Inbound Logistics | January 2025

functions. In particular, the improvement in the picking function has been “night and day,” Poole says. The scanning software leads employees who are picking goods “like a trail of breadcrumbs through the warehouse,” Poole says. Workers can start at one end of the building and nish at the other, picking efciently as they go. The ability to do Universal Product Code (UPC) scanning improves both order accuracy and the time required to ll an order. Because the system populates the order queue within 15 minutes after orders are placed, Blue Sky now has real-time inventory information and can display both committed and available stock on its website. This provides customers with the timely information they need, Poole says. Another change helps improve the usefulness of Blue Sky’s totes, which are used to temporarily store goods specic to an order. Descartes created a program in which each tote is labeled with a tote ID. The ID acts like a license plate on a car, Graham says. The tote ID is connected to a container, just as a license plate is afxed to a car. The system is aware of the container, but the contents change from order to order, just as passengers in a car will change. Once an order is assigned to a picker, they scan the Tote ID, which allows the system to make the connection between the ID and the order being picked. As the

the approximately 15 years Descartes has worked with NetSuite, it has built a strong knowledge base and developed multiple pre-built connections to NetSuite’s ERP system. Descartes’ ability to offer multiple applications within a single system appealed to Blue Sky. “A buffet of modules sounded much more attractive than implementing various solutions from different companies,” Poole notes. The strong reviews, along with the competence the Descartes team conveyed when the two companies met, also helped drive Blue Sky’s decision to implement Descartes solutions, he adds. WORKING IN HARMONY One goal of implementing these systems was to bring together the disparate operations at Blue Sky’s hub location and its three satellite warehouses. “One warehouse was doing the tango, one was doing salsa, and we were listening to classic rock,” Poole says. The new solution helps the locations operate as one. As they implement different Descartes solutions, Poole says he and his team rst focus on completing a proof-of-concept at Blue Sky’s main hub. Once they’re satised they have the module down, they turn on the satellite locations one at a time. The implementation of NetSuite and Descartes technology solutions has enabled Blue Sky to modernize multiple

For example, companies can easily add their corporate logo or other branding elements to templates within ShipRush, promoting their brand throughout the shipping process, says Troy Graham, vice president of customer success with Descartes. STARTING WITH THE ERP SYSTEM A starting point for Blue Sky’s operational transformation was its implementation of NetSuite’s ERP solution. Descartes was listed as a NetSuite partner for its picking application and routing software. Hundreds of Descartes customers use the NetSuite platform, Graham says. In Looking to the Cloud THE CHALLENGE To handle a growing customer base, Blue Sky needed to modernize multiple supply chain and logistics functions, including picking, packing, and routing. THE SOLUTION Blue Sky integrated several of Descartes’ cloud-based solutions with its NetSuite ERP, including mobile barcode-based picking and packing, parcel shipping automation, and delivery management with electronic proof-of-delivery.

THE RESULTS Blue Sky gained several

benefits, including near-total order accuracy, an 80% jump in fulfillment eciency, real-time order tracking, optimized route creation, more ecient last-mile delivery operations, and mobile proof-of-delivery. NEXT STEPS Among other potential changes, Blue Sky may customize the Descartes solution to allow for last in-first out loading of its delivery trucks.

Leveraging mobile handheld scanners with Descartes OMW, Blue Sky automated and accelerated its multi-order picking and labeling processes to improve inventory control and boost eciency and accuracy.

200 Inbound Logistics • January 2025