Optimizing Warehousing and Shipping to Drive Customer Satisfaction

As a rapidly-expanding online supplier of tools and equipment with a longstanding reputation for exemplary customer service, The Tool Nut implemented the combined solution of Descartes OzLink™ Mobile Warehouse and Descartes ShipRush™ to drive operational efficiencies through its receiving and shipping workflow, ensuring a streamlined customer experience and supporting continued growth without the need for additional personnel or warehouse space.

“Descartes OzLink works perfectly in the hands of the line workers. I can’t stress this enough. When you lean on it, it stays firm—no data corruptions, no breakdowns. And when you watch the folks in receiving climbing all over the truck scanning items, Descartes OzLink doesn’t get in the way; it facilitates the process and makes their job easier— which is what it’s all about.” Rudy Bergstrom, Operations Consultant to The Tool Nut

Company Profile The Tool Nut Tools & Equipment

Descartes Solutions Descartes OzLink™ Mobile Warehouse Descartes ShipRush™

About the Client The Tool Nut is a nationally renowned contractor and supplier of woodwork tools, equipment and accessories known for their outstanding customer support, breadth of product selection, and next- level product knowledge. Family-owned and operated since 1994, The Tool Nut operates from a 10,000 sq. ft. facility in Yorktown Heights, NY.

Quick Overview

Challenge Increasing Volumes Stalling Order Fulfillment

Solution Efficiency Across Multiple Functions Propels Growth

Results - Increased Productivity - Inventory Accuracy - Exceptional Customer Service - Mutually-rewarding Partnership

R E A D T H E F U L L S T O R Y

CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY | The Tool Nut

With customer service top of mind, The Tool Nut progressed from paper-based receiving to Wi-Fi–enabled laptops with attached scanners working natively with its NetSuite enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. This solution, however, was somewhat cumbersome and hampered productivity, with skids piling up in the receiving area.

As the business expanded and the volume of inventory steadily increased, The Tool Nut was faced with the costly prospect of adding more staff, more computing hardware and more warehouse space to keep up with demand. The ecommerce supplier required mobile and shipping solutions, fully integrated with NetSuite, to streamline its order fulfillment process and boost efficiency, ensure inventory accuracy, and support future growth.

With the aim of maintaining superior customer service as order volumes continued to climb, The Tool Nut implemented Descartes OzLink Mobile Warehouse with Zebra scanners to automate and expedite the receiving workflow, and Descartes ShipRush to simplify and accelerate shipping. Both solutions are fully integrated with NetSuite to ensure the activities on the warehouse floor are reflected in real-time in the company’s ERP.

“Descartes’ sense of organization, skill and commitment delivered results that were far superior to 90 percent of the implementations done in the past,” noted Rudy Bergstrom, Operations Consultant to The Tool Nut.“The workflow, logic, functionality, and features all represent a practical application developed in alignment with a real-life field environment,” said Bergstrom. “Descartes OMW is well-thought-out and intuitive—essentially bulletproof—so there’s very little need for technical support or training. It’s very clean and streamlined and works perfectly in the hands of field workers who just want to do their job.”

The Tool Nut had specific receiving requirements that necessitated different processing approaches.“Some truckloads have 600 to 700 individual items, while other truckloads have only five different items but each in quantities of 100, for example. Our receiving team needed to be able to handle both types of shipments easily and efficiently,” said Bergstrom. In a “classic example of agile development,” The Tool Nut and Descartes collaborated to develop the FastScan feature, eliminating the need to enter quantities for large shipments of single items.“ And when a receiver comes across an item with multiple quantities, they can easily toggle from FastScan to the traditional method to enter the quantity, saving us a ton of time,” added Bergstrom. He continued, “Descartes OMW ensures items are in the right bins for picking which has increased picking speed and improved inventory accuracy.” The Tool Nut is currently in the beginning stages of collaboration with the Descartes OzLink team to automate its picking process.

On the shipping front, The Tool Nut was dissatisfied with its current shipping solution but was dreading the three months or longer typically required to implement a new system. “In a matter of weeks, however, not months, we completely switched over to the Descartes ShipRush solution. UPS, USPS, FedEx and ground-courier systems are all nicely tucked into the parcel solution and that operation is going very well,” said Bergstrom.

Challenge: Increasing Volumes Stalling Order Fulfillment

Solution: Efficiency Across Multiple Functions Propels Growth

CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY | The Tool Nut

Results:

Increased Productivity By eliminating time-consuming receiving and shipping processes, The Tool Nut tripled its shipment volume without increasing personnel, adding resources or expanding the warehouse. Plus, NetSuite integration injects efficiency into the warehouse and shipping workflows.

Inventory Accuracy By using Descartes OMW with wireless barcode scanners, items are put away in the correct assigned bin locations, enabling faster and more efficient picking. Accurate item placement also facilitates tighter inventory control to boost the bottom line.

Exceptional Customer Service By streamlining its receiving, put-away, picking and shipping workflows for increased efficiency— coupled with seamless data integration with NetSuite—The Tool Nut can deliver a swift, responsive and hassle-free customer experience.

Mutually-rewarding Partnership The Tool Nut and Descartes collaborated to optimize the OMW implementation to meet The Tool Nut’s unique order fulfillment and shipping requirements, integrated with its existing NetSuite-driven environment for order taking, accounting, and financials.

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