Case Studies
3PL Growth Strategy | Case Study 1
Business Case for 3PL Start-Up with Financial Projections – An $8.8B global contract electronics manufacturer imagined an opportunity to grow revenue and expand customer “share of wallet” by establishing 3PL services. The core business had a remarkable stable of marquee names in the Technological vertical to also sell 3PL services. However, the intended 3PL business must achieve a level of profitability and ROIC commensurate or better than the core business to gain leadership approval.
3PL Growth Strategy | Case Study 2
3PL Start-Up Growth Strategy – A small $10M VAWD 3PL with 2 warehouses in SoCal had an ambitious revenue goal to grow by 3X in 3 years. It sought help to figure out how to achieve it. The 3PL originally operated as the logistics department of the parent company but started to offer 3PL VAWD services to a handful of small apparel companies. Very small but highly profitable, it had developed solid and marketable VAWD capabilities and made smart choices in IT systems selection.
3PL Value Evaluation | Case Study 1
3PL Value Delivery Evaluation in Aerospace – A $100B aircraft manufacturer requested support to evaluate a 3PL providing manufacturing replenishment to feed components for wide-body, twin-engine commercial airplane assembly.
3PL Value Evaluation | Case Study 2
3PL Value Delivery Evaluation in Fitness – A $20M fitness equipment manufacturer was unhappy with increasing logistics costs and asked for help to evaluate outsource fulfillment services. The 3PL was operating 2 DCs on the East and West Coasts.
Freight Cost Control | Case Study 1
Logistics Audit & Freight Cost Control – An $825M manufacturer of water heaters was a facing a double-digit logistics cost increase against single-digit net sales decline and needed a “fresh set of eyes” to evaluate operations and find cost savings, targeted at 10% of a $100M budget.
Freight Cost Control | Case Study 2
Transportation Spend Assessment – For a $150M chemical manufacturer was concerned about rising transportation costs.
Inventory Optimization | Case Study 1
The combustion engines division of an $8B manufacturing company had assembly two plants with attached storage facilities. Growing demand, rising labor costs, increasing transportation costs and general economy of scale motivated a strategic plan to move all primary assembly and storage to a single facility. The client sought help to design the warehousing component of the merged site to optimize the material flow, assembly, storage and distribution.
Inventory Optimization | Case Study 2
A $130M distributor of automobile, truck and recreational “Batteries” was seeking to find an optimal inventory strategy, including specific SKUs, quantity and locations. Total sales, sales margin and inventory holding costs were not on track nor understood. Growth and variance in seasonal and regional demand was a challenge for the best inventory placement.
3PLR was challenged to build a dynamic inventory solution to increase the order fulfillment rate on higher margin sales SKUs and lower the overall inventory holding costs. Our client was seeking to have the optimal inventory placement
Logistics Audit & Strategy | Case Study 1
An $825M manufacturer of water heaters was a facing a double-digit logistics cost increase against single-digit net sales decline and needed a “fresh set of eyes” to evaluate operations and find cost savings, targeted at 10%.
Logistics Audit & Strategy | Case Study 2
A $300M manufacturer and commodity trader of feed, fertilizer and sulphur wanted an outside expert to evaluate the capabilities of their supply chain operations. They had many concerns including network efficiency, transportation management effectiveness, delivery performance, systems capabilities and adoption, and the necessity of maintaining a private fleet.
Logistics Outsourcing | Case Study 1
Outsource Nationwide Retail/ CPG Distribution – A $260M CPG apparel company was unhappy with a poorly constructed and punitive service agreement and rising costs of an incumbent warehousing 3PL that was operating its only nationwide distribution center. The client sought help to prepare a Request for Proposal (RFP) to replace the 3PL
Logistics Outsourcing | Case Study 2
After-Market Automotive Distribution Outsourcing – A $280M automotive aftermarket accessories manufacturer and distributor was suffering with overflowing, overburdened and failing nationwide distribution center.
M&A Logistics Integration | Case Study 1
Set up Supply Chain Operations for Acquisition Carveout – A $283M telecommunications company, preparing to acquire a regional telco network with revenue of $1B, needed assistance to develop and implement a plan to transition the supply chain network supplying equipment and parts for maintaining telco infrastructure, as well as to support new construction for extending the multi-state broadband network.
M&A Logistics Integration | Case Study 2
Merge & Outsource Parts Distribution Operations – A $560M cargo lift manufacturing division of a $3.6B European industrial company was tasked to merge parts distribution operations of two subdivisions and to reduce operating costs and headcount by outsourcing the combined warehouse to a capable third-party logistics (3PL) service provider on a short timeline.
