDER

IL2000 is a full-service freight and logistics company based in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

When Cale Beckman, vice president of operations at National Oak Distributors, came onboard in spring 2020 and performed an analysis, he wasn’t entirely happy with the state of freight operations—in particular less-than-truckload (LTL) freight, which represents 99% of the company’s business.

“I felt it was time to engage with a new logistics partner who could drive some improvement to both cost structure and on-time delivery—which is the most important thing to us—as well as the reporting around it,” he says.

UNIQUE SERVICE

National Oak Distributors considers itself unique in the way it goes to market and how it services its customers. The company foots the bill for LTL freight 99.5% of the time and their customers generally expect a next-day delivery service level.

“We were looking for a logistics company that had a robust piece of software we could use,” Beckman says. “We wanted to find a provider that would take the time to understand our business model and be able to design a solution around our unique needs.”

National Oak Distributors interviewed many potential companies and considered several RFPs and RFQs during the process. Although keeping an eye on the bottom line was a major part of the decision-making process, “it was more about holistically designing a solution that would meet the needs of our company and our customers,” Beckman notes.

WANTED: CUSTOM TAILORING

Enter Integrated Logistics 2000—or IL2000 as it is more commonly known. The full-service freight and logistics company has helped manufacturers, retailers, and other shippers gain visibility and control of their logistics operations since 1999. Founded by Kraig Cesar, who still owns the company and remains at the helm as CEO, IL2000 employs more than 60 people and serves clients around the globe.

IL2000 relies on its own business intelligence (BI) platform—a proprietary transportation management system it built—to customize solutions for clients. The company specializes in LTL, full truckload (FTL), parcel, international, less-than-containerload (LCL), full containerload (FCL), and air freight.

“Providing custom-tailored solutions to fit each one of our clients is what we do,” says Matt Thomas, national account manager at IL2000.

The company’s calling card is innovative technologies, consistent communication, and steadfast reliability. “Our goal is to understand a client’s business inside and out,” Thomas adds.

IL2000 had the analytics National Oak Distributors was looking for. “The software is user friendly but also has capabilities for us to add functionality in the future,” Beckman says. “We wanted to have that potential.”

In financial terms, IL2000 was not the most cost competitive of the companies National Oak Distributors considered. But for this warehouse distributing company with the largest distribution footprint in its industry, it was more about the complete package and solution than cost.

ZEROING IN

The problem was National Oak Distributors lacked visibility and control over its shipping and tracking. Its huge portfolio of 50,000-plus products from numerous manufacturers stocked in 24 warehouses across the United States adds up to a lot of moving parts. A hiccup in the supply chain interferes with its ability to provide on-time delivery to customers.

IL2000 used its proprietary BI platform to develop a suite of customized on-time performance reporting tools. National Oak Distributors now has access to six daily status updates across three regions, which equips it with the reliable data it needs to manage critical shipments.

Another plus is that the reports integrate seamlessly with the company’s existing platform.

Dedicated Support

“It’s a very consultative relationship,” says Beckman. He compares it to other partnerships where, after the initial setup and installation, there can be little to no interaction.

“With IL2000, we have dedicated support,” he adds. “We have regular meetings where we look at how to improve and optimize. There’s follow-up with issues.”

Gone are the days when National Oak Distributors had to conduct its own investigation when something went wrong within the supply chain, from reduced carrier capacity to poor visibility and poor carrier performance, as well as rising costs. Because the company has such a vast freight operation, resolving these issues was often an expensive and frustrating endeavor.

“We have a dedicated pod of operations managers who work with Cale and his team daily, keeping an eye on their freight operations at all times,” explains Thomas. Supply chain challenges are typically addressed in less than 30 minutes.

Improving carriers’ on-time performance of carriers in a time of escalating freight costs is a major focus for IL2000.

“National Oak Distributors’ next-day delivery is what sets it apart and we work to provide solutions so it can keep that promise to clients,” says Thomas. Proactively managing potential carrier bottlenecks is part of that formula.

“We never had this kind of service before,” says Beckman. “It’s more than a typical third-party logistics (3PL) relationship where you rate and tender shipments and tasks along those lines. It’s a consultative relationship for driving improvements continually.”

A TRUE PARTNERSHIP

Acquiring enhanced reporting tools and having a troubleshooting support team at the ready ended up saving National Oak Distributors more than $500,000 in freight costs in a single year. That figure is even higher if you factor in avoiding cost and rate increases while negotiating with carriers over new tariffs, according to Beckman and Thomas.

Fuel costs currently weigh heavily on everyone in the transportation industry and the IL2000 team has spent a good deal of time focusing on ways to offset them. Finding and negotiating better accessorial rates has been helpful; so has anticipating reweighing inspections that in the past had caused unnecessary expenditures.

National Oak Distributors did not have certified scales uniformly in place at all its facilities. Upon IL2000’s advice, it rectified that situation.

“Weighing freight and making sure the company got proper and accurate quotes has eliminated the issues we used to see when a pallet would reach a dock, get reweighed, and the weights didn’t match,” explains Thomas.

Of all the improvements achieved thus far through the partnership, being able to live up to its promise of on-time delivery gives National Oak Distributors the greatest satisfaction.

“I haven’t any benchmark to make a comparison,” explains Beckman. “I can’t say it’s a 10 or 15% improvement because we didn’t have the visibility we have today. But we have the visibility now and we know our on-time percentage. We’ve stayed fairly consistent despite the crazy carrier situation this year and that is certainly a benefit.”

In order to successfully navigate through some of the roadblocks the transportation industry currently is dealing with, communication is essential.

“We meet bi-weekly to strategize,” says Thomas. “Our teams are in contact with one another daily. Communication has been the truest testament to our success.”

