Building products manufacturer reports ROI in managing rapid growth, network complexities
Rockville, MD — October 26, 2005 — James Hardie Building Products, a building materials manufacturer and fiber-cement technology leader, said it has decreased freight costs by as much as 13 percent one year after implementing Manugistics' transportation management solutions.
As one of the fastest growing siding manufacturers in North America, James Hardie was managing 2,200 outbound loads per week, including shipments to every location of America's largest do-it-yourself home improvement retailer manually through enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, paper reports and order milestones among nine disparate U.S. plant locations.
Managing the processes was costly and time-intensive because of the de-centralized flow of information, according to the manufacturer. In the building and materials sector where time-to-market is under constant scrutiny, James Hardie sought more efficient production planning and distribution mechanisms to manage its diverse transportation fleet.
Manugistics responded to James Hardie's needs with a centralized transportation planning and execution solution aimed at stabilizing headcount in line with the company's projected annual growth, adjusting to network complexities and providing the company with better visibility within its distribution system. Within 10 months of the project's inception, all nine plants were up-and-running with Manugistics' Transportation Management solutions. As a result, James Hardie said it has improved its negotiating power with carriers to plan up to four days sooner, enabling better production scheduling and capacity planning and savings on freight costs.
For more information on transportation practices that consistently result in performance improvements, see the article "The Analyst Corner: Fulfillment & Logistics" in the August/September 2005 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.
