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| OfficeMax, Inc. |
| "We used to spend more than 15 hours a week manually creating and updating shipment status reports for our distribution centers. Now, with CargoSmart's Customized Reports, we automate our reporting process, save our logistics team time, have greater shipment visibility, and spend more time on planning for our just-in-time deliveries." |
| - Regina Cox, OPS – Import Analyst, OfficeMax |
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Summary
OfficeMax, a leading office supply retailer, uses CargoSmart's Customized Reports and Relationship Manager features to automate shipment status reporting between its headquarters and distribution centers. The automated process saves OfficeMax over 15 hours a week in time.
Background
OfficeMax (www.officemax.com), the "Productivity AllyTM" for small and medium-size businesses, home office customers, and consumers, sells its products through about 1,000 superstores and delivery centers, the Web, catalogs, and a sales force. OfficeMax imports retail merchandise from multiple suppliers in Asia to three distribution centers (DCs) in the U.S. OfficeMax's headquarters (HQ) manually created and distributed status reports to the truckers and receiving personnel at its DCs. HQ also called its DCs several times daily to provide updated status information. OfficeMax needed an automated reporting system to improve shipment visibility between HQ and its DCs.
CargoSmart Solution
OfficeMax uses CargoSmart's Customized Reports and Relationship Manager features to provide its entire logistics team with system-generated status reports that have real-time, inbound freight status information. Using CargoSmart's flexible reporting tool, OfficeMax's CargoSmart administrator created several report templates to have one report automatically generated twice a week and several others to be generated on an as-needed basis. To give its DCs access to HQ's Customized Reports and relevant shipment details on CargoSmart, the administrator assigned access through Relationship Manager.
CargoSmart's Customized Reports and Relationship Manager provide OfficeMax with the following benefits:
Improved shipment visibility. OfficeMax's entire logistics team has increased shipment status visibility with the automatically generated reports with up-to-date shipment status information. Rather than create manual reports from phone calls and other sources, OfficeMax uses the real-time shipment data with Customized Reports to plan import volumes and manage daily shipments.
Cost savings. By not having to create and distribute manual reports, OfficeMax saves more than 15 hours per week. OfficeMax's administrator also set up templates to quickly generate ad hoc reports. Improved shipment visibility for the DCs reduced call volume between HQ and the DCs.
Data security. OfficeMax's administrator uses Customized Report's filtering options to create reports that show just the information that his DCs need to see, keeping the shipment information relevant and secure. |
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