“What sealed the deal was that IL2000 took the time to understand our business and to develop a solution that would meet our needs,” Beckman says. “It has been seamless to do business together.”

Casebook Study: Full Speed Ahead

The Challenge

National Oak Distributors, an automotive paint, body and equipment (PBE) warehouse distributing company with a large footprint, lacked visibility and control over its shipping and tracking. It sought improvements to cost structure, on-time delivery, and reporting.

The Solution

The company contracted with IL2000, a full-service freight and logistics company, to enhance its supply chain visibility and to get help resolving routine supply chain disruptions.

The Results

National Oak Distributors realized more than $500,000 in freight cost savings in less than one year. The company now receives quick assistance when facing supply chain issues so it can make good on its promise of next-day delivery to customers. Moving forward, it has access to proven data to make optimal business decisions surrounding logistics.

Next Steps

Following National Oak Distributors’ acquisition of its largest competitor in 2021 and resulting volume expansion, the work to streamline all the newly acquired LTL business, which was put under IL2000’s umbrella, will continue.

Casebook Study: The Grill of it All

The customer:

Launched in 2019,BBQGrills.comis a family-owned, operated, and “argued-over” online retailer of gas grills, outdoor kitchen equipment, and other outdoor patio-related items in California.

The provider:

Coyote Logistics, a global third-party logistics provider, manages full truckload, LTL, intermodal, air and ocean, and cross-border freight for a variety of industries including automotive, CPG, food and beverage, healthcare, manufacturing and retail.

Ryan Maltbie, founder of the Brentwood, California-based company, turned to Coyote Logistics. A global third-party logistics provider, Coyote Logistics took on responsibility for handling BBQGrills.com’s less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments. This enabled Maltbie and his team to focus on continuing to grow the business.

Few business experts would recommend launching a company just a few months prior to a pandemic. And while many businesses have struggled over the past two years, BBQGrills.com flourished.

COVID lockdowns and concerns about safety prompted millions to stay home, and the market of people interested in adding to or upgrading their outdoor kitchens and grills proved resilient. Sales of the company’s grills, smokers, pizza ovens, fire pits, and other items for outdoor living took off, topping $1 million the first year, Maltbie says.

Discovering an enthusiastic market for a company’s products is a coveted accomplishment, yet it brings its own challenges. The company must effectively manage rapidly growing operations, while maintaining customer satisfaction and continuing to nurture future growth.

As BBQGrills.com moved into 2021, Maltbie decided to step back from handling some daily operations so he could focus on maintaining business growth. One area that needed to change so the company could continue to enjoy increasing demand for its products was shipping and transportation. BBQGrills.com needed a provider of LTL shipping services that covered the United States, offered quality customer service, reasonable pricing, and in-depth transportation expertise.

It’s Not Always About Price

As with most business relationships, price was a critical consideration. Yet when working with many LTL providers, Maltbie notes he often encountered an overwhelming focus on cost, and less attention to the ways in which a solution could boost efficiency and save time. These attributes are often just as critical for many businesses, and especially those experiencing rapid growth.

Moreover, even as some providers emphasized price, they sometimes obscured the true, comprehensive cost of their solutions. For instance, some glossed over additional fees that would come into play, such as appointment and lift gate fees, Maltbie says. Some didn’t understand the class and weight of the products BBQGrills.com offers—grills can span more than seven feet, and some products weigh several hundred pounds.

“Everybody looks at saving money, but that’s not the focal point,” Maltbie says. While few successful business owners would decline the opportunity to save $10 or $20 on a shipment, spending inordinate amounts of time on administrative functions can negate any financial savings.

“Spending time over money is not beneficial,” he says.

Maltbie has focused on using both time and money efficiently. Coyote Logistics has also taken this approach to heart, and helped BBQGrills.com on multiple fronts.

Coyote Logistics serves a network of more than 15,000 shippers and 70,000 carriers, says David Graziano, business development representative with the company, whose U.S. headquarters is in Chicago. Coyote works with customers of all sizes, with smaller businesses being a key customer segment. Its clients span multiple industries, including retail, automotive, and healthcare.

Linked on LinkedIn

Graziano initially reached out to Maltbie through mutual LinkedIn connections, figuring “BBQGrills.com’s growing business would be a great fit for the Coyote network,” he says.

Once the opportunity arose to move some freight for BBQGrills.com, the Coyote team “showed Maltbie that we could offer superior service and technology at a comparable—if not better—cost” than it had previously been paying, Graziano says.

By turning to Coyote to handle LTL shipments, Maltbie was able to cut the time he and his team spent on shipping activities and direct their efforts to higher-priority actions. At the same time, shipping costs dropped.

Coyote’s capabilities and understanding of BBQGrill.com’s transportation needs impressed Maltbie enough that he decided to shift the company’s LTL shipping business to them. Since then, Coyote has been “critical to effectively fulfill our growing number of customer orders,” Maltbie says.

Once the two companies decided to work together, Coyote was up and running within a couple of days. Within the first few weeks, Coyote onboarded the operations team to help support increasing sales volume. “It was very much a collaborative effort,” Maltbie says.

Coyote used the onboarding process to learn as much as it could about the business of BBQGrills.com so it “could be consultative about carrier selection, loading, scheduling and pricing, among other factors,” Maltbie adds.

One feature Maltbie says he most appreciates is Coyote’s backend portal communication, which shows daily shipments and orders filled, among other information.

In addition, Coyote began handling bills of lading for BBQGrills.com. The company had been doing them in-house—”an incredibly tedious and time-consuming process,” that could consume several hours every day, Maltbie says. Having Coyote handling these “was definitely positive,” he adds.

Sound Freight Management

Consolidating freight under one logistics provider gives smaller businesses access to pricing and LTL rates more favorable than many can access on their own, Graziano says.

