Where to watch NX brand movies:

NXHD’s website (English)

Top page:         https://www.nipponexpress-holdings.com/en/

Brand Stories: https://www.nipponexpress-holdings.com/en/about/video/

YouTube and LinkedIn

YouTube:   https://www.youtube.com/@nittsu

LinkedIn：https://www.linkedin.com/company/nippon-express-group/

The post NXHD announces the release of new brand videos that embody the NX Group’s corporate message “We Find the Way.” appeared first on AGS.

When investing in a white glove delivery partner, you will expect superior, dependable delivery, and a level of trust to delight your end consumer.

Below are answers to some of our most frequently asked questions about this service.

Q:     What is the difference with white glove delivery between e-commerce,
retailers, and manufacturers?

A:     The major difference is where the white glove services are performed. E-commerce is primarily for residential deliveries.  For retailers, it’s time-specific deliveries to meet with installation crews. Manufacturing deals with an industry product line, often going to highly secured facilities.

Q:     What are some challenges e-commerce, retailers, and manufacturers face with White Glove delivery in today’s recovering economy?

A:     Current challenges for all include the lack of a skilled workforce to meet delivery commitments, perform our services, and provide the customer experience the consumer expects. Other challenges include demand (backlogged freight), inflation of services through the supply chain, heightened peak seasons, lack of visibility of future demand as supply chain disruption becomes more frequent, and the fear of virus variants.

Q:     What are the various types of White Glove solutions to offer e-commerce, retailers, and manufacturers?

A:     Some solutions include home delivery services (multi-levels), short-term storage, inventory replenishment for businesses that need delivery in combination with restocking or set-up of new fixtures, merge in-transit, retail fulfillment for companies that lack a dock, or traditional means of accepting shipments. Also, after-hour, weekend, and holiday-specific time solutions.

Q:     What are some of the White Glove opportunities and trends for White Glove delivery in 2021?

A:     In our opinion, there has been a fundamental change in the way people purchase goods for the home. With that said, we see retailers changing from a stored inventory center to showrooms/consultation, thus creating an opportunity for white glove providers to increase SKUs and SKUs offered by retailers and e-commerce companies. In addition, the large increase in product lines will lead to a massive overall increase in white glove delivery services. In short, we foresee this pattern to increase for years to come and be the new norm.

Q:     What are the benefits of using a White Glove service provider?

A:     The primary benefit is a more extensive selection of services for e-commerce, retailers, and manufacturing to offer their customers. Although we foresee white glove delivery becoming more of a standard in the future, many companies are still not offering that as a solution. In short, the most significant benefit is freedom of choice. Additional benefits include improved customer service, the reduction of damages, and an environmental impact.

Q:        What should a company look for when selecting a White Glove delivery provider?       

A:     It’s important to factor in how their network is structured? Meaning asset-based, resourced, or a combination of both? Ideally, it would be a combination. Because asset-based carries can have too small of a footprint, and resourced-based carries can be too unreliable. A company that offers a combination of both can fill in all the gaps. Other factors to consider are do they offer room of choice, light assembly, debris removal, appointment scheduling, and the technology needed for seamless service.

Q:     What technologies should a White Glove service provide for an efficient and effective delivery?

A:     A must for carriers is an app for a cellphone that connects all parties (drivers, dispatch, customer service, and customer). To be effective, we must know the location (GPS) and have evidence of services performed(camera).

Still have questions?  We’d welcome the opportunity to discuss our White Glove Services with you. Please click here to get in touch with us.

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BACKGROUND

One of the top exercise equipment manufacturers in the world, known throughout the fitness industry, with many oversized and heavyweight products, contacted AGS to help them with a critical need to augment their current supply chain structure.  The client had been experiencing peak like volumes all year long due to COVID-19 related consumer demands. They needed a carrier like AGS who could flex capacity in a hurry with high-performance standards and technology to provide customers with visibility to their orders.

SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS

The customer, headquartered in Utah, had previously used integrated LTL carriers to distribute their product in a pool distribution environment to final mile delivery hubs for residential delivery. Transit times were in excess of 12 business days and as much as 25 business days around the country.  Orders were backing up on the manufacturer’s distribution facility and creating confusing messaging about order status to their clients.

The AGS management team consisting of sales, operations, account management and information technology responded quickly with solutions to meet the client’s supply chain requirements.    The challenge presented itself during peak holidays and at a time when truckload and LTL capacity was at its tightest in years.

DEDICATED ACCOUNT TEAM

AGS maintains a dedicated account management team that is centralized and acts as the control tower for all services and communications.  Added to this account team is a dedicated 24/7 call center to assist customers with inquiries and further coordination.  Adding to the depth of the client’s support are the local terminals with district and regional management.  These positions tightly coordinate equipment spotting and pickups seven days a week and at irregular hours.  The result of this responsive support is the elimination of the bottlenecking at the client’s distribution facility.

Two weeks into the program, AGS demonstrated enough competence and the client expanded AGS’ role to support two more additional distribution facilities.  In January, two months in the program, AGS continues to handle volumes in excess of 6,000 shipments per month.

AGS continues to develop technology and best practices to support a quick and seamless customer experience.  AGS unveiled customer texting technology in January to further enhance the communication process for setting appointments.  AGS has always been a leader in technology innovation that is meant to streamline the customer’s experience.  A prime example of this technology was the AGS Appointment Scheduler created in 2010.  Recently, AGS was one of the first providers to offer a No-Contact delivery option using its text POD feature so clients could send their own proof of delivery without exchanging handheld devices or paperwork with the drivers.

AGS is continuing its focus to support clients with their e-commerce needs for residential delivery of oversized, heavyweight products.  Services range from Curbside to White Glove and Returns are all part of the package offerings.

CUSTOMER CENTRIC SOLUTIONS

With a network of logistics sites in the U.S., AGS can provide delivery to every zip code in the country.  Founded in 1958, AGS provides complete supply chain solutions specializing in forwarding, transportation, logistics and warehousing, with white-glove delivery a specialty. Key to AGS’ customer centric-solutions are innovative and customizable technology tools that provide a seamless flow of information and give customers global supply chain visibility.

The post Top Exercise Equipment Manufacturer Relies Heavily on AGS to Uncork its Supply Chain Bottleneck appeared first on AGS.

In May of 2018, AGS began providing 3PL short-term service, along with warehousing and local delivery service, to a retailer of high-end lighting products for both residential and commercial customers. Headquartered in Georgia, this company has retail stores and showrooms in Washington D.C., Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Austin, Charleston, Houston, Denver and Scottsdale. AGS began with the Washington D.C. location in May, of 2018, and later that year added Atlanta, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles showrooms. In 2019, they added Scottsdale, Denver and Austin. In 2018, AGS handled 189 shipments from May to December.  Another 156 shipments, with an additional 51 in a staged or appointed status at one of their locations, have been handled between January and May 2019.

HOW IT WORKS

The AGS customer consigns prepaid drop shipments to AGS locations from their vendors, using LTL and parcel companies. The AGS station then stages the orders until final delivery is requested, which is usually within 4-6 weeks. The final delivery to the end user is always time-specific, with inside lift-gate service provided for one to three pallets of lighting fixtures. The AGS delivery driver is responsible for a customer delivery ticket, which details the items being delivered and are checked and signed off at the time of delivery, along with the AGS delivery receipt.

AGS’ state-of-the-art tracking system, myAGS.com, plays a significant role in the entire process and showcases the 3PL capabilities of AGS. When an AGS HAWB (house airway bill) is created for the drop shipment from a vendor to AGS, information is entered into myAGS.com by the customer as to the purchase order number, commodity code and description of items listed on the customer’s delivery ticket. This can be anywhere between one to thirty items in any one shipment. All of this information can be pulled up and viewed on the myAGS.com website.

