The Problem

Category buyers of West Coast citrus, soft fruit, and vegetables were struggling with out-of-stocks, spoilage due to overstocks and mis-rotations, warehouse space optimization, difficulty maintaining a wide SKU, and increasing “fill in buys” from 2nd or 3rd hand distributors which were causing a downgrade in quality, freshness, and brand integrity.

What we Found

• Delayed transit times because of long wait times at vendor facilities
• Over 6 million pounds of un-realized freight capacity per year with 32 trucks per week at $10,4000 per truck
• Inventory waste and shrink
• Increased spot market buys at top dollar market prices

Solution

Freight optimization through consolidation taking 2x per week purchases to 3-4. This resulted in increased replenishment, higher inventory turns reduced out-of-stocks, improved freshness, and shrink/stales. Excess capacity was recaptured and reduced almost 4 total trucks each week. This also reduced operational strain on the receiving crews, reduced local buy-ins at peak market rates, and ultimately increased quality on the shelf and lost store sales.