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Kalalou, a leading designer and supplier of home accents, garden decor, and gifts, was facing challenges in managing its warehouse operations. The company delivers its products via three channels: wholesale to big home décor companies and brick-and-mortar boutiques and gift shops, direct-to-consumers via its eCommerce store, At West End, and drop-shipping for D2C customers. During the peak months of January and September through November, Kalalou brings on temporary workers to ensure they keep up with order demands. The company needed a solution that could provide visibility into auto-replenishment, improve the productivity of the warehouse team, and automate processes to reduce the learning curve for temporary workers.

BEDGEAR, a leading performance bedding manufacturer and distributor, was facing several challenges with its shipping operations. The company was using a shipping software that was not advanced enough to meet their business needs. They were unable to automatically compare carrier rates or transit times, making it difficult to make the best shipping decisions for their customers. Shipping errors were also a significant issue. The company only had one item verification process, which took place when the item was picked. This manual process resulted in infrequent but costly incorrect products being shipped. Another challenge was orders being sent to the wrong address. When an order would come into NetSuite, the team had to manually type or copy and paste the address into a carrier portal, which sometimes resulted in an order being sent to the wrong address. This was not only an inefficient use of time but also resulted in additional costs for reshipping the correct products and negatively impacted customer sentiment.

Midwest Equipment Sales (MWE) was facing challenges with its former shipping software. The software required frequent, costly customizations due to its limitations and was not adding new carriers. The sales team had to go through a convoluted set of steps and clicks to get a shipping rate quote and create an estimate for customers, all while holding them on the phone. MWE also experienced issues and limitations with bulk shipping. The previous software could only batch process five labels at a time, which was very tedious when MWE ships hundreds of orders every day.

Redcat Racing, a premier name for gas, nitro, and electric-powered remote-controlled (RC) cars, faced a significant challenge as it transitioned from a business-to-business operation to a direct-to-consumer eCommerce company. The company's pick, pack, and ship strategy was not equipped to handle a large number of small orders, leading to frequent shipping errors. The manual process of checking and packing orders often resulted in customers receiving incorrect or incomplete orders, damaging the company's reputation and causing financial losses. Additionally, the company's order processing times were negatively impacted by a lack of integration between their shipping software and NetSuite, leading to delays in loading shipping labels.

During the early days of COVID-19, with lockdowns, new work-from-home situations, and virtual school, demand for bikes had never been higher. For Retrospec, that meant orders increased rapidly, and its former pack and ship process just wasn’t going to cut it. Serving its network of almost 500 dealers as well as Amazon customers, Retrospec needed a streamlined and automated way to keep up with orders. The previous pack and ship process required multiple clicks and scans to process just one shipment, which translated into a lot of time and human resources to fulfill orders. Retrospec also wanted to be able to rely on an automated system to rate shop for shipping rather than a manual, people-intensive process. Most of their orders weren’t complex, in fact, 90% ship in their own containers, are pre-packed, and Retrospec already had the dimensions needed to rate shop, but when the orders would get to the pack table, they slowed down the entire process.

WrestlingMart, a large wrestling specialty store, was facing challenges with its shipping and fulfillment process. The company had already invested in scalable technology for its business, but it needed an advanced solution that could integrate with NetSuite without causing performance delays. The team was dealing with shipping errors that were costing them time and money. These errors included shipping incorrect products, selecting incorrect shipping times, and shipping with incorrect rates due to the lack of rate shopping functionality. The company wanted a solution that would be easy for employees to learn, provide customers with a better tracking experience, and quickly create business rules for choosing shipping options.

The customer, a global distributor of accessories for smoke shops, dispensary channels, and wholesale customers, had outgrown their previous shipping software which was built for small businesses. The absence of a streamlined shipping software meant spending time on manual steps that were driving up fulfillment times. Many of the customer’s products require domestic and Canadian HAZMAT labels, but there was no automated system for label generation. The team was forced to use a connector software to pass order data over to separate carrier platforms, all to generate a label. Scan-scan-print was no different - the team had been forced to jump between multiple systems which resulted in more wasted time. The customer needed a shipping solution that would address their expanding market presence, which was restricted due to the limitations of their previous shipping connector.

