Automation Takes Blue Sky From Growing Pains to Growing Gains

THE CUSTOMER

Based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Blue Sky Distribution is a family-owned-and-operated distributor of grocery and tobacco products serving New Mexico and the Western United States.

THE PROVIDER

With headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and offices and partners around the world, Descartes Systems Group provides on-demand, software-as-a-service solutions focused on improving the productivity, security, and sustainability of logistics-intensive businesses.

By implementing NetSuite’s ERP, and then integrating several cloud-based solutions from Descartes Systems Group, Blue Sky was able to meet this automation goal. The solutions implemented include Descartes’ mobile barcode-based picking and packing system, parcel shipping automation, and delivery management with electronic proof of delivery.

“Blue Sky was in dire need of modernization,” recalls Robert Poole Jr., president and CEO of the company. “We were doing everything with paper and pen.”

Tossing Away the Paper

Among other challenges, Blue Sky’s old enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution wasn’t keeping up with the company’s growth. And because few employees trusted the ancient scan guns, they handwrote bin labels—which can stretch to 20 or more characters. Delivery drivers were routed using paper and Google Maps.

By leveraging Descartes’ solutions, Blue Sky was able to modernize these processes and boost order accuracy, as well as efficiency in fulfillment, shipping, and last-mile delivery operations.

For example, to automate and streamline its ecommerce fulfillment process, enabling it to more effectively respond to growing sales, Blue Sky implemented the Descartes OzLink™ Mobile Warehouse solution. This integrates with NetSuite’s ERP solution and increases fulfillment efficiency and accuracy, improves inventory control, and provides data that can guide forecasting, among other benefits.

For its wholesale business, in which Blue Sky makes deliveries with its own fleet of vehicles, Poole and his team turned to Descartes Route Planner On Demand. This solution streamlines vehicle routing and captures proof-of-delivery information.

Within its ecommerce business, Blue Sky implemented Descartes’ ShipRush solution, which provides real-time rate shopping, and can automate recurring work flows and tasks.

For example, companies can easily add their corporate logo or other branding elements to templates within ShipRush, promoting their brand throughout the shipping process, says Troy Graham, vice president of customer success with Descartes.

Starting With the ERP System

A starting point for Blue Sky’s operational transformation was its implementation of NetSuite’s ERP solution. Descartes was listed as a NetSuite partner for its picking application and routing software.

Hundreds of Descartes customers use the NetSuite platform, Graham says. In the approximately 15 years Descartes has worked with NetSuite, it has built a strong knowledge base and developed multiple pre-built connections to NetSuite’s ERP system.

Descartes’ ability to offer multiple applications within a single system appealed to Blue Sky. “A buffet of modules sounded much more attractive than implementing various solutions from different companies,” Poole notes. The strong reviews, along with the competence the Descartes team conveyed when the two companies met, also helped drive Blue Sky’s decision to implement Descartes solutions, he adds.

Working In Harmony

Leveraging mobile handheld scanners with Descartes OMW, Blue Sky automated and accelerated its multi-order picking and labeling processes to improve inventory control and boost efficiency and accuracy.

One goal of implementing these systems was to bring together the disparate operations at Blue Sky’s hub location and its three satellite warehouses. “One warehouse was doing the tango, one was doing salsa, and we were listening to classic rock,” Poole says. The new solution helps the locations operate as one.

As they implement different Descartes solutions, Poole says he and his team first focus on completing a proof-of-concept at Blue Sky’s main hub. Once they’re satisfied they have the module down, they turn on the satellite locations one at a time.

The implementation of NetSuite and Descartes technology solutions has enabled Blue Sky to modernize multiple functions. In particular, the improvement in the picking function has been “night and day,” Poole says.

The scanning software leads employees who are picking goods “like a trail of breadcrumbs through the warehouse,” Poole says. Workers can start at one end of the building and finish at the other, picking efficiently as they go. The ability to do Universal Product Code (UPC) scanning improves both order accuracy and the time required to fill an order.

