Do It Best retailers are free to shape their store identities, from mom-and-pop shops to expansive big-box formats. Member-owners can choose whether or not to showcase the Do It Best brand, highlighting their independence within the cooperative.
TMS algorithms with results seamlessly integrated into Do It Best’s nancial payment systems. This eliminates paper, reduces costs, and ensures timely payments to Do It Best’s carriers. Most important of all though is the comprehensive visibility the new TMS has afforded Do It Best into its own operations. “It allows us to focus on the business as a whole, rather than just individual tasks,” says Weems.
increase to approximately $50,000, representing a 400% boost.
Redwood had to consider Do It Best’s business model, which involves the physical movement of goods from thousands of suppliers into the co-op’s eight regional distribution centers. The goods then require distribution to thousands of member stores. The task involves a lot of planning, sourcing, optimization, freight management, allocation of costs, delivery network, settlement of invoices and reporting to chart the company’s trajectory. It’s an ongoing process. “A lot of manual processes are still in place today and some remain sub-optimal,” says Cavanaugh, referring primarily to long-time mom-and- pop member stores that can be resistant to change. “But Do It Best knew this and it’s why they were looking for a solution.” In fact, the rst signi cant improvement Do It Best noticed once the new TMS was in place was its ability to catch errors in their inbound shipments—errors that often went undetected in the past. Issues such as bill of lading discrepancies, inaccurate National Motor Freight Classi cation class and item codes, and incorrect shipment weights were rarely caught manually, resulting in lost revenue. After implementing the new TMS however, these kinds of errors are now consistently identi ed, enabling Do It Best to apply compliance fees and recover previously lost revenue. Before it implemented the TMS, Do It Best recovered about $10,000 monthly but post TMS the cooperative is seeing that number
The solution and integrated program Redwood put in place aims to eliminate the second-guessing Do It Best endured due to its manual processes and lack of visibility. The co-op was never 100% sure where shipments were, what was in them, and when they were going to arrive. “That’s where a lot of the program’s value comes in,” says Cavanaugh. “Visibility into what’s going on and compliance within the supplier community leads to cost savings initiatives.” Redwood’s solution also provides a signi cant boost in ef ciency and scalability in regard to routing. In terms of shipments, it previously took Do It Best ve minutes to run through a complete routing process. Now the cooperative optimizes and routes 200 shipments in less than one hour. Routing loads had also been a manual, time-consuming process for the cooperative in the past, involving phone calls, faxes, emails, and data entry. “We could manage to route only 15 loads per hour,” says Weems. Post-TMS implementation and courtesy of automated route optimization, Do It Best now routes 400 loads per hour, marking an astounding 2,500% increase in productivity. On the accounts payable front, invoices that previously required manual
GAINS, PLANS, AND DREAMS Since partnering with Redwood
Logistics on the new TMS, Do It Best also leverages the 4PL’s expertise to assist with small parcel carrier rate negotiations. “Redwood’s support helps us secure better rates, which in turn allows our members to boost their sales on internet marketplaces,” says Weems. Looking ahead, the co-op is currently in discussions with the 4PL about potential enhancements to further optimize the TMS. Ultimately the collaborative approach Do It Best and Redwood maintained throughout the initial onboarding process proved effective and will likely do the same moving forward. Weems describes the new TMS as a transformative investment: “It improves staff ef ciency, enhances productivity, controls expenses, and ultimately drives pro tability,” he says. Not bad for a cooperative whose goal is to help its members grow and achieve their dreams. n
audits, stamping, and initialing are now automatically audited through
January 2025 • Inbound Logistics 197
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