New Vine Logistics Uses WMS to Tackle Regulatory Challenges

Wine Shipper leverages warehouse management system from Provia to ensure pick accuracy, legal compliance

Wine Shipper leverages warehouse management system from Provia to ensure pick accuracy, legal compliance

Grand Rapids, MI — August 17, 2004 — Shipping wine around the United States can be a challenging task given the complex web of varying regulations in force in different states. But wine shipper New Vine Logistics is using a warehouse management system from Provia Software to meet this challenge and to help drive rapid growth in its business.

New Vine was founded in May 2001 by wine industry, technology and transportation veterans to solve the complex business problems associated with the interstate sale and distribution of wine. The company has invested some $30 million to develop proprietary fulfillment systems that enable fully compliant consumer-direct shipping in up to 42 states.

New Vine Logistics' wine fulfillment business grew 400 percent in the past year, and the company's non-wine fulfillment operations are projected to increase by 50 percent in 2004. As part of the technology infrastructure in place to support this growth, New Vine is using Provia Software's ViaWare Warehouse Management System (WMS) as the cornerstone of the company's supply chain operations.

Offering compliant consumer-direct shipping from wineries to customers could be a nightmare as each state has its own unique regulations for the transportation of alcohol. But since implementing ViaWare WMS in 2001, New Vine has been able to achieve well over 99 percent accuracy in handling all data and inventory requests in its 90,000 square-foot warehouse.

"In this $45 billion industry of California wineries, with more than 7,000 growers and vineyards, precision and accuracy in distribution are absolutely critical," said Katie Schumacher, president and CEO of New Vine Logistics. "The configurability of Provia's ViaWare WMS solution enables our customers to receive their orders correctly and in a timely manner, while allowing us to achieve legal compliancy in both reciprocal and non-reciprocal states regarding the interstate shipment of alcohol."

In addition to providing both Web-based and retail fulfillment logistics for 92 different wineries, New Vine Logistics uses ViaWare WMS as the backbone of its distribution activities for Petaluma, Calif.-based Illuminations, a retailer of candles and home decorating solutions. The operational precision achieved with ViaWare WMS also enabled New Vine Logistics to explore new avenues for growth by offering food and wine gift baskets, according to Provia.

New Vine Logistics is leveraging the picking module within ViaWare WMS in combination with its conveyor system to allow workers to combine various wine and food products together into gift baskets and distribute them with virtually no inventory variance or mispicks. New Vine Logistics has built up a diverse catalog of gift products and expects to increase this gift basket catalog from 3,500 to more than 4,000 product offerings this year.

"Provia's ViaWare suite of supply chain execution solutions has helped companies like New Vine and others to use logistics as a competitive advantage," said Paul Crist, vice president of sales and marketing for Provia. "Provia's solutions allow companies to manage the one constant in logistics: change."
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