A Blueprint for Supply Chain Success

The 2016 Supply & Demand Chain Executive 100 charts a course that overflows with innovation and solutions to mimic to maximize efficiency, profitability and more.

Sdc100 Logo 2016

What differentiates a successful business from a failing or flailing business? The foresight to eke out what other organizations are doing to succeed, then extrapolating and implementing what applies to your company, chasing metrics to justify and improve these projects, and repeat. That is why Supply & Demand Chain Executive (SDCE) compiles this annual list of the best 100 supply chain transformations and projects. You just never know when a competitor, or even an entirely unrelated company, may have the same kind of low-hanging fruit to pluck.

These projects can serve as a prospective template for supply chain executives seeking opportunities to drive transformation in their own organizations. From distribution to demand planning, these innovations depict how supply chain and service providers can partner with you to take your business from ordinary to extraordinary.

FEATURED PROJECTS

Company LogoENABLER: AFN LLC (www.loadafn.com)
CUSTOMER: Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc.
PROJECT GOAL: Improve on-time delivery, eliminate chargebacks, and improve acceptance and service levels
SOLUTIONS: Proprietary solutions used by AFN
BUSINESS IMPACT: Ocean Spray awarded freight to carriers through a waterfall process, with acceptance expectations of approximately 60 percent for primary carriers and 25 percent for non-primary. Through the Greenlock freight process, drop trailer capabilities and familiarity with end-retailer requirements, AFN improved Ocean Spray’s acceptance levels, reduced last-minute rescheduling and achieved close to a 100 percent on-time range for end-of-month deliveries.

Company LogoENABLER: ALOM (www.alom.com)
CUSTOMER: Biotechnology company
PROJECT GOAL: Expand product availability from e-commerce only to a retail channel
SOLUTIONS: Electronic data integration (EDI), Automated Clearing House (ACH) processing and serial shipping container code (SSCC) tracking
BUSINESS IMPACT: ALOM engineered an order management process integrating retailer EDI systems to receive orders by ALOM and feed them to the client for visibility, removing latency through direct connectivity via ALOM-developed EDI and ACH system integration processes. ALOM’s SSCC label barcode process tracks the serial number of each package.

Company LogoENABLER: AVATA (www.avata.com)
CUSTOMER: Chicken of the Sea International
PROJECT GOAL: Measure the effectiveness of trade spend
SOLUTIONS: Oracle Demantra Predictive Trade Planning, and Deduction and Settlement Management
BUSINESS IMPACT: Chicken of the Sea wanted a streamlined process and tool to plan, review and approve promotions, and improve sales forecasting and settlements management. The company now has visibility into planned, accrued and actual spend. And, a foundation is in place for sophisticated trade spend optimization.

Company LogoENABLER: Avercast LLC (www.avercast.com)
CUSTOMER: Global automotive parts supplier
PROJECT GOAL: Improve forecast accuracy, increase inventory turns, reduce stock-outs and trim inventory levels
SOLUTIONS: Avercast Business Forecasting and Supply Planning
BUSINESS IMPACT: The supplier sought an enterprise-level global forecasting and demand planning platform. Avercast raised forecast accuracy up to 92 percent, resulting in inventory reductions, increased inventory turns, elimination of expedited shipments, better customer service and curtailed stock-outs.

Company LogoENABLER: B-Stock Solutions (www.bstock.com)
CUSTOMER: Fortune 500 home improvement retailer
PROJECT GOAL: Help recover higher prices for customer-returned and excess inventory
SOLUTIONS: B-Stock’s B2B Enterprise Solution
BUSINESS IMPACT: B-Stock developed a private online auction marketplace, connecting the retailer’s returned and excess merchandise to qualified buyers with no middleman. By removing layers of supply chain and creating buyer competition, the retailer increased recovery rates by more than 20 percent across product categories.

