Advance Packaging Corporation

Case Study
Advance Packaging Corporation

The Client Overview
                
Advance Packaging provides corrugated packaging solutions for customers with diverse products and needs. Founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1966, Advance Packaging has grown to become a leading regional packaging provider. In 1973, they opened a second location in Jackson, Michigan to expand their corrugated capacity and add foam and returnable packaging products.

The Business Case

Advance Packaging spent a large amount of time planning routes daily.  Each afternoon a shipping Lead person spent approximately 1 to 2 hours routing stops to maximize trailer utilization.  Advance began to look at the current process to see if it could be made more effective and efficient.

Advance had four main objectives:

  1. To automate the routing process allowing routes to be generated in a timely manner.
  2. To prepare next day routes maximizing trailer utilization and forecasting future requirements.
  3. To ensure the process was the most effective and effective.
  4. To better meet customer delivery appointments.

The Appian Solution

Appian Logistics provided Advance Packaging with the necessary tools to meet or exceed their objectives:

  1. Appian conducted a full review of Advances needs and goals, and installed Direct Route Software the companys scheduling office.
  2. Direct Route was integrated into Advances Enterprise Business Systems.
  3. One-on-one training was conducted to assure Advances staff was able to use the software properly to meet those goals.
  4. After three days of training the system was fully integrated and functional, and actual routing began.

The Results

  • There were nearly zero issues in their daily usage.
  • While the company already had a 50 week track record of on time deliveries being made 99.5% of the time, they were able to improve on that impressive performance as soon as Direct Route was installed and running.
  • We can say that Direct Route uses the information we provide it and does so accurately.  The routes created by Direct Route can be realistically loaded and delivered as suggested hours and miles are right-on.