In addition, by working with strategic carriers and monitoring each shipment from freight classing through delivery, and providing shipping insights, Coyote can reduce claims and operate more efficiently.

“There are no smoke and mirrors, just sound freight management with an eye toward a longer-term strategy instead of chasing rates load-by-load,” Graziano says.

In working with BBQGrills.com, “my biggest focus was giving time back to Maltbie so he could focus on other growth areas of his business, like sales, marketing, and strategizing,” Graziano says.

To provide additional help, Coyote put together a support team that could help BBQGrills.com with quoting, building shipments, generating bills of lading, supporting freight claims, and other functions. The goal? “Making freight something Maltbie just needs to check in on occasionally, knowing it’s in good hands and, therefore, reducing his day-to-day time spent on managing logistics,” Graziano says.

Freeing up time has helped Maltbie focus on revenue, which doubled in 2021, he says. At the same time, shipping costs have dropped by 35%, while the order fulfillment process is more streamlined. Once someone places an order, BBQGrills.com determines from which of 15 warehouses to ship it. Then it informs Coyote of the order, and Coyote takes it from there.

Another benefit has been the drop in damaged freight claims, which declined by about three-quarters. In the 18 months the two companies have been working together, only a handful of shipments have suffered damage, and all of these were quickly resolved, Maltbie says. When BBQGrills.com had been with a previous logistics company, it could take close to one year to resolve a claim, he adds.

Coyote “has been a great company to work with,” Maltbie says. Even as the number of shipments jumped by about two-thirds between 2020 and 2021, Coyote was able to keep up.

“BBQGrills.com is a growing company with great people behind the brand,” Graziano says. He adds that Coyote is “thrilled to play a small part supporting their journey.”

Leadership at Coyote prides itself on being fast, efficient, and service-centric, and prioritizing communication with its clients, Graziano says. This helps foster an atmosphere of trust on both sides. “We can rely on their business; they can rely on us to help keep their customers happy and get the experience they’ve come to expect,” he says.

When a company’s management team finds a freight provider they can trust—one that understands how important the growth of their business is—that relationship can pay dividends over the longer term, Graziano says.

Ready for More Growth

The growth and change at BBQGrills.com appear likely to continue. Maltbie’s team is looking into expanding its supplier base and adding new brands to its distribution network. It’s also building relationships with architects and manufacturers to create custom designs. The continued growth will mean even larger orders and higher volume.

As the owner of the company, Maltbie strives to remember why he started it in the first place: to source excellent products, provide outstanding customer service and offer reliable shipping. Yet growth can make it more difficult for the founder to directly administer every operation. Dependable service providers allow him to focus on quality customer service and continued growth.

“From the five-plus freight brokers I’ve gone through in the past nearly three years, the reason we settled on Coyote was because they’re the most efficient and the most reliable,” Maltbie says. “They were, in the long run, also the most cost effective. It’s a benefit on all fronts.”

Casebook Study: The Grill of it All

The Challenge:
BBQGrills.com, a rapidly growing company, needed to find a logistics provider that offered less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping services across the United States. The provider also had to offer quality customer service, and in-depth transportation expertise, and be able to handle time-consuming logistics tasks, such as completing bills of lading.

The Solution:
Partner with Coyote Logistics, a global third-party logistics provider.

The Results:
Damaged freight claims dropped by more than three-quarters, and shipping costs dropped by more than one-third.

Next Steps:
Continue to work with Coyote Logistics as sales growth at BBQGrills.com continues.

THE PROVIDER
Elenteny Imports’ logistics solutions guarantee all the details between initial order and final sale. The company handles freight forwarding, distribution, and retail services that enable wine, beer, and spirits importers to focus on sourcing and sales.

Casebook Study: A Good Year

“BREA Wine was supposed to be a side project,” Elenteny says. Like many endeavors, however, it took on a life of its own.

Elenteny credits the company’s growth in large part to its partnership with Elenteny Imports, a business-to-business logistics company focused on the alcohol beverage industry. While he might be expected to say that, given his role with Elenteny Imports, by having the company handle many compliance and logistics functions, BREA’s leadership team was able to focus on building the business.

Elenteny and his partner have focused on producing sustainably farmed, accessibly priced, quality wines.BREA currently offers cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, and pinot noir.

While growing the grapes and making the wine are critical to the success of any wine company, a command of logistics and compliance, and an appreciation for the value of time are also essential, Elenteny says. That’s particularly true as a company is growing.

“Time is a huge commodity,” he says. To succeed, all business owners, no matter how much funding they can access, must use the 24 hours they have each day as effectively as possible.

However, many business owners, and particularly those just starting out, find themselves dedicating an inordinate amount of time and resources to handle the myriad functions—including finance, logistics, and compliance—that are required to launch their businesses. While that’s true in any field, it’s particularly so for alcohol companies, given the numerous regulations they must comply with.

Time to Comply

“Compliance for winemakers and small wineries is huge,” Elenteny says. Yet few small distributors or wineries can take the time to become proficient at this function.

Elenteny knew BREA didn’t have the time and/or resources to obtain licenses for all of the states the company would be selling into. “That was a driver for us to place BREA with Elenteny Imports,” he says. By partnering, BREA could become “super-efficient” on the compliance side, accelerating distribution. The partnership also allowed BREA’s leadership team to “actually do the things that are going to make your brand grow, which are sales and marketing,” Elenteny adds.

Starting with Logistics

Many new winery ventures launch with the vineyard. While this approach is logical, it also means that once the winery produces its first vintage, management has to figure out how to move it to market.

In the United States, that requires navigating the three-tier system for alcohol distribution. Under this system, manufacturers provide alcoholic products to wholesalers, who distribute the products to retailers, who sell to the consumers, as the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association explains.

