Sole Source Case Study
A Sole-Source Approach to Drayage, Intermodal, and Supply Chain Visibility
A well-established farming equipment retailer faced challenges with its capacity network, which was made up of mostly smaller-sized, regional carriers. Every peak season, the company struggled to scale its supply chain to meet rises in volume. During the slower seasons, the company struggled with carrier turnover, as carriers supplemented income through other shippers. The retailer also lacked a way to integrate their carrier network with their TMS, resulting in fragmented supply chain visibility.
Solution
ITS proposed a plan for the customer to establish:
- Long-term management of transportation with a reliable, sole source provider.
- Comprehensive carrier relationship management.
- Integrating carriers into ITS’ technology stack, providing end-to-end visibility and seamless integration with the company’s TMS.
ITS began the project by onboarding the customer’s carrier network and integrating all of their carriers through its proprietary TMS, DART, and its container management and visibility platform ContainerAI. This integration provided the customer with complete supply chain visibility, including ocean, rail, and steamship line data. This 100% visibility reduced the amount of time spent on email updates, gave the customer a single source for supply chain visibility, improved communication with carriers, and dramatically increased the accuracy of shipment updates. It also gave the customer and ITS the ability to make informed decisions and plan a clear path forward to improving operational efficiency.
ITS also took over managing commercial relationships with the retailer’s existing carriers, including setting rates, managing payables, and ensuring compliance. This significantly reduced the retailer’s administrative workload. During the slow season, ITS provided carriers with supplemental loads from other customers, helping them remain financially stable and reducing carrier turnover for the retailer. During peak season, ITS’s extensive network allowed the retailer to seamlessly scale capacity.
Thanks to ITS’s nationwide footprint, the retailer could efficiently manage all fluctuations in volume and handle their freight without needing to onboard new carriers in unfamiliar regions, even during events like IPI cancellations, container diversions, or rail strikes.
Altogether, ITS’s solution provided the retailer with fully-integrated, sole source solution that improved its relationships with existing carriers and provided seamless scalability to handle fluctuations in volume.
Results
Using a sole-source provider approach and by establishing enhanced visibility, ITS helped the customer achieve greater flexibility, reliability, and efficiency in its operations. This partnership relieved the operational workload on the customer’s in-house team and accommodated a 10%–15% volume increase.
- Established 100% port-to-door supply chain visibility by integrating incumbent carriers.
- Reduced operational in-house workload and administrative burden.
- Reduced labor costs and eliminated the need for additional staff support.
- Handled all diversions through ITS’ national network and did so without additional accessorials.
- Improved carrier relationships and stabilized carrier turnover in their network.
- Increased capacity due to ITS’ network during peak.
- Efficiently supported a 15% volume increase.