Price Transfer Group Discovers a Silver Bullet for Logistics Business Software

Transcription

1 Price Transfer Group Discovers a Silver Bullet for Logistics Business Software SIL VER BULL ET T ECH NOLO G IES IS A MIC RO SOFT PINN ACL E AWAR D WINN ER AND GOLD C ERT IF IED PART NER Silver Bullet software simplified our execution of complex processes. Adonna Martin, COO, Price Transfer Price Transfer Group is a versatile Long Beach freight management company that transports, handles, and stores imported shipments that need to be inspected by United States Customs and Border Patrol CBP. Significant growth over the past 25 years carried Price to a volume and complexity that vastly exceeded the capacity of their legacy information management system. In 2007, Price Transfer met the team from Silver Bullet Technologies during their annual appearance at the West Coast Cargo Conference. That was the beginning of a relationship that has enabled Price Transfer to fully automate their business with a state of the art logistics business software system provided by Silver Bullet Technologies. Today, Price Transfer is enjoying the benefits of the Silver Bullet solution suite for logistics operations. The system is unique because of it is fully integrated on a real time basis with the industry leading financial accounting system from Microsoft-Dynamics GP. The results of this implementation have vastly improved customer service, the ability to track and manage freight on a real-time basis, and financial reporting. Better yet, the project has yielded annual savings totaling U.S. $2.2 million. Silver Bullet Technologies provides a transparency within the company which allows us to better understand our entire business process across all of our divisions. Ivor Baum, Sales and Marketing Director, Price Transfer

2 2 About Price Transfer Overview Customer: Price Transfer, Inc. Location: Long Beach Industry: 3 PL-Customs Exams, Harbor Trucking Customs Exams Warehouse Management Harbor Trucking CFS Bonded Event Management Document Imaging Transloading Yard Management Load Planning Alert Management With Silver Bullet, everyone is on the same level. It has really increased productivity with the warehouse, yard, and office personnel. Adonna Martin, COO, Price Transfer Capturing a Big Market Price Transfer provides CBP with the largest facilities in North America for customs inspection, fumigation, and logistics obligations related to import and export compliance requirements. Their role in global trade is to expedite the government process of freight examination. The ports of Los Angeles receive 40% of all ocean imports into the US. Of this 40%, Price Transfer facilities and personnel handle 90% of all containers that require U.S. customs examinations. They are the largest company of their kind in North America. Trucking When CBP finds an imported container suspicious, a broker arranges for a trucking company to carry the container to an exam site. Price Transfer owns exams sites and offers the trucking services required to move containers to and from these sites. These moves are handled by the company fleet and third party trucking. Providing Exams When a container is dropped at a Price Transfer facility, personnel unload the container and prepare the shipments for inspection by customs. Certain goods require special handling. Fruit, for example, need to be fumigated to kill pests that may contaminate the shipment. And, it must be kept cold for preservation. To accommodate, Price has 50,000 square feet of cold storage where the fruit can be fumigated and kept at the proper temperature. Offering Storage If CBP feels the need to conduct a more thorough inspection of a shipment, Price Transfer will put the system on hold, or, temporarily store the goods. When a shipment is put on hold, Price Transfer repackages the inspected goods and stores them in their warehouse. The shipment is returned to the exam area when customs is ready to reexamine the goods. If a shipment is put on hold for destruction, Price Transfer stores the goods until they are picked up to be taken to a destruction site. Providing Top Service Managing the transportation, handling, and storage of containers and shipments is a sensitive process that requires extensive documentation for operations and compliance. Many containers hold high value goods, some are perishable and all need to be handled with care. Further, shippers pay for prompt deliveries so the process is also timesensitive. The business of Price Transfer relies on offering fast and reliable service and delivery. To do so, they depend on software that allows for real-time data management which conforms to the requirements of their unique services. 2

3 3 The Situation Our old system was hard to use. Silver Bullet makes it easy. Adonna Martin, COO, Price Transfer Managing the Growth Price Transfer had seriously outgrown their operating system. Installed in 1982, the system was intended to last only 5 years. After 25 years the increase in exam volume was too much for a legacy system to handle. Frequent system crashes forced employees to work late nights and weekends, driving up costs. The inefficiency became a drain on employee morale and the resources of Price Transfer. Incorporating New Rules US Customs security requirements have expanded dramatically in the past 25 years. A system created in 1982 was not built to accommodate 21 th century import security regulations. To compensate, Price Transfer was doing manually what their information system should have been doing automatically. These functions included creating and forwarding essential documents, tracking and tracing shipments, and manually updating freight status to avoid mishandling a shipment or payment. Significant time was wasted physically logging updates for every unit of freight which had to be moved or unloaded. The constant manual data handling was time consuming and sensitive to human error. Business Process Review With the engagement of Silver Bullet Technologies, Price accepted the obligation to review and revise the way business would be managed and supported in the new IT environment. While it seemed a monumental task at the outset, both Price and Silver Bullet found a happy medium between rigid specification and flexible development. The Silver Bullet architecture and Microsoft platform allowed the software developers to rapidly stand up functionality that could be adapted quickly to revised requirements. This flexibility enhanced the creative process since functional development could always be improved. Specifications could change and the project enjoyed the benefits of improved processes without the consequences of scope creep. 3

