Warehouse crew was wary of management, overtime was high, management was overwhelmed, and customer service was sinking. Additionally, management was under-supported by senior leadership. Changes were implemented within management team expeditiously. Cooperative relationship between management and crew was established creating opportunity for problem resolution.

Management evaluated each production area and prioritized issues observed by management and those articulated by crew. Concerns were recognized and addressed in effort to build trust and rapport between crew and management staff and improve productivity throughout facility.

Overtime was reduced, order quality improved, and expenses quickly receded. Union leadership and management cooperative efforts resulted in more than $1M savings in following years.

Members of the delivery team had unknowingly signed union cards authorizing Teamsters to bargain collectively with management. Organizers had told these employees that cards were information requests and had been power-of-attorney to Teamsters. Federal law required that vote take place for delivery team to determine if union would be authorized to bargain collectively.

Operations team was challenged to run daily operations while working to stop organization of union among delivery team members. Regular meetings with corporate attorney and human resources personnel formulated strategies allowed by federal law to secure company vote against union organization.

Delivery team rejected organization platform by 80 to 2 and remained non-union. Resulting increase in communication with delivery team encouraged management to address employee issues and ensured maintenance of non-union status.

Senior management and union management were conducting labor contract negotiations. Union members were deciding on whether to accept or reject contract offer and authorize strike. Senior management was silent on progress of negotiations, and silence was perceived as negative by union members.

Leveraged relationship with union members in warehouse and spoke with group during established lunchtime meetings. Frank discussions with union membership regarding experience with strikes was readily accepted and brought about positive response from union membership.

Union members voted overwhelmingly not to authorize strike. Membership stated that candid discussions had been deciding factor in vote against strike.

Customer service issues necessitated improved communication between operations team and sales managers. Large, profitable customers required immediate satiation when merchandise or delivery-of-service problems arose.

Routine management meetings addressed concerns and worked toward problem resolution. Corrective actions delegated to operations managers and time requirements were set for solutions. Meetings included follow-up on previous week’s actions.

Development of direct communications link proactively solved customer complaints and improved customer satisfaction. Reduction of tension between sales and operations personnel played significant role in contract retention. Instituted meetings and improved communication resulted in re-signing of two contracts representing $600K+ in product and services.

Major client required 20 servers installed within one month. Usual lead-time for project was two or three months. The number of servers, complexity of project, and vendor lead-time required extraordinary effort and coordination between technical and operational teams.

Task force was developed to coordinate project with vendor and technical teams. Directed and coordinated work of logistics team with technical services to complete project within customer time constraints.

Project resulted in more than 10% increase in annual revenue dollars ($120K) from customer and solidified relationship, ensuring ongoing revenue stream. Team-planning and coordination efforts between logistics and technical services resulted in project being successfully completed well within established timeline.

Managers were struggling with productivity as order quantities grew. Production shift startup lacked focused leadership and was unorganized, which frustrated employees. Pick path for grocery orders was inhibiting productivity and efficiency. Original layout of grocery production area needed to be reset. Pick path required employees to walk two to three excess miles to pick beverage and wine section.

Operations observations were performed for one week. Collaborated with information systems group, directed production managers to reset pick path, and moved beverage and wine section to area in line with remainder of grocery section. Met with managers and developed “Military Start” for each shift which included mandatory, pre-shift team meeting. Managers and leads were required to remain on production floor while teams were working to monitor shift and reduce processing time.

Redesigned organization, distinct objectives, and clear communication by management enhanced production team morale and revived productivity. Excess production time was eliminated and productivity improved 19%.

Logistics department called in to resolve special handling issues at retail operations level. Retail staff lacked experience necessary to support customer requests. Logistics team identified core issues related to each instance and created solutions meeting customer requirements within profitability guidelines.

Increased client satisfaction and reduced returns more than 12%. Service activities generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional revenues. Exceeding customer satisfaction expectations in difficult customer-care situations led to increased consumer gratification.

Company acquired 100+ divisions nationwide, each with different systems and processes for delivery and warehousing. Handling of national customers became hampered with uncommon systems and communication technology. Consolidation of facilities and systems into hub of 13 distributions centers was high priority project, including designing and building three new warehousing centers in Los Angeles, Portland, and Nashville.

Ability to service national customers multiplied, resulting in increased revenue. Standardization of process and systems realized millions of dollars in lease-cost savings. National warehousing system reduced duplication of inventory expenses.

Major vendor delayed picking up returns from warehouses, reducing cash flow and increasing third-party warehousing costs. Process was taking months instead of expected two to three weeks. Vendor's internal administrative process was causing significant delays between time of return notification and actual pickup.

Leveraged relationship with vendor’s customer service department and directed logistics team to provide vendor with information to verify validity of returns. Vendor agreed to information template that would expedite process and eliminate delays for return pick-ups.

Vendor scheduled pick-ups of returned goods upon receipt and verification of information templates. This resulted in cleaner facilities, savings on charges between 2% and 5% from third-party warehouse companies, and increased cash flow for returned goods. Revised return process represented approximately $400-500K annual savings. Process instituted for all major vendors expediting returns and included in subsequent contracts.

Newly acquired retail outlet opened during national holiday and was in need of extra merchandise to accommodate increased customer traffic. Transfers from distribution center had been completed for the week. Information system was not prompted to send transfers until following week.

Logistics team was directed to create additional transfers for retail outlet manually, and merchandise was shipped to outlet immediately. Due to increased merchandise in retail outlet, sales exceeded budgeted expectations.

Post-holiday sales evaluation was performed to determine optimum stocking levels for core items in newly acquired retail outlet. Core items required additional stock, and information system was adjusted accordingly. Proper transfer quantities were generated automatically by information system eliminating manual intervention and saving two man-hours per transfer per store, producing annual savings of $50K-$70K.

Warehouse facility was cluttered with obsolete servers and communication equipment. Hardware still had value and useful life but needed to be sold and moved out. Several local vendors were pursued but perceived value of equipment was not realized.

Established relationship with Internet auction house through director of purchasing. Association provided fruitful channel for disposal of obsolete hardware in timely manner and at reasonable price. Directed efforts of logistics group in coordination with network security team to remove all stored data from machines and component hardware, preventing compromise of client information.

Obsolete equipment was conditioned and shipped to auction house on quarterly basis. More than $250K proceeds realized from auctions of archaic equipment, eliminating need for excess storage and handling expenses and generating revenues that exceeded expectations.