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Freight and Shipping Solutions
Varsity Logistics, Inc.ShipSoftwww.varsitylogistics.com Category: Other-Parcel/Freight Shipping Solutions Andrew Karpie Sr. Director, Business Development and Marketing 185 Berry Street San Francisco, CA 94107 415-651-5600 akarpie@varsitynet.com Current Customer Information: Case Study: Swanson Health Improves Order Fulfillment Fitness with VarsitySwanson Health Products is one of the largest privately held mail-order and Internet marketers of dietary supplements. The company ships more than 8,500 parcels of vitamins per day to residential addresses throughout the United States. Swanson Health customers shop from the company’s print and online catalogs and can order over the phone or via the internet and are provided with a variety of shipping options for their purchases. Swanson Health realizes that customers want and need different options depending upon circumstance, but in all cases customers want the desired shipping option at the least possible cost. Not only does Swanson Health offer low cost shipping, they also provide an exceptional level of customer service. “The Web has changed customer expectations of shipping delivery time – shoppers want their shipment right away,” remarks Terry Kraft, Director of Operations for Swanson Health. “We set a standard that our United States customers will receive their order within three to five business days.” Being a low-cost, high service provider can be a challenge. “You have to be organized, efficient and have the right software to support your business objectives,” says Kraft. In 2003, to meet increased shipping volumes and maintain a high level of customer service, Swanson Health undertook an extensive upgrade of their order processes. The upgrade included a new state-of-the-art pick-to-light and pick-to-box system, weight checking for automated quality control, and replacing their inadequate shipping software, which ran on the iSeries. “Our business continued to evolve,” notes Kraft, “but our shipping system couldn’t keep up. It was like having a ball and chain locked to your ankle.” In researching a new shipping system, Swanson Health made sure to avoid the service and shipping error shortcomings of their prior system. Committed to the iSeries platform, the company investigated Varsity Logistics, the leader in shipping software for the iSeries. “We found that Varsity had a good reputation for service and accuracy as well as deep shipping functionality,” said Kraft. After installing Varsity ShipSoft-Parcel to manage their multi-carrier shipments, and ShipAudit to audit carrier invoices, Swanson Health found that Varsity’s reputation was well earned. “Varsity is bullet proof,” notes Kraft. “And we’ve received outstanding customer support every time we needed help, on the phone or in person.” In addition, Varsity ShipSoft-Parcel has been able to support the company’s growth from 5,500 parcels per day to more than 12,000 parcels on a peak day. The company’s new order process is almost entirely automatic. Information from the order entry system is transmitted to the distribution center where an invoice is printed and automatically applied to the box. Next, a pick-to-light system illuminates items to go in the box. Items are automatically scanned as they are added and shipping information is conveyed to ShipSoft-Parcel. Each product SKU contains weight and volume details, which ensures order accuracy by verifying the actual weight of the boxed orders against the theoretical weight derived from individual SKUs. Any deviations, and the package moves to manual inspection. Finally, the box barcode is read as it passes over an inline scale, where Varsity ShipSoft-Parcel is updated with the final weight for manifest transmission. The shipping label prints and is automatically applied to the box, which is then automatically sorted by carrier and service type. With Swanson Health’s high volume of shipments, carrier invoice auditing is a necessity. With their old software, this was complex and frustrating. So Swanson Health also purchased Varsity ShipAudit. Now, they can audit a weekly carrier invoice within ninety minutes or less. ShipAudit compares shipping charges on the manifest against the carrier’s invoice and flags discrepancies. These discrepancies add up to thousands of dollars a month that Swanson Health has saved since implementing Varsity. The upgrade project has been an overwhelming success. Swanson Health more than doubled the efficiency of their distribution center and reduced the rate of inaccurate order from 16 percent to 0.6 percent. The return on investment was less than one year. “ShipSoft-Parcel and ShipAudit play important parts in reaching our customer satisfaction goals,” concludes Kraft. “From an operation standpoint, it has been a great marriage between our automation system and Varsity software.” - - - - - - - “We switched to Varsity Logistics because we needed better service and support from our shipping software vendor. They have done a great job of supporting our needs. Thanks to Varsity we are able to achieve our customer service goals.” Current System Application Features and Functions:
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