Rich Products achieves savings with BluJay’s Logistics as a Service (LaaS) solution

• Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics
• Functional Applications - Transportation Management Systems (TMS)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms

• Food & Beverage
• Retail

• Logistics & Transportation
• Warehouse & Inventory Management

• Fleet Management
• Predictive Maintenance
• Supply Chain Visibility

• Software Design & Engineering Services
• System Integration

A complex company like Rich’s needs centralized control, scalability, and visibility into processes to better manage and measure transportation execution. Some network locations are involved in the daily transportation planning and execution, while other locations are managed by third-party companies leading to significant process and procedure inconsistencies. Furthermore, while carrier usage within lanes is defined periodically through corporate routing guides, the usage isn’t controlled or measured. Additionally, procurement (contracts and carrier negotiation) is performed by corporate management and a third-party company handles freight payment. One of the company’s requirements is to retain strategic control of carrier relationships. Rich’s knew that carriers prefer a direct relationship to the shipper (not mediated by a broker or a third party). In an effort to gain greater control and reduce costs, Rich’s desires to outsource the daily management of transportation and standardize processes. Rich’s defined a list of business imperatives for transportation management: Implemented a single source for transportation management and a single-platform database, Became a leader in carrier-friendly business practices, Monitored and reduced distribution cost and performance-to-plan.

Rich Products Corporation is the leading supplier and solutions provider to food service, in-store bakery, and retail marketplaces. The founder of the non-dairy segment of the frozen food industry, this 60-year-old family-owned company manufactures and markets an extensive variety of products, including toppings and icings, breads and rolls, finished desserts and cakes, pizza dough, sweet goods, beverages, Italian specialties, barbeque, seafood, and appetizers. Rich’s distribution network encompasses more than 60 locations, including 19 plants, 35 other production locations, and five regional DCs. Rich’s ships more than 70,000 loads a year (combination of full TL, consolidated TL, and intermodal) and has an annual freight spend of nearly $100 million.

BluJay Solutions was selected by Rich’s for the comprehensive offering, Logistics as a Service (LaaS), which combines business process outsourcing for transportation with the power of BluJay’s Transportation Management. The SaaS solution provides Rich’s with access to the BluJay Global Trade Network, which empowers companies to improve overall supply chain management in a collaborative environment. Rich’s leverages BluJay’s LaaS solution to manage daily operations: Optimizing mode and routing of all shipments, Managing carrier selection and ensuring capacity commitments are met, Planning load consolidation and optimization, carrier selection, as well as capacity commitments, Automatically tendering freight to carriers and managing only the exceptions, Reviewing unanticipated accessorial and payment anomalies, Monitoring carrier performance to plan and to contract. By implementing BluJay’s Transportation Management, Procurement technology and BluDex, Rich’s is able to proactively meet capacity needs with visibility; identify and track key customers to provide ‘white-glove service;’ as well as outperform the market enabling the company to become a ‘shipper-of-choice.’ Currently, Rich’s hosts four to five procurement events a year to secure top carriers, while continuing to strengthen those relationships and reduce costs. Furthermore, by utilizing WebSettle, Rich’s transportation process is almost entirely paperless, with the ability to easily track distribution costs and year-over-year savings.

• Rich’s views BluJay’s Logistics as a Service solution as the model of the future for transportation solutions, replacing both traditional 3PLs and software solutions.
• The company’s transportation is managed with SaaS technology, providing better coordination, control and at a lower cost.
• With BluJay’s Execute solution, Rich’s is able to virtually extend the transportation team, have best practices consistently deployed for their network, apply additional expertise, and avoid diverting in-house resources from critical business priorities.

• Rich’s ships more than 70,000 loads a year.
• Rich’s has an annual freight spend of nearly $100 million.
• Rich’s hosts four to five procurement events a year to secure top carriers.