filter-solution-warehousing

A leading provider of beverages and food products headquartered in the Southeast offers a broad portfolio of beverages including water, soda, sports drinks and more. Known for their innovation and growth, the company manages more than 1,000 beverage SKUs and manufactures nearly a billion units each year.

Seasonal demand and a complex supply chain have made their operations uniquely dynamic. The bottling industry is highly sensitive to seasonality, with demand peaking during the summer months from Memorial Day to Labor Day, referred to as “100 days of summer.” Major holidays and weather patterns further influence demand, requiring a responsive and adaptive supply chain strategy.

Initial Challenges

A long-time Penske Truck Leasing customer, the bottler initially leased hundreds of vehicles from Penske for their transportation needs. To enable scale during peak seasons, many drivers were leased or temporary. When the company began to experience a high driver accident rate that resulted in costly product losses and safety risks, they turned to Penske Logistics for solutions.

Transportation Management

The bottler was in need of reducing risk for their fleet operations but were concerned about maintaining the high level of service to their customers if they outsourced their transportation to Dedicated Contract Carriage (DCC). Penske Logistics performed an operational assessment to evaluate their operations and proposed a solution to outsource a complicated portion of their transportation between manufacturing and the distribution center. The bottler opted to maintain transportation from distribution centers to their customers at retail stores.

Penske Logistics converted their private fleet to DCC for routes into distribution centers, reducing accidents and ensuring safer, more reliable deliveries.

Additionally, the peak weeks required a significant increase in trucking capacity, nearly double the normal volume. Recognizing these challenges, Penske implemented solutions to improve fleet utilization and transportation efficiency, reduce risks and implement technology to improve planning and forecasting.

Penske’s agile approach ensures scalability, deploying additional trucks and drivers to meet demand while maintaining seamless operations during off-peak periods.

Managing Seasonal Fluctuations

Before partnering with Penske Logistics, the bottler utilized a broker model to meet demand during peak seasons. This method led to unpredictable costs as there was a lack of load visibility, contracted rates, on-time deliveries and oversight beforehand.

The bottler found that a multi-service model like Penske Logistics — which combines truck leasing and maintenance for final-mile deliveries fleet, dedicated contract carriage to efficiently handle their complex delivery network and freight management (FM) for overflow — would allow the bottler to flex as needed during high-demand periods, ensuring uninterrupted movement of goods.

Utilizing support from Penske Logistics’ vast and reliable carrier network, the bottler found flexibility and cost savings, reduced exposure to volatile spot market rates, and other benefits, and was even able to upgrade their franchises to regional hubs when the company began experiencing exponential growth.

Penske’s tailored solutions and commitment to excellence have been instrumental in supporting their continued success.

Customized Technological Integration

Beverage retail is a highly competitive industry with more choices for consumers than ever before and counting. The bottler realized that they needed to improve their technology systems to operate efficiently and gain a competitive advantage. They struggled with implementation, managing yard operations, monitoring KPIs and tracking transportation spend. The bottler’s preference for tailored solutions led Penske Logistics to implement technologies and develop custom dashboards for more operational visibility.

Dock Scheduler

Transitioning from a manual whiteboard system to a dock scheduler provided real-time updates, streamlining operations across 10 franchise locations and outside carriers.

KPI Dashboard

Penske Logistics developed a Business Intelligence dashboard for the bottler, enabling them to track key performance indicators and make data-driven decisions. The bottler’s core operating team at Penske Logistics analyzes this data in weekly roundtables and monthly reviews.

Financial Reporting

Penske Logistics also developed an annual business forecast, submitting a detailed budget each November to guide financial planning. Monthly reviews are held to compare actual versus projected expenses across billing groups, ensuring cost transparency and identifying key financial impacts.

Geographic Cost Tracking

Monitoring cost-per-case metrics across 200 business segments provides precise costs to determine pricing. These advancements have improved efficiency and aligned operations with the bottler’s business goals, such as portfolio diversification and enhanced value.

Measurable Impact

Since the inception of this partnership, the bottler has experienced substantial growth, scaling from 25 drivers to 135 and covering over 11 million miles annually. Penske’s ability to flex resources during peak periods has driven efficiency and cost savings, supporting the bottler’s growth and diversification goals. By shifting from reactive brokerage systems to proactive, integrated solutions, Penske has reduced risks, improved safety and optimized costs, leading to a measurable impact on the bottler’s operations.

Looking Ahead

With a shared focus on innovation, growth and value, the partnership exemplifies how tailored logistics solutions can drive success in even the most complex industries.

As the bottler continues to diversify its portfolio and expand its reach, Penske remains a steadfast partner, offering strategic guidance and operational excellence. The trust and collaboration between Penske and the bottler are cornerstones of their long-term success, which led to a recently renewed five-year contract.

To learn how Penske can help your business achieve its goals, contact us.

Warehousing space is at a premium and represents a significant portion of total supply chain costs. Consequently, shippers need to carefully evaluate the case for investing in more storage capacity.

[Read more...]Show less

Within the warehouse, automated sorting, human-assist robotics and other once-futuristic technologies have become a reality. They are transforming the movement of goods, improving productivity and freeing up human talent to focus on more important operational decisions and safety improvements. The ability to supplement labor and remove some of the remedial and repetitive jobs is becoming increasingly important as warehousing and distribution center labor becomes harder to find.