No one entity can be involved in more than one tier under most state models. Each tier is regulated and licensed separately. In addition, myriad other regulations, many of which vary by state or even municipality, can govern sales of alcohol. The three-tier system is “definitely a unique obstacle in the universal world of selling wine, spirits, and beer,” Elenteny says.

“I reverse engineered it,” he adds, referring to his approach with BREA. He and his partner started BREA with an eye toward the logistics side. That included focusing on the goal of creating a brand or company that small and mid-sized distributors could work with. Many distributors and wholesalers had been struggling to find affordable California wineries. “I saw it as a logistics opportunity for small to mid-sized distributors in the United States,” Elenteny says.

Elenteny Imports has been key to turning this vision into reality. The company was founded with a goal of offering beverage brands and U.S. importers an advantage in business-to-business logistics, along with industry expertise. Its client list includes start-ups, new importers, and established enterprises, all of whom determine which products to source and the markets into which they’ll sell. As they do, Elenteny Imports manages and provides expertise in logistics, distribution, and compliance.

While many distributors and beverage companies, especially startups, want to “hit the ground running, the complexity of the three-tier systems makes it easy to make mistakes,” says co-founder Alexi Cashen.

For example, in alcohol franchise law, a distributor who’s appointed by a brand or supplier has brand rights, Cashen says. So, before a brand or supplier can appoint a new distributor, the prior distributor must have fallen short on contracted sales metrics; if not, they don’t have to give up the brand.

“In states where franchise law can be an issue, Elenteny Import’s solution allows more freedom for brands to enter new states or test a market before committing to a distributor agreement,” Cashen says.

License to Sell

Along with helping clients navigate the three-tier distribution system, Elenteny Imports holds licenses that allow it to sell throughout all 50 states. The company also assists clients in managing a range of other functions, including inventory, brand registration, compliance, and logistics.

Cashen and her team also help clients develop cost-effective transportation strategies. For instance, some winery owners and importers assume full container load shipments are the most cost-effective shipping solution. However, shipping less-than-container load, or LCL, and allocating shipments across multiple containers often “allows for staggered product landings, thus spreading out the costs,” Cashen says. Elenteny Imports can offer customers a range of shipping options, she adds.

“We take pride in tailoring our customer service with a deeper understanding of the pipeline,” Cashen says. The Elenteny Imports team understands how the logistics function can impact the effectiveness of a brand’s sales and marketing efforts, and then identifies logistics strategies that can enhance them.

The customer onboarding process typically runs from about three to six months, although some companies can launch in several weeks. The longer time frame typically is needed when developing a more complicated, multi-state strategy.

Elenteny Imports is licensed in all 50 states and manages each state’s unique requirements. “The compliance team removes obstacles from permits and brand registration,” Cashen says.

As a result, as soon as a company decides it’s time to sell into a state, they generally can be ready to go. Elenteny Imports also handles ongoing tax and other reporting.

As important, due to the experience and expertise of its staff, Elenteny Imports can cut the risk of mistakes while allowing companies to grow. “It’s a trusted entity that can get you closer to the point that you want to be, a lot faster,” because you can maintain a focus on growing the business, Elenteny says.

Quality Wine, Affordable Price

Of course, quality wine remains essential to a winery’s success. A review in The Davis Enterprise calls the BREA pinot noir “clean, lovely cherry-and-dark-berry, barely a trace of oak, layers of savory herbs, surprises at every sip. And under $20!”

Elenteny Imports helped BREA grow organically and quickly enter new states, while meeting compliance and licensing requirements. BREA currently can be found in 28 states and one international market. “Relying on the information and the people on staff at Elenteny helped us narrow our errors and speed our path to distribution,” Elenteny notes.

Many states still administer compliance using what’s basically “an abacus style of management,” Elenteny says. Elenteny Imports takes the information and makes it available through its online platform. BREA has virtual access to all its inventory, knows the states in which it’s approved, and can move quickly when it has new vintages coming out or a new state coming online.

Indeed, BREA has enjoyed impressive growth. While the company didn’t add new markets during much of the pandemic, its current customers increased their demand. In part, Elenteny suggests, it was easier for many distributors to work with a domestic producer and avoid many of the logistics challenges, such as port congestion, that frustrated large numbers of importers.

BREA would like to add a few more states to its list. However, its real focus is going deeper into the markets in which it’s already operating.

As the company grows, it will rely on Elenteny Imports. Dealing with the myriad financial, operational, and other issues that occur daily can sidetrack business owners from their ultimate goals. “If you have a reliable partner that can save you time,” Elenteny says, “it’s worth all the resources that you can put into it.”

Casebook Study: A Good Year

THE Challenge:

BREA Wine Co. wanted to grow its just-launched company, while still effectively managing the compliance and logistics functions.

THE Solution:

Partner with a logistics provider that has developed the compliance and logistics expertise for alcoholic beverage companies, leaving ownership more time to focus on building the company.

THE Results:

Over the past eight years, BREA Wine sales have grown from 800 cases per year to 10,500, with just one full-time employee.

Next Steps:

Add a few more markets and more deeply penetrate existing markets.

THE PROVIDER
BlackBerry Limited, a Waterloo, Canada-based supplier of intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments worldwide.

Casebook Study: Managing a Crisis

A series of explosions that morning had the company’s emergency management team, on-site firefighters, and first responders scrambling to ensure that employees, contractors, and neighbors were safe. The company fired off rapidly dispatched shelter-in-place notifications to pagers, two-way radios, and several other communication devices throughout the manufacturing campus and the nearby community.

Keith Bennett, who retired in January 2021 as Eastman’s emergency services manager, still has a small piece of shrapnel, a part of a pipe that was destroyed that day.

“There was equipment that literally self-destructed, and there were pieces as big as cars that were thrown a football field or farther,” Bennett recalls.