As Springfield Leather's order volume increased and the company prepared for the next stage of growth, it realized it could no longer afford long lead times on order processing or a lack of automation in its fulfillment process. The company implemented NetSuite ERP and the NetSuite SuiteCommerce eCommerce shopping cart module in 2016, but its previous shipping solution’s integration was lackluster and it had limited options for customization without intensive IT or development resources. Springfield Leather initiated the search for a new shipping solution that not only integrated seamlessly with NetSuite and SuiteCommerce, but also featured a user-friendly interface that didn’t require additional IT or development support. The perfect solution needed to offer accurate multi-carrier rating in the shopping cart, automation via dynamic business logic and exceptional customer support.

WRS Group, a manufacturer of 3D models, print products, and promotional materials for health education and health professionals, was facing challenges with shipping rating accuracy and timely quotes due to a lack of automation in its fulfillment process. The company relied on a rate table that was several decades old to determine freight rates based on the dollar value of each order for its customers. The quoting process was completed manually, order by order, sometimes taking up to two days. This resulted in a poor customer experience and loss of business. WRS achieved a slight improvement by using NetSuite’s native real-time dimensional weights feature, but as freight was still negatively impacting profits, it began looking for a complete solution. Additionally, the company was facing a workforce transition with long-term employees retiring and a tight talent pool. The company needed a shipping solution that would help it fulfill a higher volume of orders accurately without requiring more workers.

Concrete Countertop Solutions (CCS) was experiencing rapid growth in its eCommerce business, which was further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company was using Shopify as its source system and order management system, but needed a compatible shipping solution that could handle a higher volume of orders and more complex shipping processes. The company's order volumes increased during the pandemic, but staffing did not. CCS needed a solution that supported both parcel and LTL carriers and could help its limited number of warehouse employees process and fulfill orders quickly. Additionally, CCS wanted to perform rating in its shopping cart rather than charging shipping as a separate line item.

Compass Coffee, with 16 locations and a rapidly growing eCommerce business, needed a shipping solution that would integrate with NetSuite and support its eCommerce fulfillment requirements. The company ships nationwide and guarantees next-day shipping for all orders, but its order fulfillment processes weren’t automated and they lacked visibility into its eCommerce orders. Compass Coffee strives to deliver an exceptional experience from the time an order is placed until it arrives at the customer’s doorstep, which means delivering an accurate order on time, every time, and offering flexible shipping options. Prior to adopting ShipHawk, Compass Coffee’s team spent a disproportionate amount of time on manual order fulfillment and verifying accuracy instead of growing the company’s eCommerce division.

APG acquired Fellers, Interwest Distribution and DigiCut within a matter of months to establish a full-service signs and graphics wholesale distribution organization that would provide everything from premium vinyl and paint protection film to the software needed to cut them. Each business brought unique strengths and capabilities to the partnership, but leadership recognized that utilizing each of the business’ disparate systems wasn’t going to work and as a result, a unified approach with an ERP and fulfillment solution across all brands was required. The company initiated a search for a shipping solution within the NetSuite ecosystem after selecting NetSuite as its ERP. The ideal solution needed to integrate with NetSuite, enable a quick, easy and accurate shipping experience and have the ability to support Fellers’ 40 warehouses out of the box.

Farmhouse Pottery, a company that creates handcrafted pottery and home decor items, faced a significant increase in customer orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company needed solutions to successfully grow and scale its operations. They also needed a better shipping solution that would integrate seamlessly with NetSuite, their ERP. Another critical consideration for Farmhouse Pottery was being able to rate shop and find the best carrier for each product and shipment, at the right time, in the right sized box. As most of its products are extremely fragile and each shipment has a unique size and weight, the company needed flexibility and the means to identify the best shipping rate to meet customer expectations.

Hyper Racing, a company that sells micro sprint race cars, fuel injection systems, and parts/accessories, was facing a challenge in its shipping process. With three warehouses and approximately 8,000 SKUs, the company needed an advanced shipping solution to increase productivity and reduce shipping costs without hiring more employees. The weights and dimensions of Hyper Racing’s products are incredibly varied, and the small warehouse team had to rush through the packing process, often grabbing whatever carton they knew would fit the contents of the order just to get it out the door faster. Another challenge was that there wasn’t enough time to accurately and manually rate shop shipping options for the hundreds of packages shipped per day. As a result, Hyper Racing was often paying for more expensive carriers or an unnecessary shipping method.