[Read more...]Show less

Warehouses and distribution center yards are critical links in the supply chain, connecting carriers and storage facilities. Effective yard management — tracking and managing all activities in the yard — is essential to keeping operations running smoothly, but it is a complex process.

[Read more...]Show less

Third-party logistics providers are now leasing more warehousing space than any other sector amid growing demand for 3PL services. CBRE's 2023 North America Industrial Big Box report found that 3PLs accounted for 41% of all lease transactions at traditional warehouses and distribution centers, with at least 200,000 square feet in 2022, surpassing retailers and wholesalers for the first time on record.

[Read more...]Show less

When it comes to creating your perfect warehouse strategy, there are a wide range of challenges to consider. From demand variability and shipping windows to managing costs and meeting customer expectations to simply figuring out the best way to organize your inventory, many elements must be factored in for not only what you’ll need today, but also what you’ll require tomorrow.

Penske has put together a guide to help users think about and plan for the optimal warehouse to meet their distinctive business needs. We examine all facets of the warehousing process, including:

 
  • Warehousing options
  •  
  • Whether to lease, buy or build
  •  
  • Site considerations
  •  
  • Making the most of your warehouse space
  •  
  • Inventory management best practices
  •  
  • Warehouse management technologies
  •  
  • Smart warehouse technologies
  •  
  • Labor management
 

As a renowned leader in the warehouse and supply chain industry, Penske works with businesses all over the world to make the most of their square footage and minimize the risks that can hinder warehouse operations. Our strategic warehouse designs influence efficiency in all your processes, from inventory control to production tactics and labor management.

With warehouse design playing such a critical role in an efficient supply chain, you’ll enjoy this in-depth guide that helps direct you through important factors to consider when planning your warehouse operations.

For this global industrial manufacturer of vehicles and engines, production depends on exceptional and reliable service throughout the supply chain. When the manufacturer was looking for a partner to manage its distribution centers, it sought a company familiar with the challenges of automobile supply chain management and decided on Penske Logistics. Penske has managed inventory in two of the manufacturer's facilities in Mexico since 2002.

[Read more...]Show less

An energy-efficient warehouse can cut operational costs while improving sustainability in warehousing initiatives, making a win-win solution within the supply chain industry. A range of solutions can be applied to new construction or existing facilities.

[Read more...]Show less

As real estate prices increase, the area within the four walls of the warehouse is at an ever-greater premium. Effective and efficient warehouses can help maximize space, increase productivity and improve performance, making the most of your existing warehouse space. Optimized warehouses also make the most of available labor and ensure timely service. From improving slotting patterns to embracing technology, there are several ways to streamline the movement of goods within your warehouse.

[Read more...]Show less

Companies looking to expand their footprint and move inventory closer to end consumers are choosing multi-client warehouses, which enable them to take advantage of a smaller space within a facility.

[Read more...]Show less

Maximizing space within a warehouse and positioning items to improve efficiency can add up to significant financial and time savings. The layout and design of a warehouse and a distribution network should be an ongoing process. Shippers can improve their food warehousing and distribution with these six strategies:

[Read more...]Show less

Cross-docking – unloading product from an inbound truck and loading it directly onto an outbound truck – is a well-established logistics practice that is growing in importance as a way to manage risk in the supply chain.

[Read more...]Show less

To help improve efficiency within the warehouse, Penske Logistics emphasizes continuous improvement and lean processes and principles, which focus on eliminating waste and reducing activities that don't add value.

[Read more...]Show less

Space within the four walls of the warehouse is at a premium, so it is critical to maximize all available warehouse space while ensuring orders can be fulfilled quickly. Identifying the most effective slotting patterns and the best storage solutions optimizes warehouse space and makes it easier to get products out the door faster.

[Read more...]Show less

When a leading U.S. distributor of wines, spirits and other beverages had to quickly transform and expand its operations to counter an emerging competitor, they turned to Penske Logistics to engineer and rapidly deploy a fully customized solution.

[Read more...]Show less

In an increasingly uncertain world, network design is quickly becoming the new imperative. It is not only the pace of change driving network design's value, it is also the scale of the changes that companies now face. The importance of strong network design strategy, planning and resiliency continues to be strongly felt across the globe as supply chains are disrupted and shortages are felt by consumers.

Executives can leverage advanced 3PL's logistics engineering and network design expertise to help scenario plan, validate strategic decisions, uncover cost savings, improve service levels, or integrate disparate networks following a merger or acquisition. Network design analysis can help inform critical decisions such as:

    • The optimal number and location of plants and warehouses.
    • The best mix of transportation modes and routes.
    • Which customer fulfillment strategy to adopt when preparing for e-commerce.
    • Evaluating supply chain strategies such as localization, offshoring or nearshoring.

    Quality, on-time metrics, and cost are all critical components within the warehouse, and advanced technology is making the movement and storage of goods more efficient.

    [Read more...]Show less

    The interest among foreign shippers to start selling their products on the European market is high and rapidly increasing. Annual figures from NDL/HIDC, responsible for representing and promoting the Dutch logistics industry, show stable double-digit growth figures for foreign logistics investment projects.

    [Read more...]Show less