Hanson Logistics says is offering a solution that gives all manufacturers access to a collaborative, cost-effective distribution system. Velocities Multi-Vendor Consolidation launches mid-September as the core service of the new Hanson Logistics Chicago consolidation center.
Velocities MVC is a scheduled delivery system reaching major retail and foodservice distribution centers from Hobart, Ind., where Hanson’s new consolidation center sits at the crossroads of Interstate 65 and I-80/94. This location, east of Chicago congestion, affords easy-in/easy-out service to greater Chicagoland, plus forward-inventory site for service to two-thirds of the United States, Hanson says. Through Velocities, manufacturers benefit from shared truckload delivery, while retailers gain the same fulfillment assurance across all vendors, according to the company; and Velocities Web-based order and event management technology offers a common platform for all trading partners.
“Velocities is a win-win supply chain solution,” says Andrew Janson, executive vice president of business development for St. Joseph, Mich.-based Hanson. “If you’re filling pallet-sized orders, you can climb on board and share the delivery cost with other manufacturers with the benefit of ‘fixed pricing.’ You can leverage that capability in pursing business relationships in new markets and with larger customers. From the consignee perspective, your docks are less congested, and your order-fill rate is higher.”
As the cold supply chain grows more demanding, so has the need to rethink a go-to-market strategy that balances cost and benefit, Hanson says; mid-market food manufacturers find themselves squeezed by the all-too-frequent challenge of shipping pallet-sized orders without losing margins to LTL charges.
For an average manufacturer, Velocities offers a transportation savings of about 30 percent compared to go-it-alone LTL, according to Hanson; that can often be the difference between profit and loss in servicing all required DCs in a retail or foodservice network. In addition, Hanson Transportation Management Service, the managing department behind Velocities operations, works closely with client procurement and logistics to engineer a robust solution that leverages backhauls and continuous moves for even greater savings, the company says.
“By joining Velocities, you’re tapping into a Web-based order management system and the critical mass of a national distribution system,” Janson says. “Velocities essentially levels the playing field that has traditionally favored those producers who have the technology infrastructure and the volume for truckload efficiency.”
