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Republic Plastics Achieves Cost Savings Through Visibility from BluJay Solutions
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Transportation Management Systems (TMS)
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Consumer Goods
- 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
As a rapidly expanding company, Republic Plastics was quickly outgrowing its spreadsheet and fax-based transportation tracking. In addition to expanding business challenges, Republic Plastics was seeing a shift in freight transportation to a more regionalized approach. The company traditionally shipped freight in long distances of about 1,500 miles until retailers began opening more regional distribution centers, allowing product into the stores more quickly. The average shipping distance decreased to 500 miles, which adds time and complexity to the transportation planning process. Republic Plastics wanted a transportation management system that could reduce time devoted to logistics planning and decrease transportation costs while the company continues to grow and evolve. The company values all employees and wanted the right technology to increase the efficiencies of the transportation team. Republic Plastics created a list of goals for a transportation management system: eliminate high start-up costs with SaaS platform, provide full management of transportation functions, maximize efficiency of staff and improve customer service, and lower freight spend.
About The Customer
Established in 1999, Republic Plastics manufactures premium private label foam products for the consumer retail and institutional food service tableware markets, which compete with national brands. Republic Plastics supplies most US grocery retailers with private label tableware solutions including plates, bowls, saucers, and lunch trays. Republic Plastics has four processing facilities strategically located in the US to maximize distribution efficiencies. The company spends about $8 million per year in freight.
The Solution
Republic Plastics chose BluJay’s Transportation Management solution to manage outbound transportation from the manufacturing plants and distribution centers, direct to retail stores. Transportation Management system (TMS) is a comprehensive TMS that fosters collaboration among all trading partners, monitors carrier performance, automates procurement, streamlines settlement, and optimizes shipping processes. Republic Plastics chose the BluJay Solutions SaaS model because alternatives had higher costs across the board for initial fees, upgrade costs, maintenance charges, supplemental reports, and ongoing support. BluJay‘s Transportation Management fosters collaboration by providing authorized staff, carriers, and customers with different views into the transportation process, which reduces the burden on the entire transportation department. Transportation Management provides the ability to manage transportation remotely by logging onto the system from anywhere in the world to see shipment statuses in real-time. Transportation Management also enables Republic Plastics to optimize shipping, monitor carrier performance, gain visibility into freight moves, and gain in-depth reporting capabilities.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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