In the world of nationwide retail, margins are tight, timing is essential and inventory management will make or break a company’s success. Third-party logistics (3PL) providers work with major retailers and provide a broad range of fulfillment services and support that make the complex process of delivering goods through the entire distribution process as efficient and cost-effective as possible.

Situation

Westcoast Warehousing is a fast-growing, Southern California-based 3PL that partners with some of the largest and best-known retailers in the United States, including JCPenney, Sears and Kohl’s. After experiencing some heady success, Westcoast Warehousing found itself facing the challenge of upgrading its systems and increasing its competitive edge in order to continue the company’s impressive pattern of growth and provide the ever-increasing level of service its customers require in order to allow their businesses to compete and grow.

Key services offered by Westcoast Warehousing include “pick-and-pack” and direct-to-store (DTS) replenishment, options that allow retailers to ship product in bulk directly to Westcoast Warehousing, which maintains a six- to eight-week supply of inventory on the retailer’s behalf. The retailers place weekly orders; product is then shipped accordingly via pre-packed boxes. This relieves retailers of the massive infrastructure and expense associated with in-house logistics and inventory management, and allows them to realize significant cost savings combined with increased efficiency and flexibility.

In order to make this system efficient and profitable for all parties, Westcoast Warehousing needed to implement an electronic commerce supply chain platform that would allow retailers and customers to communicate directly with Westcoast Warehousing servers. Jay Patel, founder and president of Westcoast Warehousing, knew that implementing a world-class solution that supports all forms of B2B commerce, including EDI, RFID and supply chain visibility, would require specialized expertise.

After reviewing qualified candidates, he selected Irvine, Calif.-based Avatar Partners to help guide his company through this new phase of growth. Avatar Partners is a leader in supply chain visibility and electronic commerce solutions, with a well-deserved reputation for comprehensive, forward-thinking solutions and a cost-effective approach.

“This was a major turning point for our company, and would have a profound effect on our future,” Patel said. “I knew that Avatar Partners would be our best ally through this process, always having our best interests as their priority. Their presentation was extremely detailed, their recommendations were very insightful, and they demonstrated expertise and an attitude of cost-sensitivity, which I appreciated.”

Avatar Partners is uniquely positioned in the B2B electronic commerce marketplace because of its alignment with the top supply chain software solutions, as indicated in the competitive “Gartner quadrant” with leading partners such as Inovis Inc. Avatar Partners provides recommendations and implementation services based on what is in the best interest of the customer.

“Avatar Partners looks at the whole picture and focuses on quantifiable benefits. Our partner relationships enable Avatar Partners to serve not only its roster of Fortune 2000 companies, but also to support the small to mid-size business sector with highly effective, cost-efficient solutions,” said Marlo Brooke, Avatar Partners principal. “We were in a position to provide Westcoast Warehousing with the highest possible level of expertise and service, in an extremely cost-effective manner without compromise.”

Challenge

Westcoast Warehousing needed a scalable electronic commerce supply chain solution that would be both affordable and flexible enough to allow migration to future technologies such as AS2 and XML as the company continues to grow. Complicating the matter, though, was the fact that Westcoast Warehousing also was facing the need to upgrade its ERP (enterprise resource planning) software. Fortunately, Avatar Partners was uniquely qualified to manage this entire process for Westcoast Warehousing, accommodating the changes and demands of a dynamic environment as the process developed.

“It was definitely a challenging situation, but these are the circumstances under which our team thrives,” said Jim Williams, executive vice president for Avatar Partners. “We were dealing with a non-standard ERP solution, and we were able to draw on multiple resources and skill-sets in order to implement a comprehensive solution that would benefit Westcoast Warehousing, its customers and its trading partners.”

Solution

The first and most essential step in the process was analyzing in-depth the needs of Westcoast Warehousing, both from a short-term and long-term perspective, and recommending the most cost-effective course of action. Avatar Partners conducted a needs analysis for the electronic commerce system, including mapping, trading partner testing and implementation requirements. The process allowed Avatar Partners to use its formidable in-house resources including logistics, transportation and warehousing expertise.

“We took a look at the whole of their business — not just the specific assignment of software implementation, but from a bigger picture perspective,” said Jim Williams. “We examined how they wanted their business to run, what their future needs would be, and what was the best and most efficient way to get them there. By understanding the entire model — the logic and business rules that they need to operate within – we could recommend changes in procedures, processes and infrastructure and have a positive, lasting effect on the future of Westcoast Warehousing.

“We maximized supply chain visibility, making trading partner collaboration and system and operational integration intrinsic to their business processes.”

Avatar Partners considered the extensive needs of a logistics company that must support the demands of the retail supply chain. After reviewing all solutions in the B2B market segment, Avatar Partners identified the solution that would match Westcoast Warehousing’s needs and elevate its competitive positioning in the marketplace. In record timing, Avatar Partners then helped the company implement and go live on this newly selected EDI platform in less than two months.

Following this period of analysis and recommendations, Avatar Partners moved into the implementation phase of the project with the selected vendor, Inovis Inc. “We provided full-service implementation of the Inovis platform, training the Westcoast Warehousing staff while keeping their IT team up to date on all progress,” said Jim Williams. The final solution is planned for multichannel support, is upgradeable and can be ported to more robust Inovis platforms in the future, as Westcoast Warehousing grows and technology solutions continue to advance. It also allows Westcoast Warehousing to support suppliers of all sizes from all over the world. Avatar Partners plans to integrate the robust Inovis supply chain platform with a Gen2 RFID system to satisfy the demands of Westcoast Warehousing’s largest customers.

Results

According to Patel, the implementation of the new ERP and EDI systems went “even better than expected.” An example of using technology to directly increase profits, Westcoast Warehousing is now able to offer expanded DTS services — a solution that is highly convenient and cost-effective for its customers, and profitable for the company. As a result, Westcoast Warehousing is attracting business from the nation’s top retailers and offers services and value that are superior to other 3PL providers.

“This solution for Westcoast Warehousing proves that a behind-the-firewall EDI package that directly integrates into an ERP system can be cost-effective and put much greater control of a company’s systems into its own hands. Within just days, Westcoast Warehousing can be up and running with any major retailer or supplier – something most of their competitors cannot claim,” said Brooke.

Jay Patel appreciates both the impact of Avatar Partners’ performance on his business, and also the experience of working with the Avatar Partners team. “My partnership with Avatar Partners has been by far the most joyful and fruitful since the inception of my business,” said Patel. “They are very professional and courteous, and are the most knowledgeable in the industry. Without the Avatar team and the robust Inovis products, we would not yet be doing business with many of the top-tier retailers who now trust us with their business. The growth we are now seeing is due in large part to Marlo and her colleagues.”