Forever Direct Chooses BluJay Solutions Software for Greater Efficiency and Process Improvement

• Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
• Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

• Consumer Goods

• Warehouse & Inventory Management
• Logistics & Transportation

• Supply Chain Visibility
• Inventory Management
• Warehouse Automation

• System Integration
• Software Design & Engineering Services

In preparation for the move and to “custom-proof” the new warehouse, Forever Direct chose BluJay’s Customs Management solution. The software provider delivers all of the customs-related CMS software for the organization, so that all of the products are registered under customs rules. Forever Direct did not yet have the software for this. They had to set up a new customs warehouse for free transit to countries outside the European free zone. In February 2012, all interfaces were worked out and customs - in collaboration with Deloitte, BluJay and two external suppliers - granted all the permits to Forever Direct. These licenses were granted on the basis of the plans, as nothing yet existed. The new warehouse, for instance, required a Type E customs bonded warehouse license. In order to obtain this status, Forever Direct received all the necessary customs permits in 2013.

Forever Direct EU BV is the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) distribution center of Aloe Vera of America (AVOA). AVOA exclusively produces all the products for Forever Living Products, the world's largest grower, manufacturer, and distributor of aloe vera products. The organization sells products through more than nine million distributors in 160 countries and has an annual turnover in the billions. Forever Direct started in Moerdijk (Netherlands) in 2008 with bulk distribution of its products in the EMEA region. The organization purchased goods from AVOA and sold them to the Forever Living sales offices in some 60 countries in EMEA, all of which had a local logistics operation for their product distribution. The aim was to reduce local stock and achieve faster delivery of goods. The challenge was to determine how many local warehouses could be closed without infringing on the delivery times to distributors. In 2011, Forever Direct moved into its own premises in Oud Gastel Netherlands.

Forever Direct handles five to six incoming and outgoing containers with products on a daily basis. “Keeping track of international requirements for compliance with customs and trade regulations and ensuring that goods are delivered on schedule, creates a significant administrative and cost burden for many companies,” says Robert de Rooij, Senior Project Manager at BluJay Solutions. “Forever Direct needed a solution to help them with the international customs regulations and to ensure that the export documentation is in order.” Forever Direct has a distribution center of 18,500 m2 in Oud Gastel where goods are stored under customs supervision. When goods are stored temporarily in the Netherlands and then exported, no import duty or sales tax is required to be paid. That saves Forever Direct enormously in costs. They have made an agreement with customs stating that they do not need to justify every shipment on a daily basis, but they do monthly Automated Periodic Reporting (GPA). At that time they report all the transactions of the previous month at one time. This is not done manually, since it concerns thousands of orders per month, but they have an ERP system for this, whereby all warehouse transactions are entered. BluJay’s software receives all of the data from the ERP system and processes this information so that the administration is and remains organized. In this way, the software ensures that there is a report at the end of the month that includes all the warehouse stock and shipments. Forever Direct has chosen this solution because a good working relationship had already been developed in a previous collaboration with BluJay and because BluJay is one of the few specialists offering this solution.

• Considerable improvement in operations.
• Established a scalable supply chain platform to facilitate future growth.
• Improved supply chain performance.

• 18,500 sq. meter regional distribution center.
• Processes ‘direct delivery’ orders for distributors in 19 countries.
• Supplies 93 countries in EMEA with Forever Living Products.