Surprisingly, the people injured needed only first-aid treatment; there was no loss of life or impact to human health or the environment, according to company documents.

Bennett credits the facility’s emergency notification system, which runs on BlackBerry’s AtHoc crisis communication solution, as one of the reasons why the company was able to respond so quickly and avoid more serious injuries or fatalities.

“We had our worst safety event in 50 years. That the emergency notification system performed as it was designed, and we were able to ensure people received communications about how to keep safe, shows how fast and how well that alert system works,” says Bennett, who has worked in the industry for 42 years and was involved with Eastman’s emergency response department for 14 years.

Improve Critical Communications

Eastman Chemical Company’s roots go back to 1920 when it began producing chemicals for Eastman Kodak Company’s photographic business. The global specialty materials company, which had nearly $8.5 billion in sales in 2020, maintains 47 manufacturing facilities and equity interests in three manufacturing joint ventures in 14 countries that supply products to customers throughout the world, according to the company’s 2020 annual report.

Kingsport, Tennessee, is home to the company’s largest manufacturing operations and five operating divisions; the Kingsport campus is one of the largest manufacturing centers in the United States. Many of the chemicals made there end up in automotive parts, medical devices and packaging. Other bulk chemicals are shipped off and used by other companies.

Additionally, the company makes glare-reducing materials used in the layers of glass and plastic found in TVs, mobile phones, and other devices with screens.

The Kingsport site sits on 850 acres of land with about 7,000 employees and 3,000 contractors spread across 650 buildings. And, with safety top of mind, the campus also has its own on-site firefighters, emergency management technicians, and fire maintenance teams.

BridGing the Gap

A gap, however, existed in its emergency notification system. Critical communication alerts were passed over an antiquated system of ringdown phones (phones used to call shop-floor managers and employees), two-way radios, and pagers. The system began to fail, presenting opportunities for inconsistent messaging across the large-scale manufacturing operations, says Bennett.

The inherent complexity of such a big site involving thousands of people also required greater standardization, reliability, and efficient modern device technology.

In 2011, Eastman Chemical started an 18-month journey to strategically evaluate this much-needed communication system and identify ways it could improve its situational awareness, visibility, and control, says Bennett, who oversaw Eastman’s safety department and its emergency response program and was involved in the search for an alert notification upgrade.

“We had a very simple vision,” Bennett recalls. “Instead of cascading information through our ringdown phones—where the phone rings, somebody picks up, and then calls other people to start a chain of communication to inform everyone—our vision was 100% direct notification to everyone at the same time.

“That vision came with the need to change technology,” he adds.

Bennett and his team evaluated several vendors, and, in 2012, chose Waterloo, Canada-based BlackBerry Limited, which supplies intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments across the globe.

BlackBerry’s premiere critical event management AtHoc solution had several features Eastman was looking for at the time. Two important factors were:

• Eastman’s ability to retain its legacy systems of indoor speakers, local pagers, and two-way radios (foundational pieces of communication in a chemical manufacturing environment where mobile phone technology may pose a risk). 
• Its desire to expand its alert notification network to other devices, such as email, computer pop-up messages, work and personal cell phones, desk phones, mobile apps, phone text messages, indoor speakers, digital signs, and team collaboration tools such as SharePoint. 

  While these features initially aligned with Eastman, many years later BlackBerry AtHoc’s overall functionality has helped the Kingsport facility to continuously keep improving not only the emergency notification system but also its overall emergency preparedness and response.

  Another aspect that allowed the rollout to gain traction and campus-wide approval stemmed from the system’s branding and the customization BlackBerry helped Eastman establish.

  “One of the core things BlackBerry brings to the table is the ability to help companies communicate through many different channels,” says David Wiseman, BlackBerry’s vice president of marketing and secure communications.

  Internal Branding

  BlackBerry encouraged Eastman officials to think about the notification system as an internal brand and use it in a way to increase end-user awareness and speed reaction time once a message was sent and received.

  “This is the kind of expertise BlackBerry brings when we work with customers,” Wiseman says. “We’re able to take our generalized knowledge and refine a library of templates of messages to help everyone.”

  Concise wording and instant notice recognition become crucial in emergency situations. By tapping into a marketer’s sense of branding, employees eventually become familiar with the information they expect to see on a pop-up alert and clearly know what action step to take next.

  “Companies have to think ahead about how they target these communications messages,” Wiseman advises. “You want to have a concise message that people can quickly understand.

  “Depending on who is receiving the message, a company may need to tailor the alerts,” he adds. “The safety response team is going to need a different level of detail than another group working at the facility, say, the landscaping team.”

  Through what is now known as Eastman Alert, the chemical company’s emergency notification system’s logo, coloring, and message wording provides a unique look and feel that’s now familiar to everyone working at the campus. When people see these alerts pop up across multiple devices and announcement systems, they can more quickly take action and avert dangerous situations.

  The time-sensitive messages alert people to various levels of risk, including:

  • Severe weather (tornadoes, high winds, severe thunderstorms)
  • Fire
  • Site evacuations
  • Criminal or police activity
  • Safe haven/shelter-in-place notices
  • Hazardous vapor release
  • Other situations that could put people in harm’s way.

  Some alerts are critical and require immediate action, while others may be more informative and direct employees to avoid certain areas of the campus affected by a particular situation.

  The company sends about 600 operational-related alerts and about 30 or 40 weather messages annually, Bennett says.

  Alert Notifications Successes

  Although it’s hard to measure precisely the impact an alert notification system has—particularly when employee and site safety are the main concerns—Eastman has seen several positive outcomes.

  Among them are:

  • Reaching as many as 10,000 people at one time.
  • Seeing alerts be received or acknowledged within the first minute after being sent.
  • Reducing notification time to all employees at the Kingsport site to less than three minutes.
  • Ensuring high levels of safety during various emergency situations.