4 4 The Implementation It was an amazing implementation. Everything integrated and came on simultaneously. It was really an amazing feat. Laurie Crandall Manager, Price Transfer Going Live Price went live with the Silver Bullet solutions just as the company was entering their peak season. What was a great success with Silver Bullet could have been a disaster with another software provider. CFO Steve Straub was delighted, I have witnessed many large scale implementations. Many have been a disaster. But our massive integration with Silver Bullet went very smoothly. The focus and attention Silver Bullet dedicated to the go-live exceeded expectations. Branch Manager Laurie Crandall was thrilled, It was an amazing implementation. The experience involved the entire company not just one division. It wasn t just exams, just the yard, or just the trucking. Everything integrated and came on simultaneously. It was really an amazing feat. Learning the System Line of business software systems are sometimes difficult to use, especially for the warehouse personnel who might not be accustomed to computers and new-age technologies. At Price Transfer, employees had no trouble learning the system. It takes one day to train someone on Silver Bullet. It used to take two weeks to train someone on our old system and they still wouldn t understand it, says Adonna. Easy to use software allows companies to quickly train new employees. This is a great benefit when the company grows as well as when employees may leave. This ease of use eliminates dependency on those workers who understand an arcane system. I have witnessed many large scale implementations. Many have been a disaster. But our massive integration with Silver Bullet went very smoothly. Steve Straub, CFO, Price Transfer 4

5 5 The Benefits When someone makes an error someone else can catch it right away instead of finding out 3 to 5 days later. Adonna Martin COO, Price Transfer Automated Processes 3PL Warehouse Transloading Rating and business rules Document imaging Carrier integrations Per diem rates and billings Full financial integration Increasing Revenue Silver Bullet solutions have allowed Price Transfer to increase their revenue by processing seized goods and billing more quickly and without error. Previously, seized goods would might go uncharged. Now Silver Bullet makes it possible for Price Transfer to manage payment schedules on seized goods, an activity and profit that used to be overlooked because of the lack of information in their legacy system. The integration of Silver Bullet and Dynamics GP allows Price Transfer to bill more efficiently making a significant dent in days sales outstanding. Not only is the process faster, but human error is no longer a concern, When someone makes an error someone else can catch it right away instead of finding out 3 to 5 days later, according to COO Adonna Martin. Leveraging the platform The Silver Bullet solutions have also allowed Price Transfer to expand without hiring additional employees. The software is intuitive even in the most detailed processes. According to CFO Steve Straub, We have been able to vastly increase exam volume without having to increase staff. This equates to increased profits. For Monica Tullus, manager of accounting, What used to take 8 hours now takes 10 minutes. From COO Adonna s perspective, The billing that would take me a week and a half is now automatically done for me completely by Silver Bullet, with no mistakes. Laurie, who oversees operations in one of Price Transfer s facilities claimed, I run the entire facility from the office by myself, without even working weekends. Before our Silver Bullet integration, to get all the stuff done and bill I was working about 80 hours a week. Now it s only 50. Silver Bullet has saved me 30 hours per week, just for one employee. Game Changing Service Eliminating manual processes at Price not only provides substantial economies but improves employee performance. Dull, repetitive work is now automated and the team at Price is changing the game for customers and competitors with terrific customer service. 5

6 6 We saved a ton of time, a ton of employees, and we kept building on what we had. Adonna Martin COO, Price Transfer Automating Reporting With CBP as a major customer, reporting is a critical part of the business at Price Transfer. Handling third party goods for CBP requires detailed compliance, specifications, and demands involved in transporting, unloading, and examining shipments. Price Transfer and Silver Bullet worked hard to convert their manual reporting processes into an automated function. Manual data mining and spreadsheet building have been eliminated for repetitive analysis of operations results. Reports that are now generated automatically include: What used to require specific attention and pencil work can now be done with the click of button, literally. Also, the large amounts of saved paper has cut down on a substantial and unnecessary expense while helping the Californians promote a greener environment. Reporting Time Savings- Warehouse Exams Reporting Time Savings- Office Exams Producing Discrepancy Forms Generating Guarantee of Charges Generating Per Diem Information Sheet Generating Steamship Line Report Generating Yard Storage Report We have been able to vastly increase exam volume without having to increase staff. Steve Straub, CFO, Price Transfer 6

7 7 The Numbers Silver Bullet Saves Price Transfer US $2.2 Million Annually Technology infrastructure can make a particularly good investment for companies when it succeeds. Benefits should begin to flow the moment a new system stands up. For Price Transfer, the investment in Silver Bullet software was recovered in just four months. This equates to a 277% annual return on investment IRR. Through additional revenue, saved time, and automatic reporting, Price Transfer is earning US $2.2 million annually and over US $6.5 million in three years by moving to the Silver Bullet Technologies solutions. Benefit Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total Additional Revenue $1,667,928 $1,667,928 $1,667,928 $1,667,928 Time Savings $386,270 $386,270 $386,270 $386,270 Reporting $185,202 $185,202 $185,202 $185,202 Total $2,239,400 $2,239,400 $2,239,400 $2,239,400 For More Information on Price Transfer Exams and 3PL service contact: Price Transfer Group Ivor Baum Sales and Marketing Director 2790 E. Del Amo Boulevard Rancho Dominguez, California For More Information on Logistics Business Software contact: Silver Bullet Technologies, LLC Northwest 107 Avenue Suite 304 Miami, Florida