The pandemic has made the limitations and unreliability of the previous model more evident. The lead time needed to guarantee shipping, for example, jumped from around three weeks to five months. Convinced of the opportunity to update its processes, Blue Diamond Growers began implementing the SAP Transportation Management and SAP Business Network for Logistics solution with XpertMinds, an SAP implementation partner for supply chain and logistics, enhanced with an integration between SAP Business Network Global Track and Trace and project44’s platform to connect critical visibility data.
The new capability, combined with the previously adopted SAP Integrated Business Planning solution, provided Blue Diamond with a complete planning solution from demand and supply to logistics to deliver an enhanced customer experience.
Before adopting the digital solution, Blue Diamond Growers managed $300 million in supply chain and logistics functions using a collection of independent documents, spreadsheets and processes. This complicated system relied on time-consuming and error-prone manual operations, offered extremely limited opportunities to run scenarios or simulations, and made it nearly impossible for customer service representatives to gain accurate visibility into critical order information. As a result, the organization achieved not only $1 million in annual transportation cost savings, but also targets such as a 20% reduction in on-hand inventory and a 99% fill rate on customer orders (vs. 89% average in your sector of activity).
The success story shows how Blue Diamond Growers, founded in 1910, is able to combine tradition and innovation, using new technologies to increase operational efficiency. With the new solution for the supply chain, the company can now count on unified, flexible and dynamic planning; real-time cargo visibility; resource optimization; and better human capital management, with the elimination of tedious processes for filling out/updating electronic spreadsheets.
