Environmentally Friendly Company Improves Inventory Management and Distribution

Challenge

One of the top ten fastest growing companies in the U.S. according to Inc. magazine, Method required extreme flexibility and versatility from its third-party logistics partners in order to accommodate both its rapid expansion and unpredictable fluctuations in product orders. Method sells non-toxic, biodegradable cleaning products to a variety of major retailers. As a new company constantly introducing new products, Method had no data on past inventory or sales performance to project future needs.

In late 2006, Method partnered with OHL to operate an Atlanta warehouse and manage distribution throughout the southeastern United States. In addition to the capacity to manage wildly fluctuating inventory and sales, Method required OHL to provide a WMS system with real-time, web-based inventory data for immediate visibility.

Approach

From the start, OHL recognized the need to constantly recalibrate its processes to manage the extraordinary growth and fluctuations in Method’s sales and product lines. The WMS system employed by OHL offered the ability to monitor inventory movements, set pick zones to reduce travel time to more than 300 item locations and increase productivity by 10%. The successful approach taken by OHL in Georgia led Method to quickly expand their partnership to other regions of the U.S.

Value

“We are constantly reinventing ourselves,” said Jason Bowman, director of logistics for Method. “We don’t get a chance to settle into a relationship with a third-party logistics provider and work out the kinks that one encounters over a matter of years with a mature product and predictable turns and volumes.”

The visibility, flexibility, and increased productivity provided by OHL in Atlanta led Method to double, then triple, the size of the relationship. Method had been using separate third-party logistics companies to manage four regional warehouse facilities: Georgia, California, Illinois, and New Jersey. In 2007, OHL assumed control of the California facility and in 2008 took over the New Jersey warehouse as well. OHL now provides Method with a single, integrated WMS system for all three facilities and a single point of contact.

Return on Investment

Despite the rapid growth and inventory fluctuations, OHL now provides Method with worry-free inventory management and distribution services for three out of four of its sales regions in the U.S. Through superior visibility tools, allowing Method to monitor and evaluate inventory, OHL has helped Method successfully reduce replenishment shipments to one facility by 50%. Plus, OHL has successfully reduced the inventory in all three warehouses through flexible, creative solutions and provides complete visibility throughout the supply chain.

In an effort to reduce air pollution in Method’s shipping process, OHL and Method also worked together to create no idle zones for trucks when Method products are picked up or delivered.