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E-fulfillment solution supports rapid growth of Agent 18’s online business.
Agent 18 makes cases that protect Apple iPods. The company’s warehouse systems were unable to support Agent 18’s rapid growth and internet sales were being jeopardized. The company sought a logistics partner that could not only handle product storage and fulfillment but could work directly, and quickly, with its web staff to develop an EDI program to receive orders directly from the web storefront. In just two weeks, Flex’s in-house IT staff had the EDI interface up and running. Orders collected from Agent 18’s website now download into Flex’s warehouse management system to be pulled and shipped the same day. Shipping information, including tracking numbers, are then uploaded to Agent 18’s website for customer viewing.
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Management of complex pick and pack operation helps Staedtler serve U.S. customers.
Staedtler is a global provider of products for marking, writing, drawing, and painting. In 2004, the company chose Flex to manage a large pick and pack fulfillment program from Southern California that distributes to Staedtler’s retail and consumer customers in the U.S. Flex manages inventory for 1800 SKUs. An order can consist of just one pencil or as many as 12 pallets of mixed product. Orders import directly from Staedtler’s system into Flex’s WMS. Staedtler ships to many retailers, so meeting all the different compliance requirements – case labeling, shipment routing, pallet dimensions, etc – is a challenge. Many retailers require mixed pallet UCC-128 bar code labels and ASNs. In addition, most require outbound loads to be consolidated. Flex manages all compliance and shipping requirements for Staedtler. In addition, value-added services like kitting, product rework and repacking are common.
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Expedited container unloading helps The Acco Corporation move office supplies to U.S. customers.
ACCO Brands Corporation is one of the world’s largest suppliers of branded office products. Flex was asked to handle Acco’s large volume of containerized product coming into Southern California. Flex adapted its operations to receive and unload as many as 15 containers a day, each with 380 to 11,000 cases and as many as 48 products per container. FLEX also provides Acco with 60,000 square feet of storage, outbound shuttle service, and 24-hour yard truck service with our dedicated yard tractor. Today, Flex receives and stores about four containers a day and cross docks an additional six containers a day for Acco.
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Value-added services on west coast help importer prep products for mass retail customers.
FETCO markets picture frames through mass retailers. The product is manufactured in Asia and comes via ocean freight into Southern California. FETCO, which did not have a west coast location, asked Flex Solutions to offload containers at Flex’s Ontario, CA warehouse and cross dock the product to WalMart and Target DCs and stores. Quality problems at the supplier required Flex to inspect shipments (containers had between 7,000-10,000 small cases of different picture frames) and place price tags on each individual picture frame, as required by Target and Wal-Mart. Each case then received a store-specific UCC label and pallets were assembled and shipped to retail DCs. All work was done within a 72-hour window from receipt of container.