Case
Study B
Adjust logistics
system to meet major retail customer’s
service and cost requirements and maintain them as a valued customer
Products: Standard and Customized Window Fashions
Logistics Customer: Major textile manufacturing company with finished
products being shipped to retail and distributor networks
Background: The manufacturer grew from a minor factor in the window
fashion industry and has become one of the major suppliers of window
fashions domestically and globally. The highly competitive home and
office product line is price sensitive, quality conscience and easily
damaged in transit. The outbound logistics was provided by a company
owned facility and located in the eastern part of the U.S., with
approximately 85% of the product being shipped from that location.
The company was not satisfied with the cost to run the operation,
the cost per blind to custom cut the blind and a 15 day order cycle
time to the customer.
Solution: The textile company evaluated their enterprise network
and concluded that moving the product line to an existing Midwest
contract facility would provide the benefits necessary to accommodate
the customer’s requirements. CWC collaborated with the client’s
logistic, IT and engineering departments, collaboratively analyzed
the existing product movement, resource utilization, and identified
required systems update. Since the textile company was already
using CWC logistics to service their major retail accounts in the
window fashion product lines, they asked the CWC team to devise
a plan to move the custom blind vinyl cut-down operation into their
existing facility. Space within the facility was reallocated, redesigned
to accommodate equipment used to assemble, cut, and distribute
custom cut window shades to major retailers around the country.
CWC developed new processes, provided the necessary training, and
implemented new procedures to reduce the cost, delivery time, and
improved the efficiency of the operation.
Payoff: The clients
inventory has been reduced 20 %, per order costs have been reduced
in excess of 25% and the shipping delivery window
has been reduced by 5 days. The client said, “thank you for
making this a non event for our customers.” Additional accounts
will be transferred to the CWC facility and an expansion is being
implemented for the Summer 2005.
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