Mann Lake, a leader in the beekeeping industry, faced a challenge after switching to NetSuite in 2020. The company needed a shipping solution that could integrate with its new ERP and automate its processes. Mann Lake has approximately 12,000 SKUs, with products ranging from one-pound boxes to 60-pound boxes with varying dimensions. Some shipments also qualified as HAZMAT and required special handling, instructions, and labeling. The company's previous shipping software was unable to automate these processes or integrate with NetSuite and all of its carriers. This led to a bottleneck in the order processing line. Additionally, Mann Lake was manually rate shopping between UPS, USPS, and FedEx, which was time-consuming and increased the likelihood of errors.

Motus Freight was facing a significant challenge due to the large amount of manual work involved in routine shipments. This was not only time-consuming but also inefficient. The company's vision was to create 'the perfect shipment' - a streamlined, automated system that would unite their supply chain and enhance productivity. The challenge was to transform their existing processes and systems to achieve this vision.

Vine Line Logistics, a third-party logistics provider, was facing growth limitations due to the restrictive capabilities of their outdated and costly on-premise transportation management software (TMS). The company needed to upgrade to a modern solution that would enhance efficiency, automation, collaboration, and visibility, thereby driving greater revenue. They were looking for a solution that could create a flexible, collaborative portal for customers, carriers, and staff, offload TMS software and hardware maintenance support and costs using a scalable SaaS, cloud-based solution, and upgrade the user interface to appeal to modern digital users internally and externally. They also wanted to simplify and expand solution integration capabilities, streamline onboarding of electronic data interchange (EDI) customers, reduce training requirements with a more intuitive solution, and generate larger revenue opportunities with customers.

Port City Logistics, a logistics service provider in the Port of Savannah area, has been experiencing substantial growth since late 2019. The company aimed to connect with more shippers and turn away from being a pure commodity to a value-added partner. However, this required a new strategy that would involve connecting with more non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOCCs), gaining more visibility into inventory levels at the warehouse, ensuring constant oversight and tracking of all trucks and documentation through an app-based experience, providing a secure information gateway for both carriers and shippers, and scaling operations without limits.

Genpro, a non-asset transportation provider, was facing challenges with its existing Transportation Management System (TMS) which was not supporting and meeting the vision and plan for future growth. The company needed a more accessible, scalable TMS with integrations to connect partners to critical planning and shipping information. The solution required to automate redundant shipment tasks, centralize and connect internal and external stakeholder views, simplify the user interface, scale to support growth, and respond in real-time to customers and carriers managing volume and capacity allocations.

Gillson Solutions, a freight brokerage, was using a truckload dispatch program that was not designed for their specific needs. The program was more suited for dispatching and routing trucks rather than searching for capacity, onboarding new carriers, and building a network of trusted carrier partners. The company's processes were largely manual, relying heavily on spreadsheets and piecemeal programs for data. This resulted in a clunky and inefficient system that was slowing down their operations and hindering their growth goals. They needed a tech stack that was fast, intuitive, easy to learn, and easy to navigate. They also needed strong search functions to help them find information quickly without endless scrolling and screen jumping.

Ryder System, Inc., a leading logistics and transportation company, was facing a significant challenge in connecting its supply chain. The company's supply chain included shippers, receivers, carriers, and service providers, all of which were operating in silos due to disparate technology and manual processes. This lack of integration was causing inefficiencies and hindering the company's ability to provide its customers with the benefits of modern, cloud technology. The company needed a solution that would integrate these disparate systems into a single network environment, breaking down the silos and enabling real-time collaboration across the supply chain.

Port X Logistics, a company known for its value in providing expedited containerized cargo management, drayage, trans-loading, and OTR trucking, was facing challenges in managing its diverse supply chain. The company was using multiple, disparate systems with a cumbersome manual management process. This disjointed process often left NVOCCs uncertain of whether a booking was shared and documented appropriately. BCOs had limited access to real-time information, and even upon request, the Port X team could take hours to review the information and provide it. Tracking down the right proof of delivery image, from thousands of files, was a hassle while trying to operate as a trucking company. The need for faster responsiveness fell under the microscope within the confines of the COVID-19 outbreak, forcing companies to mandate the use of contactless paperwork.