When the AGS station receives the shipment, they update the receipt information on the “parts detail” screen of the designated HAWB. This information is also viewable on myAGS.com so that the AGS customer can view the inventory of their products at the various AGS locations, thus having “real-time” visibility of their products that are waiting for delivery to end users.

Most deliveries from the AGS 3PL location are local, within the boundaries of the city in which they are located.  However, occasionally the end user will be outside of the local delivery area, so the delivering AGS station is assigned the responsibility of sourcing reliable carriers for the “beyond” transportation.

With so many AGS 3PL stations involved with this customer, it is truly a “nationwide” service, with drop shipments arriving from many different points in the U.S. The services used for this customer, as outlined above, are receiving, warehousing, recording inventory on myAGS.com, for customer visibility, and final delivery to the end user. AGS has used this proven method of “total” service with many customers, and this one happens to “light up the world.”

With our nationwide coverage for storage and logistics sites in the U.S., AGS can provide temporary storage of shipments, whether over-sized data center equipment or high-end lighting fixtures. They offer complete customer-centric supply chain solutions, including state-of-the-art communication and tracking through myAGS.com.

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Beginning in 2012, AGS has provided extraordinary service and communications to one of the largest social media companies in the world. In 2018 alone, AGS moved over one thousand (1,000) shipments weighing a total of three million (3,000,000) lbs. for this customer.

A large social media company requires data equipment in many locations and must keep the equipment state-of-the-art, which means replacing the servers and other data center equipment frequently. Someone must be trusted to pick up and deliver the new equipment to the various data centers, as well as pack, record serial numbers and ship the end-of-life data equipment, returning it for recycling. AGS has been doing this for the mega-sized social media company for over seven (7) years.

SERVICES OFFERED

Pick up new data center equipment from various vendors via LTL or Truckload (TL), and delivers them to data centers throughout the U.S. This is done on an almost daily basis.

Pick up end-of-life data center equipment, record the serial numbers for inventory, pack it to detailed specifications and return it to various recycling centers in the U.S. These cabinets must be packaged and palletized safely and in the reverse order of new equipment, which takes 2 to 8 men and supplies such as pallets, wrapping, corner protection and straps.

Pack and ship data center cabinets with blade servers, which can weigh upwards of three thousand (3,000) lbs each. Specific SOPs outlining how they need to be double-strapped to the truck, unloaded using lift-gates and safety straps, removed from the packing crates with ramps after unbolting them with specialized wrenches, record all information regarding condition, and wheel them into the new data center. These specialized servers often require day and time specific deliveries due to data center technician’s timetables.

Communications is paramount to the various vendors and the giant social media company on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. The various vendors that provide the data center equipment use MyAGS.com to enter their pick-up orders for dispatch. The end-user uses myAGS.com to track each order, many times down to the hour and minute, due to the technicians that must be available for installation.

Some of the various services that AGS provides, other than those listed above, include:

• Expedited Ground
• Specialized Truckload (including climate control)
• White-glove delivery, with 2-8 men for heavy data center cabinets with blade servers

OUR PROMISE

With such precise requirements for physical pick-up and delivery, packing, unpacking, recording and communications, the social media giant has to be able to rely on a company that knows these requirements, follows them to the letter, and that has a communications technology that can track the highly important shipments down to the hour of delivery. They found AGS in 2012, and have continued to use them through the social media company’s tremendous growth and expansion.

CUSTOMER CENTRIC SOLUTIONS

With our nationwide coverage for storage and logistics sites in the U.S., AGS can provide temporary storage of shipments, whether over-sized data center equipment or computer parts. They pride themselves in their communications on every shipment, whether large or small, and take extra pride in providing the most reliable final-mile delivery in the industry. Founded in 1958, and just celebrating their 60th year, AGS provides complete supply chain solutions, specializing in forwarding, transportation, logistics, and warehousing, with white-glove final delivery a specialty. Keys to AGS’ customer-centric solutions are innovative and customizable technology tools that provide a seamless flow of information that gives customers global supply chain visibility.

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