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Sargento Leverages BluJay Solutions to Reduce Freight Spend and Improve Visibility
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Transportation Management Systems (TMS)
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Industries
- Food & Beverage
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
Sargento’s existing Transportation Management System (TMS) solution was not able to meet operational requirements. Orders were planned into shipments without considering cost, service, or contractual commitments to carriers, and there was an inability to accurately allocate transportation costs at the order level. Sargento chose to implement a flexible, scalable multimodal transportation management system that would meet their operational needs today and in the future. Sargento established a list of goals for a transportation management system: Integrate with 30 carriers, Ship approximately 3,000 orders per month, Transport 24 million pounds of products on average per month, Integrate with existing supply chain software, and Straight-through processing of order data via EDI.
About The Customer
Sargento Foods Inc. is a family-owned business, employing approximately 1,300 people at four Wisconsin facilities, one in Washington, and one in South Dakota. They are one of the largest converters of cheese in the United States, offering a variety of cheese products marketed through four business divisions: Consumer Products Division, Food Service Division, Food Ingredients Division, and Culinary Solutions. Founded in 1953 and headquartered in Plymouth, WI, Sargento has grown to become a significant player in the cheese industry, known for its innovation and quality products. The company prides itself on its family-owned values and commitment to excellence, which has helped it maintain a strong market presence over the decades.
The Solution
Sargento improved operational efficiencies by eliminating manual processes and non-value-added services. In the past, if a carrier charged an incorrect transportation cost, Sargento did not have the visibility to correct these charges prior to being invoiced for them. Sargento would calculate the rates, but were often invoiced using a different rate. As a result, they had a difficult time reconciling payments. Since the implementation of the BluJay platform, each carrier has a contract in the contract management module of the system, where their rates are locked and paid accordingly with no discrepancies. Not only has the system helped Sargento manage costs, but the automation has also reduced the manpower required to reconcile payments from 15 hours per week to six hours per week, resulting in a 60 percent reduction in administrative costs for freight payment. Accruals are done as soon as the product is loaded at the distribution center. The billing information is fed to the finance department and the accrual of transportation costs is done in real-time. Accessorials that occur during delivery are captured as part of the invoicing process and are also allocated down to the order level. This helps to ensure the real cost of freight is captured for each customer. With the BluJay platform, they are now able to evaluate charges during the year to better determine what the customer charges should be the following year, taking into account the back-end fees that each customer was accumulating. This allows Sargento to accurately allocate costs back to their customers and helps ensure Sargento remains profitable.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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