  BlackBerry typically reviews and updates the AtHoc solution once every quarter, depending on a customer’s needs.

  A Company Standard

  The AtHoc-based Eastman Alert emergency notification system has become a company standard and has been rolled out at multiple other sites, according to Bennett. But what’s most beneficial is that the notification system can be configured to meet the emergency response needs of each specific site.

  “Other Eastman sites are smaller and manufacture different products,” he notes. “They have different kinds of issues so they need a different configuration of devices.”

  To date, Eastman has implemented the BlackBerry AtHoc solution in five or six other facilities and expects to bring it to additional sites as needed.

Casebook Study: Managing a Crisis

THE Challenge

Eastman Chemical wanted to reduce and streamline the complexity inherent in crisis communication. It also wanted to improve the way it alerted and notified employees during a critical event, such as a fire, explosion, hazardous vapor release, severe weather condition, or other serious or life-threatening events.

THE Solution

AtHoc from Waterloo, Canada-based BlackBerry Limited, provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments worldwide.

The Results

• Reduced notification time to all employees from 15 minutes to 3 minutes or less.
• Notified as many as 10,000 people (employees and contractors) on an 850-acre campus. Most messages are received within the first minute of being sent out.
• Safely navigated the explosions at its headquarters on Oct. 4, 2017, demonstrating the capability to ensure everyone was notified and responded to shelter-in- place alerts until the site was made safe.

Next Steps

Eastman continues to recommit to improving its safety emergency management and emergency notification procedures. The AtHoc-based Eastman Alert emergency notification system has become a company standard and has been rolled out across multiple sites.

Casebook Study: Getting the Boot

THE PROVIDER
DHL Express specializes in international shipping and courier delivery services and transportation.

Undercover Boots’ partnership with DHL Express has been key to its growth and success, says Mary Quintero, Undercover Boots’ founder and chief executive officer. While the partnership initially focused on shipping, Quintero then participated in DHL’s Pymexporta program, where she gained critical insight into customs, finance, and other export functions.

Given that Panama lies slightly north of the equator, it’s not surprising the rainy season extends for seven to eight months each year. What was surprising was how difficult it was to find “really cool rain boots,” Quintero says.

Making a Difference

After a decade working in hotel management in Switzerland, when Quintero combined her passion for travel and languages, she returned to Panama to figure out her next steps. When she left Europe, Quintero brought with her several brands of rain boots that weren’t available in Panama. When she was out and about, people would ask her where she bought her boots.

Quintero had found her calling. As she considered how to turn it into a business, her dad told her, “There are 10,000 companies making rain boots. You really need to make a difference to be competitive.”

Taking his advice to heart, Quintero started with a small collection of boots that infused art and culture. One current style features a colorful cityscape, and another shows a vibrant desert scene.

As eye-catching as the boots are, when it took nine days for a customer to receive an order, Quintero knew she needed to change her shipping methods. Instead of using the Panamanian national mail service as she had been doing, Undercover Boots made DHL Express its exclusive shipping partner.

Because Panama currently lacks a strong manufacturing infrastructure, the company produces its boots in China. For most sales, Undercover Boots works with DHL to fulfill orders from warehouses in Panama and the United States.

Helping Small Businesses Thrive

DHL Express, an international express service provider, operates in about 220 countries and territories, says Mike Parra, chief executive officer of DHL Express Americas. Outside of the United States and Canada, it’s number one in its respective markets, he adds. About 80% of the company’s active customer base consists of micro, small, and mid-sized enterprises.

By participating in DHL’s Pymexporta workshops, which are offered throughout Central and South America, Quintero learned about a range of topics critical to building a growing, international brand.

In these workshops, DHL experts, working with government agencies and other businesses and organizations, share their insight on subjects such as customs, exporting, banking, packaging, and market differences. This helps businesses like Undercover Boots more efficiently and effectively reach global markets.

The goal is to help small businesses “be successful and be able to take their businesses global,” Parra says.

Master Class

The structure of the Pymexporta programs can vary, as local managers and their teams decide on the seminars, webinars, classes, and other media that make sense for their area. Classes typically meet monthly or quarterly. During the pandemic, they shifted to a virtual format. Becoming a DHL customer is not a requirement and the program is open to non-customers.

Through her work with DHL, Quintero decided to implement the Delivered Duty Paid program, which calculates customs charges at shipment, rather than waiting to collect it from customers at delivery. This makes shipping “easier and seamless,” Quintero says, as customers don’t need to worry about additional import paperwork and payments. Another DHL program, the On Demand Delivery Service, allows customers to specify where and when their packages are delivered.

Going Global

In 2018, Undercover Boots won DHL’s Pymexporta award for growing its export operations, and for bringing Panamanian art and culture to consumers across the globe. “Every year we award a local company in the country that embodies values similar to DHL,” Parra says.

“Undercover Boots is very purpose driven,” he says. “Besides wanting to grow a business, Mary Quintero wants to give back to the world.”

With a goal of leaving “positive footprints,” Undercover Boots has supported Pro Niños del Darien, which provides food, clothes, and other items to children in need, as well as the National Association for the Conservation of the Environment of Panama.

The growth Undercover Boots has seen since partnering with DHL shows how a small business can grow in a short time by leveraging e-commerce and the resources of DHL. The program gave Quintero “the momentum and the confidence to decide to take her business global,” Parra says.

Quintero agrees, noting that the information and partnership helped change her mindset, and she began to think of herself as a chief executive officer and leader of a business. “The tools DHL provides transform you,” she says. “You will change as a human being and your vision will change. To me, that has no price.”

