Understanding all of the objectives

As if the sheer volume of materials involved in this warehouse move wasn’t enough, there were a pair of non-negotiable requests (or musts) — one immediate and one a little longer-term — prior to moving this publication and information fulfillment and distribution center:

1. Complete the large-scale transition without any interruption of service to customers.
2. Within one year, reduce the warehouse inventory by recycling obsolete publications and controlling re-order points.

First, NPC performed a complete physical inventory of existing materials. After the initial count, the most often-used items were moved first to ensure that these materials were available for public distribution.

Next, NPC began the process of right-sizing the overall inventory by recycling out-of-date publications to achieve a sustainable inventory reduction, saving the organization warehousing and storage fees in the long run, and eliminating any backlog of consumer orders.

Delivering a sustainable solution

In less than two months the move was complete. Orders are now processed daily and shipped all over the country with 99.9% on-time processing, shipping and order-fulfillment accuracy.

“Another reason we needed all materials moved and inventoried as quickly as possible was because our customer had a surge in back orders,” said Michael Bingham, NPC’s Distribution and Fulfillment Manager. He noted that over 4,000 back orders were inherited from a previous vendor and NPC needed to address those first.

A customizable and proprietary Fulfillment Management System (FMS) was utilized to process and ship orders, and manage and replenish the organization’s publication inventory. This system was configured to seamlessly integrate
the organization’s warehouse management and fulfillment databases with NPC’s systems.

NPC performed a detailed evaluation of the organization’s current and historical consumer demand, and the organization’s goal of a 50 percent reduction in size and operation of the warehouse and distribution center was achieved.

“We’ve been able to reduce our customer’s inventory levels and pallet storage, lower their warehousing costs, and remove obsolete materials,” Bingham explained. “Our customer is able to save money in the long run.”

The fulfillment-as-a-service model enables the organization to take advantage of a number of cost savings and operational efficiencies over and above what it had anticipated when the project started just a few months earlier. The new warehouse location in central Pennsylvania provides the benefits of cost-effective storage space, a trained and flexible workforce, a secure building, and easy access to major transportation corridors and hubs in the Northeast.