case-study

BACKGROUND

AGS provides full white-glove service to a major brick and mortar, online reseller of high-end furniture, such as sofas, loveseats, and ottomans, which has offices in major cities in the U.S, with headquarters in Chicago. They pride themselves on quality, top-end furniture which they let the customer design. Their hallmark is end-to-end service, from initial design meetings with the customer to white-glove inside delivery and set up at the customer residence or office. With this kind of service, they needed a logistics company that could provide the back-end part, i.e., the importation, warehousing, white-glove delivery, all the way to set up in the customer residence and take-away of boxes and packing material. This included importing the custom-made items from China to Los Angeles, performing customs clearance on all goods, drayage to the AGS warehouse, pick and pack from the Los Angeles AGS terminal and final distribution for white glove delivery to every zip code in the United States.

The customer was successful in securing a large Trade Sales order for a major southern University and needed a company to lead and manage the logistics of the huge order. Only one company was considered, their special services logistics partner, AGS.

PLANNING FOR WHATEVER IT TAKES

When AGS first received information about this huge project, they immediately got to work. The project included a total of 336 pieces to be delivered to the southern university and placed in on-campus apartments located on the grounds of the university. The 336 pieces filled up five (5) 53-foot trailers and included 22 sectional sofas, 142 chairs, 111 ottomans, and 61 sofas.  The brand-new, just constructed apartment building was five-stories and included 187 units (apartments), all requiring the full white-glove experience (inside delivery, debris removal, placed in a room of choice and assembly). And, most importantly, they had to agree to a time-definite delivery schedule set by their customer and the university.

The major project was led by the AGS National Account Manager, based in Chicago, and the Regional Service Manager, Southeast, based in Atlanta. They organized a site visit with their customer to go over the details of the move. This included going through the product upon arrival in the destination port in the U.S. to make sure everything was intact, undamaged and ready to deliver across the country.

EXECUTION

Once the goods arrived in Los Angeles, AGS held the goods in their L.A. warehouse for several weeks before five (5) trailer loads departed Los Angeles headed for a city close to the university, for storage and verification of product, marking each piece with the floor number, and staging for delivery. The final mile white glove delivery was scheduled and entailed four (4) box trucks with lift gates per day to deliver from the staging warehouse to customer site, with eight (8) men on-site daily to handle unpacking and delivery to the designated floor and apartment. The original delivery span was planned for three (3) days. An additional three (3) days was needed due to issues with construction at the site. They were still laying carpet on several floors, so AGS personnel had to assist with moving furniture around and then placing it back in its original spot. The overall move was completed within six (6) days.

A break-down of labor and delivery time for each day included:

• Ten (10) hours on day one
• Eleven (11) hours on day two
• Twelve (12) hours on day three
• Eight (8) hours per day on days four, five and six, to move the already delivered furniture around for the construction crew.

This was accomplished by a crew of eight (8) men who were on-site each day, with constant communication with AGS regional and project management.

At the end of the project, with the final piece of furniture moved into place, the University was so impressed with the AGS team on-site they utilized them for multiple projects over time before the doors of the brand-new furnished apartment complex were opened.

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 delivery a specialty. Key to AGS’ customer centric solutions is innovative and customizable technology tools that provide a seamless flow of information and give customers global supply chain visibility.

Thirty (30) truckloads were scheduled for pick-up of the displays at the display manufacturer’s warehouse in Downey, CA, beginning in early February. All thirty (30) trucks were break-bulked at the AGS Los Angeles distribution center where they were unloaded and separated by destination and put on trucks which left the warehouse at different times on different days, depending upon destination – the “shotgun” approach. The golf shops and pro shops that were on the east coast, Atlantic coast, and eastern Canada, were picked up first due to the longer transit time. The idea was to deliver the displays to an AGS location close to the end customer and deliver them in local trucks and vans, most requiring liftgate and inside delivery, with white glove service provided at the delivery site as needed. This was done over a 3-5 day period, with the national roll-out day planned by the customer being the target date.

This “shotgun” approach was immensely successful, with every truck that left the AGS Los Angeles DC being monitored the entire way. They were in constant communication with the shipper, who passed the information along to their Marketing staff, who then coordinated with the end customer. It worked flawlessly, with only sixteen of the hundreds of displays delayed a day or two because of extreme weather. Several pro shops and golf stores they were supposed to deliver to were also closed. However, AGS kept trying to deliver in spite of the extreme winter weather and finally delivered the final mile in time for those sixteen (16) stores to participate in the national roll-out on the designated day.

The massive effort was successful due to the coordinated efforts of AGS personnel at origin and destination sites, constant monitoring of each and every truck as they made their way across the U.S., and the outstanding communication between AGS and the shipper in Southern California.

The golf club manufacturer in Southern California was so impressed with the AGS dedication to service and their outstanding communication; they decided to award future display business to AGS. Since then, AGS has handled the most important display roll-out programs for the company, with nearly 100% on-time and damage-free deliveries.

CONTINUED PARTNERSHIP

With a network of over 400 storages and logistics sites in the U.S., AGS can provide temporary storage of displays to meet specific requirements that would streamline the display delivery and placement at the final retail location.

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 delivery a specialty. Key to AGS’ customer-centric solutions is innovative and customizable technology tools that provide a seamless flow of information and give customers global supply chain visibility.