Preparing for the Next Step

When she had still been working as an employee, one of Quintero’s bosses told her that nobody is ever truly ready for their direct next position. If they were, they’d simply skip it and go to the position after that.

When Undercover partnered with DHL to go global, “maybe we weren’t 100% ready,” Quintero says. Yet while Undercover’s growth has been swift, “the program guides you in every level,” she says, with the array of information it offers.

DHL also can introduce growing businesses to banks and government economic development agencies. The knowledge and connections can help companies move their businesses to the next level. “If you are a brand that has a good product, and you want to export and tell the world who you are, DHL shows you how and guides you,” Quintero says.

Undercover Boots keeps a map of the world on a wall. Each time an order comes in from a new country, Quintero and her colleagues mark it off.

The pandemic hit Undercover Boots just as it did most businesses. “The first month was bad,” Quintero says, noting that Panama’s lockdown lasted about seven months, during which Undercover Boots’ brick-and-mortar store remained closed.

“It would have been easy for us to sit down and just wait,” Quintero says. But she chose to figure out how she’d navigate the pandemic and lockdowns, and then act.

Fortunately, Quintero already had an online business. While e-commerce has been popular in many areas of the world for years, it wasn’t as popular in Panama. “We had to really push it,” Quintero says.

Adapt and Change

Quintero and her team changed the website so it can accept international payments. It also now shows prices in multiple currencies, while shoe sizes are shown in both inches and centimeters. In roughly seven months, the percentage of e-commerce orders jumped from about 30% to about 90%.

Quintero also changed Undercover’s slogan to “fashion that protects.” Front-line and essential workers began wearing Undercover shoes and boots.

With Undercover Boots’ brick-and- mortar store closed, Quintero’s home became an e-commerce fulfillment warehouse. She filled the orders, labeled the boxes, and then ran them down the stairs to a truck or motorcycle, which took them to DHL; designated an essential business, DHL facilities remained open. “The concierge of my apartment building kept laughing and asking, ‘What are you doing?'” she says.

Cobranding Opportunity

There were more questions when Quintero signed a contract in May 2020—just several months into the pandemic—to produce the DHLUndercover collection. The limited-edition boots, raincoats, and plush toys feature DHL’s red and yellow brand colors.

“People said, ‘You must have lost your mind. You don’t know what’s going to happen,'” she says, adding “we had so much faith in the project.” Within about seven months, the collection nearly sold out.

DHL has partnered with other companies including Casetify, a producer of phone cases and other tech accessories based in Hong Kong and Los Angeles; and Switzerland-based fashion brand Vetements.

As the worst of the pandemic eases in many parts of the world, Quintero is still going strong. Among other steps, she is raising capital to fund the company’s growth. She’s also launching a three-year plan to more fully penetrate the U.S. market.

Quintero’s advice to other business owners and entrepreneurs? “Don’t be the first one to put limits on your dreams. Just live them with true passion.”

Casebook Study: Getting the Boot

THE Challenge

Undercover Boots wanted to reduce shipping times and acquire the information needed to expand sales worldwide.

THE Solution

The company partnered with DHL Express and participated in its Pymexporta program, which offers information critical to exporting, such as customs, banking, packaging, and the differences between various markets.

THE Results

Over the past several years, Undercover Boots expanded the number of countries it exports to from 12 to about 72, while increasing the proportion of e-commerce sales from 30% to about 90%. The company also partnered with DHL Express to create a limited-edition collection of boots and shoes.

Next Steps

Continue growing sales, including export sales, and penetrate the U.S. market.

THE PROVIDER
ITS Logistics, based in Sparks, Nevada, is a third-party logistics company that offers personalized supply chain solutions with dedicated fleet and asset-light transportation as well as omnichannel distribution and fulfillment services.

Casebook Study: Holy Guacamole

With increasing year-round demand for avocados, an extensive supply chain, and broad customer base, an effective logistics operation has become key to West Pak’s success. ITS Logistics, a third-party logistics (3PL) provider based in Sparks, Nevada, is a critical partner in West Pak’s growth.

From its start in 1982 as a grower and shipper of California avocados, West Pak Avocado has expanded to five distribution facilities across the United States and Mexico. The company sources avocados from an extensive grower base in California, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Peru, says Heath Shoup, vice president, sales and product management. West Pak distributes the knobby green fruit throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, and the Middle East.

Its brands include Lil’ Cados—as the name suggests, these are smaller and perfect for snacking; AvoMonsters, with fun packaging geared toward kids; and California Gold Avocados that are, not surprisingly, grown in California.

A chance meeting in 2013 launched the ongoing business partnership between West Pak and ITS. Shoup and his wife were at a resort on their honeymoon, and Shoup was wearing an Anaheim Angels hat. Manny McElroy, vice president of sales with ITS, noticed it and asked if Shoup was from California. The two talked, and their conversation revealed mutual friends, as well as the potential to do business together.

Prove It

ITS began its partnership with West Pak by brokering refrigerated units moving from Texas to California. West Pak had a distribution center in Edinburg, near Texas’s southern border, that handled avocados coming in from Mexico.

“We start any new carrier with internal transfers, or moving products from one warehouse to another,” Shoup says. Once a carrier has a proven track record—they’re on time, reliable, and stand behind their service—West Pak moves them to operations such as processing loads for retail customers.

ITS focuses on building relationships rather than just looking for one-off transactions. “Having a strong business relationship or partnership goes longer than trying to make a quick buck,” McElroy says.

Its customer base spans mom and pop businesses to Fortune 500 enterprises. “We look to see if the relationship fits and we can both add value,” he says. “We want to find customers whose supply chain fits into our network, so we can develop the most cost-effective transportation options for the customer.”

As West Pak’s business grew, management decided to move its primary distribution center from Edinburg to Dallas, and take advantage of lower and more consistent transportation costs for loads heading to California. The shift also means avocados move from farm to store more quickly.