Company LogoENABLER: BROWZ llc (www.browz.com)
CUSTOMER: BROWZ
PROJECT GOAL: Simplify motor carrier evaluation within supply chain
SOLUTIONS: Browser-based motor carrier verification software
BUSINESS IMPACT: SURE Carrier enables customers to monitor key CSA BASICs metrics on their entire population of carriers. SURE Carrier pulls FMCSA/DOT data together, making it easy to track and trend the safety and performance of motor carriers in your supply chain. SURE Carrier provides a detailed view of the performance of current carriers, as well as added data to validate new carriers.

ENABLER: CargoSmart Limited (www.cargosmart.com)
CUSTOMER: Triumph Express Service Canada Inc.
PROJECT GOAL: Increase visibility to accurate sailing schedule data to elevate customer service
SOLUTIONS: Private Label Sailing Schedule and Schedule Delay Alert
BUSINESS IMPACT: Triumph found it time-consuming to find current sailing schedules. The client implemented a Private Label Sailing Schedule application that provides it and its customers visibility into the latest consolidated schedules. CargoSmart’s Schedule Delay Alert offers a daily report of vessels carrying Triumph shipments that experience a schedule change of over 24 hours.

Company LogoENABLER: CELESTICA INC. (www.celestica.com)
CUSTOMER: Multinational end-to-end product lifecycle solutions company
PROJECT GOAL: Ensure all SCM employees are certified with the relevant skills and training required to execute the company’s overall strategy
SOLUTIONS: INsight, Celestica’s learning management system; Google Forms; the Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate (ADDIE) process; and the Kirkpatrick Three-Level Training Evaluation Process
BUSINESS IMPACT: The company recognized the need to unlock the potential of its talent, and embarked upon a project to ensure that all SCM employees were trained and certified in their roles. Employees completed more than 35,000 courses, which drove an increase in buyer efficiency by 10 percent per annum and planner efficiency by 20 percent per annum. The project impacted 2,300 employees, and improved and standardized SCM business processes for all learning pathways.

Company LogoENABLER: CLX Logistics LLC (www.clxlogistics.com)
CUSTOMER: Fortune Global 500 company
PROJECT GOAL: Manage logistics activity in and out of Asia, and freight audit and settlement
SOLUTIONS: Kewill TMS
BUSINESS IMPACT: This shipper now uses a software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based TMS for planning, execution and settlement of its shipments. Implementing the Kewill SaaS global TMS allowed the client to have a common process and technology for all of its markets. The shipper is seeing an ROI of 8 to 12 percent on its efforts.

Company LogoENABLER: Corporate United (www.corporateunited.com)
CUSTOMER: Ace Hardware Corporation
PROJECT GOAL: Reduce operational costs and indirect spend for its independent retailers
SOLUTIONS: Corporate United group purchasing organization (GPO)
BUSINESS IMPACT: Ace Hardware decided to use a GPO to decrease operational costs and bring pre-negotiated programs to its stores. It worked with Corporate United to determine which GPO categories would be best for initial rollout. Corporate United completed assessments on six categories, and in each case, savings estimates were between 9 and 22 percent.

Company LogoENABLER: Demand Management Inc. (www.demandsolutions.com)
CUSTOMER: A. R. Medicom Inc.
PROJECT GOAL: Improve the demand planning and procurement processes and system
SOLUTIONS: Demand Solutions Forecast Management and Requirements Planning
BUSINESS IMPACT: Demand Solutions improved A. R. Medicom’s forecast mix accuracy by 10 percent in Canada and 16 percent in the U.S., reduced total inventory by $3.5 million, decreased backorder units by 54 percent and boosted fill rates by 30 percent.

Company LogoENABLER: ecmarket Inc. (www.conexiom.com)
CUSTOMER: CAPP/USA
PROJECT GOAL: Accelerate invoice processing speeds and maximize early payment incentives
SOLUTIONS: Conexiom Account Payables (AP) Invoice Automation
BUSINESS IMPACT: Automation can reduce invoice processing costs by as much as 80 percent. CAPP/USA now quickly processes invoices, while avoiding errors, delays and lost invoices.

