An ICAT Logistics Case Study Rigorous Retail Rollout
A retail manufacturer has a large project at hand and needs 500+ shipments of plastic shelf displays routed to beauty supply stores all over the United States. Can ICAT get everything delivered on time?
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A manufacturer in the retail industry had a large 558-shipment rollout of plastic shelf displays that needed to be routed from New Jersey to beauty supply stores across the continental U.S. (CONUS). Having handled these types of projects for this customer before, the experts at ICAT Logistics welcomed the opportunity.
The challenge though stemmed from a change in plans from the customer. Originally, each store was to receive the same shelf display, but it was later decided there would actually be nine different kits. That meant each store would receive a specific style. The ICAT team knew they had to be very meticulous in the labeling and routing to prevent stores from receiving the incorrect type of display.
To make things even more interesting, the displays had to be delivered within five days of the pickup date, which had already been pushed back due to unexpected production issues. In addition, some of the Midwest and Western states were encountering severe weather, which would make delivering to some of the more-remote locations a bit difficult.
Despite a unique and challenging situation, the ICAT team knew they could handle it!
Right Solution
This project required White Glove service where the shipments were transported via ground through our LTL network. Each pallet consisted of 18-20 shrink-wrapped boxes and required a liftgate and pallet jack to unload, and then needed to be taken inside each store, unpacked, and have the debris removed.
This specialized service isn’t offered everywhere, especially in small cities and rural towns. When it came to these delivery locations, the ICAT team had to reach out and preselect the final-mile carriers before everything was ready to be transported.
When the rollout was ready to ship, ICAT provided labels with the kit numbers listed on each—along with every delivery address—to guarantee the specified kits were selected at the warehouse for the correct destinations. There was absolutely no room for error! One small typo would have caused a substantial supply chain disaster.
The ICAT team created a unified effort to ensure there were no discrepancies by providing the customer with a live spreadsheet that was updated daily and organized the flow of the shipments from the off-site warehouse to each destination. They made sure to consistently communicate with the customer’s Warehouse Manager and Project Manager throughout the entire process for full transparency.
Done!
The rollout was a complete success! Each store received their respective kits on time, despite a few weather delays in some areas. The Project Manager was beyond satisfied and appreciated the efforts made by the ICAT team. They even received kudos from the major beauty supply manufacturer and the off-site warehouse, who were both ecstatic that ICAT remained organized and diligent throughout the entire project, delivering all the shipments in less than a two-week timeframe.
ICAT made sure this project was successful by:
- Providing top-notch customer service and a seamless experience for the customer and the stores receiving the displays;
- Planning everything from start to finish and ensuring each step in every shipment’s transit was well-documented and kept up-to-date;
- Communicating everything proactively and on a regular basis, even if there was a slight delay due to weather;
- Remaining flexible when the customer needed to switch pickup days or require more trucks to gather the freight; and
- Saving our customer time by cutting out their manual labeling process.
