Even though sales to Canada account for just a small percentage of overall revenue for this New York-based manufacturer of material handling products, the company realized the importance of serving its Canadian B2B customers well. The company is recognized worldwide for developing innovative, high quality products including electric chains and wire ropes, crane components and lever hoists.
The manufacturer originally entrusted its Canada-bound deliveries to a loose network of regional Canadian providers. As time went by, the manufacturer became aware of glaring inefficiencies in its Canadian distribution processes. The manufacturer reached out to Purolator for an alternative, and was pleased to receive a comprehensive proposal for a very unique solution, customized to meet the business’s specific needs. Purolator was assigned the job, and since then, the manufacturer’s Canadian operations have become highly efficient, and order volume has started to increase.
The challenge
The manufacturer services the Canadian market primarily from warehouses located in Cobourg, Ontario, and Edmonton, Alberta. Rather than rely on a single provider to service all of Canada, the manufacturer opted to enlist 2-3 regional providers. The thinking was that regional providers would have the necessary assets to meet the challenges unique to each region.
But the manufacturer soon came to learn, its patchwork approach was simply not efficient. Much of the paperwork was being completed by hand. Deliveries seemed to be taking longer than they should, and costs seemed excessive. Underlying these inefficiencies was a lack of synergy and communication between the regional carriers. When the Edmonton facility ran low on a specific product, there was no visibility, no immediate way to know if the product was available in Ontario. The need for inter-warehouse transfers was a recurring issue.
Another factor was the inconsistency of service. A customer didn’t necessarily know which provider would be making its delivery, so problems arose with regard to visibility and accountability.
We recommended a hybrid solution based on a specific weight "dividing line." Any product below that line travels via our courier network, and heavier packages travel as LTL. This immediately saved almost $30,000 annually by diverting 30% of shipments to the more efficient courier option.
Shipments leave the warehouse and are sorted at a Purolator processing center, then fed into the appropriate LTL or courier network. This solution eliminated the frequent, time-consuming stops of the previous system and allowed freight to travel directly to its destination.
Our hybrid approach and unified network solved the critical problem of coordinating inter-company inventory transfers between the Alberta and Ontario facilities, providing much-needed visibility and efficiency.
We replaced manual paperwork with our fully integrated client portal. This provides customers with 24/7 tracking capability, allows for electronic returns, and gives the business immediate access to all account, shipping, and order information.
The results
Another benefit of the hybrid solution has been its impact on the manufacturer’s customers. Purolator offers a single source solution, meaning customers in western Canada receive the same experience as customers in eastern Canada. This extends even to customers located in very remote regions who, for other carriers, are either an afterthought, or simply considered “unreachable.”
Since partnering with Purolator, this manufacturer has seen good things happen in its Canadian business. Shipments are delivered with greater than 98 percent on-time efficiency. The manufacturer has all of its needs handled by a single provider. Customer satisfaction has improved dramatically, and perhaps best of all, the company has set its sights on growing its presence throughout Canada.
“We knew pretty much right away that we could provide a better solution,” says Betty Jo Rodey, Purolator International’s Strategic Account Executive. “No one else has the access to the Canadian market that Purolator does, so we went to work to deliver the solution this company wanted in the first place.”
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Using multiple regional providers creates service gaps, inconsistent customer experiences, and a lack of accountability. Let us show you how a single, unified network can provide seamless, reliable service across all of Canada.
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