The Problem
To increase their competitiveness, a nationally branded manufacturer/retailer of
clothing needed to reduce operating costs in their supply chain. Specifically,
it was important to reduce the cost of freight within continental U.S.
The Solution
While the client's distribution department had already taken reasonable steps to
reduce domestic freight costs, a PCG examination of supply chain costs determined
that "less than truckload" (LTL) freight to client owned and operated stores
still contained significant cost savings potential.
A database of historical shipments was created that used the date and weight of actual store shipments to model various possible cost reduction scenarios.
Working with the client's store operations staff, PCG determined that a new, standardized store delivery schedule could both lower freight cost and simplify store scheduling of staff required to handle incoming goods.
Using the new delivery schedule as the basis for comparison, PCG solicited competitive pricing from a variety of qualified LTL freight providers.
The Results
Overall freight savings of 35% was achieved! Half of the savings were due to
the superior delivery schedule described above, and the other half from lower
freight pricing.