Because the system populates the order queue within 15 minutes after orders are placed, Blue Sky now has real-time inventory information and can display both committed and available stock on its website. This provides customers with the timely information they need, Poole says.

Another change helps improve the usefulness of Blue Sky’s totes, which are used to temporarily store goods specific to an order. Descartes created a program in which each tote is labeled with a tote ID.

The ID acts like a license plate on a car, Graham says. The tote ID is connected to a container, just as a license plate is affixed to a car. The system is aware of the container, but the contents change from order to order, just as passengers in a car will change.

Once an order is assigned to a picker, they scan the Tote ID, which allows the system to make the connection between the ID and the order being picked. As the order is fulfilled, that tote is available to be reused for another order. “It has been a godsend for our team,” Poole says.

When orders are ready for transit, the Descartes routing system optimizes the delivery routes with a goal of minimizing costs while meeting service requirements. In doing so, it considers factors such as the time required to load or unload orders, the driver’s skill sets, and delivery time windows. Blue Sky can see how long each route will take, helping to reduce driver overtime. The solution saves time, so orders move to their destinations more quickly, Poole says.

Delivery notifications let customers know when a delivery is en route and when it’s complete, among other information. This helps eliminate text messages and emails.

Blue Sky employees can also provide proof-of-delivery using mobile devices and digital signature capture. This has been key, especially with retailers that demand documentation before offering payment.

Electronic Documentation

As important, the proof-of-delivery records attach to the transaction in NetSuite. If a question about a delivery arises, Blue Sky employees can find the documentation electronically, instead of digging through a paper filing cabinet. “That is huge for us,” Poole adds.

Blue Sky has implemented some customizations to its Descartes solutions and is considering more, Poole says. He plans to tackle one or two each year until the company completes its list.

This customization includes turning on some standard features that Blue Sky didn’t activate during the initial implementation. One example is the inventory module. This cut the time required to complete an inventory count by about two-thirds, while also boosting accuracy, Poole says.

Many companies see significant jumps in efficiency when they implement Descartes’ solutions, Graham says. For instance, the Descartes OzLink Mobile Warehouse product reduces the time workers spend trying to find items. It also cuts the time employees spend working to correct picking mistakes, which typically requires returning the wrong item to the warehouse shelf, picking the correct item, and then packing it with the other goods for that order.

In all, companies typically reduce the time required to fulfill orders by roughly 30%, Graham says. Accuracy generally increases to between 99.5% and 100%, which cuts both rework and the volume of returns.

The capability of ShipRush to automate the process of picking an optimal carrier and service for each delivery helps many companies save between 15% and 25%, Graham says. With fleet delivery operations, a 20% savings in miles driven and ultimately costs on the road is also typical.

Descartes’ Route Planner On Demand automates shipping calculations. For example, if a company has five trucks and 100 orders, the solution identifies the most effective and efficient delivery routes for each, taking into account any constraints, such as customers that accept deliveries only during certain hours.

Boosting Accuracy and Efficiency

Overall, by shifting to Descartes’ solutions, Blue Sky boosted order accuracy from about 80% to close to 100%, Poole says. By using mobile handheld scanners, Blue Sky’s fulfillment efficiency jumped by about 80%.

Through Descartes’ automated rate shopping capabilities, Blue Sky is able to offer more cost-effective shipping options and more efficient last-mile delivery operations. “From accuracy and efficiency to everything else, it has been a night and day difference,” Poole says.

Looking to the Cloud

The Challenge

To handle a growing customer base, Blue Sky needed to modernize multiple supply chain and logistics functions, including picking, packing, and routing.

The Solution

Blue Sky integrated several of Descartes’ cloud-based solutions with its NetSuite ERP, including mobile barcode-based picking and packing, parcel shipping automation, and delivery management with electronic proof-of-delivery.

The Results

Blue Sky gained several benefits, including near-total order accuracy, an 80% jump in fulfillment efficiency, real-time order tracking, optimized route creation, more efficient last-mile delivery operations, and mobile proof-of-delivery.

Next Steps

Among other potential changes, Blue Sky may customize the Descartes solution to allow for last in-first out loading of its delivery trucks.