Port X Logistics was facing a challenge in bringing together people and systems to provide complete visibility and real-time data access to NVOCCs. They were seeking a solution that would enable proactive communication and efficient document management with steamship lines. Additionally, they wanted to offer compliance and visibility measures to BCOs and their freight forwarder partners.

ACE Forwarding was in search of a comprehensive transportation management system (TMS) that could enhance visibility and assure their customers of the safety of their freight. They had reviewed over two dozen TMS, including those specific to air freight, but none met their needs. Their previous system was merely a landing page for tracking and lacked customer experience features. This lack of visibility hindered ACE Forwarding from delivering the level of customer service they desired. Additionally, their previous system was disjointed, leading to operational inefficiencies and underutilization of assets. The system was also not user-friendly, forcing operational staff and drivers to navigate through multiple screens and tabs to track shipments and assets, creating a high-stress scenario.

Taimen Transport, a North American 3PL, was struggling with manual supply chain processes that were exhaustive and costly. They had to compile data from multiple carriers, LSPs, and other sources, which was a time-consuming process. Creating carrier scorecards based on manual reviews of performance information was another challenge. They were spending an average of two hours daily on check calls alone. Their processes were rigid and could not handle sudden disruptions. They also had trouble integrating with other systems due to outdated processes. All these challenges were limiting their scalability and growth.

Taimen Transport LLC was struggling with outdated legacy systems that were causing productivity loss due to redundant processes and clunky interfaces. The company was in need of a smarter way to manage freight, with a strategy that would equip their best people with the best technology. The existing systems were not only inefficient but also hindered the company's ability to work remotely and onboard customers and carriers instantaneously.

Taimen Transport LLC, a rapidly growing logistics company, had previously implemented Turvo, a cloud-based collaborative logistics platform, which became a mission-critical part of their business. As Taimen grew, Turvo increased their productivity by over 400% and improved their communication with customers. However, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taimen faced a new challenge. Vaccines were authorized for emergency use and needed to be transported across the country. The success of the cold chain was critical, and failure was not an option. Taimen was called upon to handle this critical task.

The global automotive manufacturer in this case study had two manufacturing plants producing the same V6 engine with similar production rates and model variants. One plant used the eFlex Assembly architecture, while the other used a highly automated fixed architecture. Both lines had over 100 workstations and up to 200 model variants. Both sites needed to re-rate production and introduce new models. The challenge was that the highly automated fixed tooling line was inflexible, costly, and time-consuming to change. This resulted in lost opportunities and a lack of competitiveness in the market. The manufacturer needed a solution that would allow for rapid changes in production requirements, configurability, distributed control, and plug-and-play capabilities.

The customer, a global automobile manufacturer, was facing challenges with their existing transmission manufacturing process. The detailed nature of automotive transmission manufacturing and the high cost of errors made it crucial to ensure high levels of quality and minimize warranty costs. Prior to implementing a vision inspection system, the transmission line and all previous assembly lines were managed in a manner that was inefficient and costly. Images were stored on 50 PCs scattered throughout the plant, requiring engineers to visit each storage area to retrieve images associated to a particular serial number. This incurred excessive PC life-cycle cost and labor due to the initial investment, and ongoing OS patches, virus updates and hardware failures. The PCs failed to integrate and store images reliably, resulting in lost images. The system also lacked diagnostic capabilities, such as alerts when quality was degrading, as well as data and reporting capabilities.

A global automotive manufacturer was facing a sudden shift in market demand due to changes in fuel prices. The demand for 4-cylinder engines increased overnight, while the demand for 6-cylinder engines dropped. The manufacturer's assembly lines, which were highly automated and fixed for 4-and 6-cylinder engine assembly, were not flexible enough to adapt to this change. The 4-cylinder line was running around the clock but could not increase its capacity beyond its original design capabilities. The 6-cylinder line was meeting production requirements by 10 am and sitting idle for the rest of the day. This inflexibility resulted in lost sales opportunities.