Company LogoENABLER: Elemica (www.elemica.com)
CUSTOMER: BASF
PROJECT GOAL: Automate the end-to-end purchase-to-pay (P2P) process
SOLUTIONS: Elemica Supply Chain Operating Network and Supplier Collaboration Portal
BUSINESS IMPACT: BASF needed an automated end-to-end P2P process for about 5,000 direct material suppliers. Elemica deployed a tool to automate supplier contact, track supplier open rates and campaign performance, and provide self-training tools and purchase order (PO) flow. BASF was able to onboard 100 suppliers in 90 days.

ENABLER: Fortna Inc. (www.fortna.com)
CUSTOMER: Ulta Beauty
PROJECT GOAL: Add capacity to support e-commerce and store growth, and enable faster replenishment and omnichannel capabilities
SOLUTIONS: Manhattan WMoS, Lightning Pick light-driven put walls and FortnaWCS
BUSINESS IMPACT: Ulta Beauty’s transformation included: the design, implementation and support of two omnichannel greenfield DCs; a new forecasting, replenishment and allocation system, as well as a new WMS and WCS; and the retrofitting of e-commerce capabilities into an existing DC. The company improved delivery cycle time to stores by more than 50 percent and boosted inventory accuracy, while reducing out-of-stocks.

Company LogoENABLER: Global4PL Supply Chain Services (www.global-4pl.com)
CUSTOMER: Forbes Global 2000 telecommunications manufacturer
PROJECT GOAL: Deliver product in a window ranging from two hours to next day, to two to five days
SOLUTIONS: Importer and exporter of record (IOR/EOR) services, and PO/Horizon Global Trade Management software
BUSINESS IMPACT: Global4PL provided a network of legal entities and depots in each country. PO/Horizon Global Trade Management software produced the documentation to manage the import/export process into 76 countries, all of which have a different Harmonized Tariff Schedule, and import and export requirements. Global4PL lowered the global reverse logistics program from two weeks from order to customer to less than four days.

Company LogoENABLER: Intelligrated (www.intelligrated.com)
CUSTOMER: Merrill Corporation
PROJECT GOAL: Minimize order fulfillment errors and increase overall throughput
SOLUTIONS: Intelligrated voice solution
BUSINESS IMPACT: Merrill sought a reliable and automated method of order fulfillment. The Intelligrated voice solution reduced errors by 65 percent and raised accuracy from 99.73 to 99.90 percent. Implementing voice also enabled Merrill to increase throughput by 45 percent and reduce staffing requirements.

Company LogoENABLER: INTESOURCE, A PROACTIS COMPANY (www.intesource.com)
CUSTOMER: One of America’s largest companies
PROJECT GOAL: Extend buying expertise and capabilities for direct and indirect spend
SOLUTIONS: E-sourcing and managed sourcing
BUSINESS IMPACT: Intesource saved the company more than $115.5 million and executed 642 sourcing projects. Intesource’s expertise in sourcing non-traditional, time-consuming and complex categories played a key role in value-generation activities. Savings numbers from individual sourcing projects include 30.9 percent on construction and remodeling, and 30.2 percent on floor care.

Company LogoENABLER: John Galt Solutions Inc. (www.johngalt.com)
CUSTOMER: Reddy Ice
PROJECT GOAL: Implement a forecasting and order generation tool for a daily delivery schedule
SOLUTIONS: Atlas Planning Suite, regression analysis and distribution requirements planning
BUSINESS IMPACT: John Galt developed a self-learning algorithm, which optimizes forecasts according to the latest data, to accurately forecast daily deliveries, so Reddy Ice can plan imminent production and deliveries without manual intervention. Atlas Planning Suite combined point-of-sale data with external data to compute the forecast, resulting in a 50 percent reduction in call-in orders and a 20 percent increase in sales.

Company LogoENABLER: Keysight Technologies (www.keysight.com)
CUSTOMER: Keysight Technologies
PROJECT GOAL: Transform the end-to-end worldwide logistics ecosystem to become efficient
SOLUTIONS: Lean methodologies and tools
BUSINESS IMPACT: Worldwide cross-functional teams conducted waste walks through the logistics network and warehouse footprint. Over 20 global projects were completed with logistics partners, resulting in major transformations across Keysight’s global end-to-end logistics ecosystem. The outcome was better delivery quality metrics, a cost savings of $1.7 million, a 50 percent reduction in lead time and an inventory shrinkage of $3 million.

