Mid-Market Gloves Wholesaler Consolidates Distribution Network, Saving $~1M+ in Annual Transportation Costs

Mid-market gloves wholesaler is a nationwide distributor of gloves serving the janitorial, food service, automotive, and dental industries. Prior to working with WarehouseQuote, the company was distributing products from over (20) individual 3PL providers and shipping origins across the United States.The client approached WarehouseQuote to help reconfigure their distribution network to improve visibility and simplify inventory management with a goal to reduce average miles per shipment and transportation costs.

The Challenge

• Limited inventory and order visibility across 20 distribution locations
• Elevated average miles per shipment, creating fulfillment inefficiencies
• Increased transportation costs due to a segmented network

Analysis

The WarehouseQuote data team analyzed the client’s outbound order distribution data to determine where orders were shipping to, identifying shifts in consumer buying behavior. Based on the analysis, WarehouseQuote determined that a majority of outbound shipments were fulfilled from 3 of their 20 existing distribution nodes: Charleston, Vernon, and Houston. Leveraging proprietary technology, the WarehouseQuote team was able to identify the optimal location to position inventory to reduce average miles per shipment.

Implementation

WarehouseQuote developed a detailed implementation roadmap including sourcing net-new facility partners and coordinating inventory transfers from existing facilities. Continued monitoring of ideal cargo location, placing inventory strategically to reduce transportation spend.With WarehouseQuote, the mid-market gloves wholesaler also receives a project management team for inventory and order management support, exception identification, and inventory visibility across their facility locations

Results

• 33 percent reduction in annual transportation miles traveled

• ~$1 million in annual transportation cost savings

Future State

After Year 1, WarehouseQuote ran a similar analysis for the firm a year after implementation to validate the changes to their distribution network. The analysis confirmed the existing (3) locations as optimal locations of inventory placement plus recommended an additional node in Houston, Texas to drive further cost and network efficiencies.

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