Capacity LLC Case Study #7: YRC – The Heat Is On!
With the long hard winter firmly behind us, today's entry into the case study files takes us back to a new client implementation where the heat was on for the Capacity team... literally! Thankfully, we had a partner by the name of YRC in our corner.
No two clients are alike, so we rely on a flexible approach and tailored solutions to our service logistics. Even when a client has been with us for just a few days, the team will pull out all the stops come rain or shine.
In this case it was a potential deep freeze that threatened the goods, however, presenting a unique and pressing challenge for the team and our transport partners at YRC - Yellow Roadways Consolidated.
Challenge:
A new client, a supplier to a major retailer, was preparing to make its first shipment to that retail customer. This was even before moving into our New Brunswick, NJ warehouse facilities, so the partnership was new to all involved.
A pressing matter arose almost immediately, in which an urgent shipment needed to be collected on a Friday, in order to meet a Monday cancel date for arrival at the retail DC (distribution center.)
The pickup was at the client's garage and required a lift gate pickup. So far, so good, as this is par for the Capacity LLC course and one of many other "white glove" style services - i.e. those with extra attention to safety, often for sensitive or fragile products - that we regularly provide.
In this case the main concern was temperature: our client was worried about their product separating in storage, as extreme cold was predicted for the weekend and the goods were set to be held at the carrier’s outside trailer yard.
Solution:
Our team was able to leverage one of many long-standing relationships, this time with Yellow Roadway Consolidated not only to ensure the pickup and delivery requirements were met, but also to provide some extra TLC for the sensitive product.
Through close communication and planning with YRC, we made sure that the client’s product was transported to a heated terminal building, inside which the goods would be far less likely to separate and be ruined. As an extra measure, the cargo for this critical shipment was covered and wrapped with blankets to provide extra insulation.
Suitably tucked in for the night, the goods made it through the weekend in their new, more temperature-controlled location. After keeping Jack Frost at bay, the team sprang back into action on Monday morning to move the goods and meet this unexpected early deadline.
The lesson for logistics professionals is to prepare for the unexpected by having excellent working relationships with transportation providers and many other experts in the industry.
By knowing who to call and when to call them, effective partnerships formed can solve almost any client cargo emergency. Even when the heat is on... or off!