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Ace Hardware leverages BluJay’s Transportation Management to reduce freight spend
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Transportation Management Systems (TMS)
Applicable Industries
- Retail
Applicable Functions
- Logistics & Transportation
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases
- Fleet Management
- Supply Chain Visibility
- Predictive Replenishment
Services
- System Integration
- Software Design & Engineering Services
The Challenge
Ace Hardware’s inbound transportation process was managed manually with spreadsheets, utilizing inefficient processes and producing outdated information. Ace wanted better control of inbound transportation to automate processes, gain efficiencies, understand costs, and identify areas for improvement. Ace was in the process of implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, a project that was expected to take three to four years and consume many IT resources. Meanwhile, the company recognized the potential ROI of deploying a transportation management system (TMS) and decided to slate the TMS project in front of the ERP implementation, with the goal of finding a TMS requiring limited IT resources. Ace established a list of goals for a transportation management system: gain visibility into true freight costs, identify and manage inbound freight, centralize freight payment, obtain business intelligence to assess carrier performance, and reduce freight costs.
About The Customer
Founded in Chicago in 1924, Ace Hardware Corporation is America’s neighborhood hardware retailer with over 4,000 stores in 50 U.S. states and 60 countries. Ace Hardware stores are supported by 14 world-class distribution centers and six freight consolidation centers, supplying over 65,000 products. Ace has annual sales of over $3.5 billion. The Ace Hardware transportation network consists of 30,000 truckload OTR shipments, 8,000 intermodal shipments, 17,000 Ace fleet shipments, and 2,700 lanes. Ace spends about $50 million in truckload transportation costs annually. More than half of Ace Hardware’s shipments – approximately 65 percent – move as freight collect, meaning Ace pays for the moves.
The Solution
Ace Hardware selected BluJay’s Transportation Management platform to meet its needs and goals. The Transportation Management software transmits Ace orders to suppliers, then selects and tenders to the lowest-cost or best-match carrier. The carrier accepts the load through BluJay’s Transportation Management, where the supplier has visibility to carrier acceptance and schedules an appointment. BluJay’s technology platform gives Ace Hardware visibility to order and load statuses while providing information on true transportation costs. With BluJay’s technology, Ace Hardware gains many capabilities, including automating transportation tasks, leveraging the Global Trade Network to manage inbound shipments for greater freight savings, using BluJay’s Procurement application to automate spot market RFPs, and utilizing the BluDex® transportation lane index to compare freight costs to market. The relationship between Ace Hardware and BluJay Solutions continues to evolve. Along with Transportation Management, Ace uses additional solutions integrated into the platform including BluJay's Procurement, BluDex, and Freight Management. Ace estimates that BluJay Solutions saved the company over $18 million in transportation costs since implementation. The savings come from process efficiencies, such as selecting the right carriers and right modes. In addition, Ace has realized savings from BluJay’s Procurement, leveraging the tool’s real-time market information to negotiate better agreements with carriers.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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