ENABLER: LeanLogistics Inc. (www.leanlogistics.com)
CUSTOMER: Large direct-to-store milk provider
PROJECT GOAL: Centralize transportation management and provide full visibility
SOLUTIONS: LeanLogistics LeanTMS and Managed Transportation Services
BUSINESS IMPACT: The project brought the client’s facilities onto a centralized system. The client can now obtain an end-to-end analysis of its dynamic supply chain and review cost impacts from a range of levers. It decreased accessorial charges by up to 8 percent and increased cost savings through visibility into round-trip opportunities.

Company LogoENABLER: Librestream Technologies Inc. (www.librestream.com)
CUSTOMER: Global appliance manufacturer
PROJECT GOAL: Accelerate speed to market, improve uptime and reduce field service costs
SOLUTIONS: Librestream’s Onsight video collaboration and diagnostic platform
BUSINESS IMPACT: By engaging in live Onsight video collaboration sessions, teams were able to diagnose issues with new parts and set up new production lines. Onsight became part of the design, quality and supply chain workflow, helping to accelerate new product introduction cycles by 10 to 20 percent, improve production uptime by 5 to 10 percent and save direct field-testing costs.

Company LogoENABLER: Logistics Plus Inc. (www.logisticsplus.net)
CUSTOMER: A German large pipe manufacturer
PROJECT GOAL: Determine an efficient port and ground transportation to import and deliver pipe
SOLUTIONS: Import and port negotiation skills, and domestic ground transportation capabilities
BUSINESS IMPACT: Logistics Plus worked with the Port of Monroe to negotiate and broker its first big cargo shipment in 50+ years. The port director readied the port with local rigging and handling resources. Logistics Plus then arranged a larger shipment to be delivered to the Ashtabula County Port Authority. All 2,500 pipes were successfully delivered and transported to final destinations.

ENABLER: Omnitracs LLC (www.omnitracs.com)
CUSTOMER: Palmer-Donavin Mfg. Co.
PROJECT GOAL: Improve delivery efficiency, asset utilization and customer service
SOLUTIONS: Omnitracs Roadnet
BUSINESS IMPACT: Palmer-Donavin adopted the Omnitracs Roadnet daily routing tool to help find the balance between route efficiency and customer service with real-time data and fleet-wide visibility. Omnitracs Roadnet addresses high order volumes, rising fuel costs, changing traffic conditions, and managing drivers and vehicles.

Company LogoENABLER: Paladin Associates Inc. (www.paladinassociatesinc.com)
CUSTOMER: World leader in nutrition and additives for animal feed
PROJECT GOAL: Reduce U.S. distribution and transportation costs, and delivery times from offshore factories
BUSINESS IMPACT: This project included analyzing current distribution and transportation costs, and determining alternative distribution strategies and warehouse locations. Paladin recommended a significant change and the client moved its key U.S. warehouse from Des Moines, Iowa to Savannah, Georgia. Actual confirmed savings totaled over 25 percent of prior total warehousing and transportation costs, and reduced the delivery time by eight days.

Company LogoENABLER: Puridiom (www.puridiom.com)
CUSTOMER: Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island
PROJECT GOAL: Increase supplier risk management capabilities within Puridiom
SOLUTIONS: Integration with Dun & Bradstreet (DnB) and WatchDOG Pro
BUSINESS IMPACT: Real-time data integration from DnB provided the client with access to risk assessment, diversity and Data Universal Numbering System information. WatchDOG Pro provides real-time data on suppliers. Puridiom’s link provides reporting and auditing capabilities.