As part of its work with West Pak, ITS helped analyze potential locations in the Dallas metro area, examining the availability of trucks and trailers. The new facility is located on the south side of the Dallas metro area, near other produce distributors. It’s also close to a ready supply of employees—a key consideration, given that the facility operates 24/7. And, because the Dallas-California route is an established lane, drivers know loads will always be available.

West Pak’s Dallas facility, which took about one year to build, handles packing, preconditioning, and cold storage, among other functions, for the thousands of loads that move through it each year. One load is about 1,600 cases, each weighing about 25 pounds. In avocado terms, a load consists of approximately 51,000 large or 135,000 small avocados.

ITS helped stock the new facility and develop a new transportation network in the Dallas area. During the move, which lasted about three months, ITS also maintained the transportation capacity West Pak needed to continue its existing operations. Also throughout the process, ITS was able to keep transportation rates consistent.

“We helped West Pak move all their products from Edinburg and restaff the warehouse,” McElroy says.

at your service

Today, ITS provides West Pak with a range of services. It procures and schedules backhaul routes that help leverage West Pak’s fleet of 10 trucks. ITS manages the loads and drivers, checking that the routes are as efficient as possible. These efforts minimize the times the trucks run empty, while also generating additional revenue for West Pak.

Another service ITS provides is appointment scheduling for West Pak’s major customers; the 3PL currently manages deliveries for more than 75% of West Pak’s customers. Many retail customers enforce strict appointment times, making it crucial that the drivers are on time.

This goal becomes more complicated when drivers must make multiple stops in a single trip. “Drivers have to make sure they’re there early,” McElroy says. “They have to make sure the miles add up, and they have to know each facility and its process for unloading.

“We’re the last to touch the product before it’s sold,” McElroy adds. By taking on this responsibility, ITS frees West Pak’s logistics department to focus on generating additional sales and boosting its operations.

Seasonal Spikes

Many consumer companies prepare for a spike in business during the year-end holidays. West Pak, like many businesses in the avocado industry, breaks from the crowd a bit; its largest peaks tend to fall around Super Bowl weekend and Cinco de Mayo.

“During the Super Bowl, we experience a substantial lift in sales,” Shoup says. Americans consume approximately 53.5 million pounds of avocados on Super Bowl Sunday, Treehugger.com reports. If the guacamole consumed that day was stretched across a football field, it would reach nearly 12 feet high.

Moreover, this increase occurs just weeks after the typical December peak, keeping many carriers and other logistics providers running fast.

ITS works with a driver network that provides steady pricing and availability, including through these peaks. “The drivers anticipate it,” Shoup says.

ITS also assists with West Pak’s preconditioning program, which is an important part of West Pak’s business model, Shoup says. As the term notes, the company ripens avocados ahead of time for major retail and food service accounts.

ITS ensures its trucks are precooled before loading up West Pak avocados. “When the products are loaded, the reefers (refrigerated trailers) are cooled so there’s no fluctuation in the core temperature,” McElroy says.

ITS has helped West Pak grow this business by ensuring on-time and fast deliveries to these customers. “As West Pak looks to incorporate more value-added services, we see ITS as a reliable partner to help continue to drive those extra sales,” Shoup says.

Indeed, ITS actually starts forecasting for the Super Bowl as early as July. By January, orders start to pick up. “We’re there to support whatever the customer orders in terms of hardness, color, or size,” McElroy says. “We’re both there to make each other successful.”

Managing Claims

To that end, if a situation arises in which a claim is placed on a load because the product was damaged and the customer refuses to accept it, ITS will assess the situation and work to resolve it. “We get the customer what they need,” McElroy says. “We’re only successful if West Pak’s customer is satisfied. Their best interest helps drive our decisions.”

That thinking helps strengthen the working relationship between the two companies. “Our teams work together to make sure products get to the customer on time,” Shoup says. “We don’t chase price to the bottom and pay for service, but still want to be competitive and have on-time deliveries.”

Also key to the relationship is reliability. “Being able to depend on ITS day in and out, month after month, and to have confidence that our products will get there on time, with the proper temperatures maintained, is important,” he says.

And, when a last-minute order or another challenge comes up, “I like to see carriers react,” Shoup says. “I like to see them help with problems, and not just focus on the easy moves.”

COVID’s Impact

As with most business relationships, COVID-19 has impacted both West Pak and ITS. Demand for avocados fluctuated, especially early on when stay-at-home orders had consumers focused on staple, shelf-stable foods.

Then, whether due to concerns about COVID-19 lockdowns or racial inequality protests, many truck drivers didn’t want to go to certain locations, Shoup says, adding that the drivers ITS chose made sure the company’s products were always delivered on time.

“If there was any chance of delay, ITS was there communicating that and keeping us posted in real time,” he adds.

Since 2013, West Pak has grown significantly, and now has secured about 7% of the global avocado market. ITS has benefited as well, capturing more of West Pak’s business. For instance, in 2019, the volume of loads it moved for West Pak jumped by more than 40%.

“We’ll continue to grow our partnership,” Shoup says. “ITS is one of our top carriers. They’re good partners for West Pak, and that’s what we want and look for.”

Casebook Study: Holy Guacamole

Challenge

West Pak Avocado wanted to maintain reliable transportation through seasonal peaks and company growth.

Solution

• Partner with a 3PL provider.
• Move distribution center to a major urban area, near established transportation routes and an employee base.
• Schedule backhaul routes using trucks that otherwise would run empty.
• Use the 3PL for appointment scheduling, freeing the sales department’s time.

Results

• Quicker movement of produce from the distribution center to the grocery store.
• Greater revenue from scheduling backhaul routes.

Next steps

Grow the partnership as the company grows.