M&A Operational Due Diligence | Case Study 1
M&A Operational Due Diligence, LTL Trucking – A $15B freight division of a global logistics services company sought assistance to evaluate an acquisition target, a $57M Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) US carrier.
M&A Operational Due Diligence | Case Study 2
Operations Due Diligence for Investment – A $1B mezzanine funding firm sought expert 3PL industry advice on a potential investment to fund a merger of a $300M European value-added warehousing and distribution business serving the high-tech consumer electronics industry.
Material Flow & Layout | Case Study 1
A mid-market distributor of home goods needed help to identify distribution improvement opportunities and find creative ways to increase efficiencies and service levels across the B2B and E-Comm drop ship channels.
Material Flow & Layout | Case Study 2
Our mid-sized packaging manufacturer’s plant was running out of space and congested. The 123,000-square-foot storage area is located in between inbound/outbound dock doors and packaging production work cells. There was significant congestion with material staged in aisles, lots of double-handling, product damage and partially filled locations. The client said, “I would like help to lay out the warehouse space and make product flow better to the dock and also gain more usable square footage.” Forklift drivers complained about digging for pallets and excessive travel.
Supply Chain Network Optimization | Case Study 1
A major HVAC company with growing market share in 4 business units was looking to reduce order shipment time (i.e., increase service level) and on-hand inventory through network optimization and consolidation of facilities serving 250 branches.
Supply Chain Network Optimization | Case Study 2
Optimize Inbound & Outbound Networks – A major motorcycle manufacturer wanted to identify cost saving opportunities and implementation strategies to streamline the distribution of both finished goods and after market parts through the dealer network.
Temporary Professionals | Case Study 1
Interim Transportation Manager – While 3PLR was consulting with a $700M food manufacturing company to improve material flow into and through the plant and change the layout of storage and staging areas, the company’s transportation manager unexpectedly resigned and departed. Like any manufacturing company, the inflow of raw materials and outflow of finished goods cannot grind to a halt. An interim manager was needed to run the transportation department, while recruiting for replacement started,
Temporary Professionals | Case Study 2
Interim CEO – A $30M 3PL offering warehousing, freight brokerage, and drayage trucking was acquired by a private equity firm and facing a leadership transition. At the same time, there was a threat of not retaining several of the top 6 customer accounts. The founder and president announced imminent retirement. The private equity firm needed a leader to stand in the gap and work effectively to retain major accounts.
TMS Selection | Case Study 1
TMS Selection for Retail/ CPG Company – A mid-sized CPG company for home goods was manually managing $24M in transportation spend. New leadership envisioned the need for and potential benefits of implementing a transportation management system (TMS) to handle 20k shipments from 2 DCs annually.
TMS Selection | Case Study 2
Transportation Management Program Design, In-sourcing & System Selection – For $825M manufacturer of water heaters, conducted an exhaustive assessment of their transportation management (TM ) program, including processes, staffing, systems and third-party services.
Warehouse Turnaround | Case Study 1
Distribution Center Turnaround – A large supplements division of a $53B global CPG company found itself in big trouble entering Q4 with an under-performing central DC, which was backlogged, missing shipping schedules, messing up orders to major retailers, and creating a huge risk of missing the year-end revenue target by 35%. The DC was shipping 25% of expected daily volume with low inventory accuracy at arrival. The client needed to turn around the failing DC, clear up the backlog, and hit the revenue goal within 2 months.
Warehouse Turnaround | Case Study 2
Distribution Center Transformation- A $360M discount retailer replenished regional stores from a 500ksf distribution center. With thin retail margins, profitability depends upon highly efficient operations. The company adopted a JIT model to sharply reduce inventory on-hand, but throughput was insufficient to handle the volume, resulting in a highly congested facility that ramped up costs, turned profitability negative, and left stores with bare shelves. It needed expertise and hands-on support to turnaround the operation.
WMS Selection | Case Study 1
WMS Selection for 3PL Warehousing Company – A rapidly growing warehousing 3PL needed help to replace a warehouse management system (WMS) with limited functionality that was no longer adequate to support the business. The WMS selection timeline was extremely aggressive, targeting 3 weeks.
WMS Selection | Case Study 2
WMS & TMS Evaluation & Selection – A mid-market mail consolidation start-up business needed to state-of-the-market IT systems for warehousing (WMS) and transportation (TMS) management. Mail consolidation feeds shipments into the US Postal Service (USPS) distribution network for mail delivery and introduces unique handling, data, and labeling requirements.