Company LogoENABLER: Quintiq (www.quintiq.com)
CUSTOMER: Fairmount Santrol
PROJECT GOAL: Optimize planning and scheduling
SOLUTIONS: Quintiq platform
BUSINESS IMPACT: The Quintiq platform optimizes sourcing and production processes through the management of production and transportation assets. A 100 percent fit helps the company properly manage key route and capacity constraints to reduce landed costs and lost production time.

ENABLER: Saddle Creek Logistics Services (www.sclogistics.com)
CUSTOMER: Subscription beauty products company
PROJECT GOAL: Customize order fulfillment and small parcel freight management
SOLUTIONS: Softeon inventory management system; WMS; and automated conveyors, scanners and label applicators
BUSINESS IMPACT: Saddle Creek handles beauty product orders for millions of subscribers each month, assembling as many as 60 custom bag configurations and fulfilling e-commerce orders from the client’s website. The third-party logistics provider increased orders by more than 1,000 percent, and sped the handling of component and finished goods inventory.

ENABLER: SAP Fieldglass (www.fieldglass.com)
CUSTOMER: Navistar Inc.
PROJECT GOAL: Expand recruitment team’s focus to include contingent workers
SOLUTIONS: SAP Fieldglass Vendor Management System (VMS) and Bartech Managed Services Provider (MSP)
BUSINESS IMPACT: The Navistar team used the SAP Fieldglass VMS as though it was a staffing supplier and the Bartech MSP handled payrolling. Navistar reduced its cost per hire by nearly 50 percent without sacrificing worker quality; saved 8 to 13 percent per worker by decoupling contingent worker recruiting and payrolling; reduced cost per hire when converting contractors into full-time positions; and slashed vendors with whom to negotiate, contract, audit, etc.

Company LogoENABLER: Solvoyo (www.solvoyo.com)
CUSTOMER: DeFacto
PROJECT GOAL: Increase demand forecasting accuracy and on-shelf availability
SOLUTIONS: Demand forecasting, multi-echelon inventory optimization, store-to-store transfer and replenishment planning, and exception-based parameter setting and planning
BUSINESS IMPACT: Solvoyo delivered a cloud-based, automated and centralized SaaS replenishment planning system, so DeFacto now makes replenishment, allocation and store-to-store transfer decisions automatically. This created a net savings of $1.2 million and led to a 23 percent reduction in stock-outs.

Company LogoENABLER: Transplace (www.transplace.com)
CUSTOMER: Consumer packaged goods company
PROJECT GOAL: Deploy DCs to optimize warehousing and transportation costs
SOLUTIONS: Transplace Scenario Pro Technology and LLamasoft Supply Chain Guru
BUSINESS IMPACT: The client wanted to streamline the network to improve service, reduce costs and enhance the roles of existing DCs to allow more efficient shipment consolidation. A thorough rate structure supporting various costs was created and modeled.

Company LogoENABLER: Transportation Insight (www.transportationinsight.com)
CUSTOMER: Power equipment parts manufacturer
PROJECT GOAL: Maintain leadership and growth, while providing world-class customer service and same-day shipping
SOLUTIONS: Transportation Insight Enterprise Logistics, Insight TMS, Co-managed Logistics Partnership, Insight Fusion and Extended LEAN
BUSINESS IMPACT: The manufacturer maintains operations control, while the enabler manages carrier contracts, audits freight invoices, delivers reporting and assists in improvement initiatives. The partnership reduced less-than-truckload logistics costs by 24 percent, truckload costs by 8.2 percent and parcel shipments costs by 20.2 percent, and curtailed manufacturing lead times by 60 percent.

Company LogoENABLER: VFT Solutions Inc. (www.vft-solutions.com)
CUSTOMER: Major medical and wellness manufacturer
PROJECT GOAL: Identify product diversion and fraud in the global distribution chain
SOLUTIONS: VFT Solutions Straw Site Technology and VLA Analytics Software
BUSINESS IMPACT: The manufacturer found its export-only product being sold in the U.S. in brick-and-mortar retail stores and online at reduced rates. VFT set up a straw site to appear as an import/export company to pose as potential resellers. The straw company approached the international distributors of that product with the intention to determine which may violate agreements. The manufacturer identified and sealed a leak in its distribution chain that was causing export-only products to re-enter the United States.

