STATUS: On-Time ;
LOAD#: 12172002
DEST: Chicago, IL
ETA: 09/01 10:00
STATUS: Late ;
LOAD#: 11192018
DEST: Chicago, IL
ETA: 09/02 11: 17
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201908 - DC Velocity - Half-Page Island copy.pdf 1 8/26/2019 11:33: 31 AM
the firm reach on-time rates of more than
95 percent with big-box retailers and
grocers—an impressive jump from rates
that hovered around 50 percent prior to
working with BlueGrace, leaders from
both companies say.
“Their support immediately alleviated
the workload on our warehouse team,
who could now focus on improving the
order-fulfillment processes, accuracy of
orders, and fill rates,” Klucznik explains.
“Aside from small parcels, which are still
booked internally, BlueGrace manages the
booking of all outbound transportation
for our two distribution centers—one on
the West Coast and one on the East Coast.
Once a week, we meet with BlueGrace to
review the on-time performance to our
customers as well as the cost performance
of our distribution network.”
THE OUTLOOK: MORE GROWTH
AHEAD
Lenny & Larry’s ships about a half-million
pounds of product every week to more
than 100 retailers and is more focused
on growth than ever before, thanks to its
new logistics partnership. Klucznik says
BlueGrace acts as an extension of Lenny
& Larry’s and that the two partners are
working together to grow the business.
Kupillas agrees and says the opening of
the company’s East Coast distribution
center in late 2018 perfectly illustrates the
point.
BlueGrace was instrumental in the
decision to open the East Coast facility,
thanks to a cost-analysis study that grew
out of its routine analysis of its client’s
data. More than a year ago, BlueGrace’s
logistics experts saw that the manufacturer was planning a new-product launch
that would affect the weight, class, and
mileage of its shipments—
ultimately increasing shipping costs—Kupillas
explains. That led the BlueGrace team to
run some numbers to see whether adding
an East Coast facility would mitigate the
cost increases that were coming down the
pike. Kupillas says the team found that
a new facility would dramatically reduce
costs for Lenny & Larry’s on a cost-per-cookie basis; more importantly, it would
help get the product to the customer faster, improving on-time delivery rates.
“Lenny & Larry’s is a very future-fo-
cused company that is always look-
ing on the horizon and focused on
continuous improvement,” he says,
emphasizing the value to BlueGrace
of knowing ahead of time how the
new-product launch would affect
shipping and logistics. Essentially, it
allowed the two companies to devel-
op a longer-term strategy for the
snack maker’s growth.
“If you can have those strategic
conversations from a high level, as
well as conversations at the tactical
level … it’s the best possible scenario,” Kupillas adds.
