Ace Hardware Leverages e2open®’s Transportation Management to Reduce Freight Spend

More than half of Ace Hardware’s shipments move as freight collect, meaning Ace pays for the moves. The inbound transportation process was managed manually with spreadsheets, utilizing inefficient processes and producing outdated information. Ace wanted better control of inbound transportation to automate processes, gain efficiencies, understand costs, and identify areas for improvement. Ace was also in the process of implementing an ERP solution, a project expected to take three to four years and consume many IT resources. Meanwhile, the company recognized the potential ROI of deploying a TMS and decided to prioritize the TMS project to find a solution requiring limited IT resources. Ace sought to improve visibility into inventory and orders while gaining control of supplier performance and freight costs. The company established a list of goals for a TMS: gain visibility into true freight costs, identify and manage inbound freight, centralize freight payment, obtain business intelligence to assess carrier performance, and reduce freight costs.

Founded in Chicago in 1924, Ace Hardware Corporation is America’s neighborhood hardware retailer with over 4,000 stores in 50 U.S. states and 60 countries. Ace Hardware stores are supported by 14 world-class distribution centers and six freight consolidation centers, supplying over 65,000 products. Ace has annual sales of over $3.5 billion. The Ace Hardware transportation network consists of 30,000 truckload over-the-road (OTR) shipments, 8,000 intermodal shipments, 17,000 Ace fleet shipments, and 2,700 lanes. Headquartered in Oakbrook, Illinois, as a leading home improvement retailer, Ace spends about $50 million in truckload transportation costs annually.