Company LogoENABLER: Vizient Inc. (www.vizientinc.com)
CUSTOMER: INTEGRIS Health
PROJECT GOAL: Transform supply chain operations to sustain $15 million in savings realized from Vizient cost reductions
SOLUTIONS: Supply chain operations transformation
BUSINESS IMPACT: Vizient aligned INTEGRIS Health facilities under a single supply chain operations structure. Process improvements reduced PO processing errors to 2.8 percent, increased contract-line validation by almost half, slashed contract price exceptions by about 60 percent, improved warehouse replenishment effectiveness, increased electronic invoicing by 400 percent and more. 

More SDCE 100 Recipients

4SIGHT Supply Chain Group, www.go4sight.com
Agistix Inc., www.agistix.com
Amazing Print Corp., www.amazingprint.com
Arena Solutions Inc., www.arenasolutions.com
Avendra LLC, www.avendra.com
Bastian Solutions Inc., www.bastiansolutions.com
Basware, www.basware.com
Blue Ridge Solutions Inc., www.blueridgeglobal.com
C3 Solutions, www.c3solutions.com
Cargo Chief, www.cargochief.com
CaseStack, ww2.casestack.com
CBX Software, www.cbxsoftware.com
Censeo Consulting Group, www.censeoconsulting.com
Chainalytics LLC, www.chainalytics.com
ClearMetal Inc., www.clearmetal.com
Cloud Logistics, www.gocloudlogistics.com
Digital Lumens Inc., www.digitallumens.com
DMW&H Inc., www.dmwandh.com
E2open, www.e2open.com
eLynxx Solutions, www.elynxx.com
Epicor Software Corporation, www.epicor.com
Freightview, www.freightview.com
Gatewit, www.gatewit.com
GEP Worldwide, www.smartbygep.com
Greybeard Advisors LLC,
www.greybeardadvisors.com
HAVI Global Solutions, www.havigs.com
Hermes NexTec, www.hermesworld.com/us
International Business Systems, www.ibs.net
INSIGHT Inc., www.insightoutsmart.com
Integration Point, www.integrationpoint.com
Intelligrated, www.intelligrated.com
International Asset Systems (IAS), www.interasset.com
Invata Intralogistics, www.invata.com
JDA Software Group Inc., www.jda.com
Jump Technologies Inc., www.jumptech.com
JVKellyGroup Inc., www.jvkg.com
Kewill Inc., www.kewill.com
Kinaxis, www.kinaxis.com
LLamasoft Inc., www.llamasoft.com
Logility, www.logility.com
NeoGrid, www.neogrid.com/en
NetSuite, www.netsuite.com
Next Level Purchasing Association, www.nextlevelpurchasing.com
New Generation Computing Inc.,
www.ngcsoftware.com
Nipendo, www.nipendo.com
NPI LLC, www.npifinancial.com
OnDemand Resources, www.ondemandresources.com
OnProcess Technology Inc., www.onprocess.com
Optoro, www.optoro.com
Optricity, www.optricity.com
OTTO Motors, www.ottomotors.com
Paragon Software Systems Inc., www.paragontruckrouting.com
PINC Solutions, www.pincsolutions.com
ProcurePort, www.procureport.com
Purolator International, www.purolatorinternational.com
Redwood Logistics, www.redwoodlogistics.com
Resilinc, www.resilinc.com
riskmethods Inc., www.riskmethods.net/en
Riverwood Solutions, www.rwsops.com
ShipXpress Inc., www.shipxpress.com
Smithers Pira, www.smitherspira.com
Spend Management Experts, www.spendmgmt.com
Synergy Ltd., www.snapfulfil.com
TMC, a division of C.H. Robinson, www.mytmc.com
ToolsGroup, www.toolsgroup.com/en
Transporeon, www.transporeon.com/us
UNEX Manufacturing Inc., www.unex.com
Yale Materials Handling Corporation, www.yale.com/north-america/en-us

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