Enhancing Supply Chain Visibility and Efficiency: A Case Study of Logistix Worldwide
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Inventory Management Systems
- Functional Applications - Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)
Applicable Industries
- Retail
- Transportation
Applicable Functions
- Logistics & Transportation
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Picking, Sorting & Positioning
Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Logistix Worldwide is a leading third-party logistics (3PL) and distribution company, serving manufacturers in a variety of industries including lighting, office products, and publishing. The company is strategically headquartered in Tennessee, a two-day delivery point of 80% of the US population, with additional facilities in Los Angeles, Rancho Dominguez, Oakland, California, and Edison, New Jersey. Many of its customers’ operations are based entirely overseas, making Logistix the sole U.S. presence for these organizations. The company manages all receiving and shipping, responds to all customer service inquiries, and provides day-to-day inventory management on behalf of their customers.
The Challenge
Logistix Worldwide, a leading third-party logistics and distribution company, faced a significant challenge in providing its global customer base with near real-time visibility to the shipping status of their orders and inventory levels. The company, which serves as the sole U.S. presence for many of its overseas-based customers, manages all receiving and shipping, customer service inquiries, and day-to-day inventory management. The challenge was to either increase its customer support staff to handle inbound customer calls at any time of day or implement a new software solution that would provide this information to customers securely over the Internet. Additionally, as Logistix's business grew, the need to support retailer Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) became critical to support existing and new customers. The company was faced with the decision of adding IT staff and systems or leveraging EDI capabilities and expertise available from a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or on-demand service.
The Solution
After a thorough evaluation of available software options and related costs, Logistix selected 3PL Central’s on-demand warehouse management solution (WMS), 3PL Warehouse Manager™, in 2004. This robust WMS solution enabled Logistix to manage their distribution activities and provide its customers with the ability to track their shipments and inventory with access to data from a real-time, 24/7 WMS system. The web-based solution required no software installation, maintenance, or updates, keeping IT overhead to a minimum and providing global access to Logistix’ data from any PC connected to the Internet. When it came to adding EDI capabilities, Logistix selected SPS Commerce’s web-based EDI service, SPSCommerce.net, which had a pre-wired and proven integration with 3PL Central’s WMS system. This allowed Logistix to scale its services to accommodate new customers and account for the seasonality of some of their customers’ business.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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