Market Case Study

Midwest Importer saves over $58,000 with CTS.

Customer Situation- Increased demand from premier customer created shortage of critical components. Supply chain planner entered an order with European supplier to ship components by expedited air from Frankfurt to Chicago to avoid OEM customer production shutdown. The importer's logistics team alerted CTS and asked to determine if there were any other options to meet the OEM deadlines and avoid severe contract penalties.

Our Solution- The OEM Purchase Order was for 800 of the components to be delivered to their plant in 7 days. The cost by air was $65,000, Brussels to Chicago. CTS learned that only 150 of the 800 components were needed to begin the next production cycle. The remainder would be scheduled for normal production over a 60-day period. CTS proposed sending 150 units immediately by air to Chicago, with the U.S. Customs Broker and delivery trucker on standby alert to prevent delay and provide immediate notification for problem resolution. The remaining units would be drop shipped by ocean freight with fastest transit time Antwerp to New York, also with Customs and trucker on alert.

The Result- Air freight shipment was picked up on Thursday, loaded on all cargo aircraft Saturday, arrived Chicago Sunday, Customs released Monday morning and delivered to OEM customer Tuesday morning. Components went to the production line Tuesday afternoon. Shutdown was averted with time to spare. The ocean shipment was delivered to steamship line on Friday, sailed on Tuesday, arrived New York 9 days later, Customs released prior to vessel arrival, trucked from New York to destination and delivered to OEM customer on the 3rd morning after arrival at the New York pier. Door to door ocean freight from Europe to the U.S. Midwest in less than two weeks from the date order was entered with Europe vendor.

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Benefits of CTS:

• CTS saved the customer over $ 58,000.
• Shutdown was avoided preventing contract penalty.
• CTS customer was praised, rather than penalized.
• Customer relations were not damaged.

Products and services CTS used:

• Europe air freight trucking from vendor plant to Brussels airport
• Air freight from Brussels to Chicago
• U.S. Customs clearance
• Air freight delivery to OEM production facility
• Ocean container loading and delivery to ocean terminal in Antwerp
• U.S. Customs clearance in New York
• Expedited trucking from New York to OEM production facility