Warehouse Management and Distribution Consulting

In our role as fulfillment and warehouse consultants we assist clients with operating more efficiently in all areas of warehousing and distribution. Our services run the gamut from developing corporate fulfillment strategies to designing warehouse layouts to selecting and launching warehouse management systems. The development of fulfillment requirements and qualitative and quantitative evaluations and comparisons between various options are what we do as fulfillment consultants.

Initial Assessment

F. Curtis Barry & Company makes an initial assessment of the client's cost structure, staffing, systems, and facilities. This assessment provides a baseline for developing the most appropriate ways to improve a client's business, across several areas or on specific projects.

Experienced Fulfillment and Warehouse Consultants Offering Many Services

F. Curtis Barry & Company can provide a whole host of services for site selection, warehouse design/redesign and layout, staff evaluations, analyzing and engineering product flow, and we can recommend and install material handling equipment. In systems-related areas, we offer systems evaluation, requirement definitions, vendor search, and implementation services.

In cases where clients have limited resources, we have provided project management services, including overseeing moves of warehouses, project management of fixture and equipment installation, and implementing warehouse management software and systems

Third-Party Outsourcing Consulting

F. Curtis Barry & Company can also assist, as appropriate, in evaluating and contracting third-party, outsourced fulfillment. We have performed many studies and analyses relating to different fulfillment options and outsourcing. In addition to the typical search and transition planning involved in selecting a service provider, we have assisted companies in moving their outsourced operations in-house as well as in moving from one service provider to another.

Our Warehouse Benchmarking Services and ShareGroups

We use our own extensive propriety warehouse benchmarking database to compare costs for clients' fulfillment operations. We provide an objective opinion and practical recommendations for service levels and metrics and costs. We can create a customized productivity tracking system or assist clients with data warehousing to develop customized reports that are user-developed and managed.

Our central working experience is with direct-to-customer and multichannel retailers, and since 1996, F. Curtis Barry & Company has facilitated the Warehouse Benchmarking ShareGroup and Retail Replenishment Benchmarking ShareGroup for fulfillment. In a unique, non-competitive format, ShareGroup participants exchange information on metrics, service levels, and costs by company, along with best practices and critiques of members' sites.

Below are a few examples of warehouse solutions and strategies we have tailored for our clients:

Case Study 1

F. Curtis Barry & Company planned and designed a 400,000-sq.-ft. facility for a 19-brand direct business. As their warehouse consultants, we continue to work with them on expanding that facility to 650,000 sq. ft. as the company consolidates warehouses from other locations, including those of third-party clients. We collaborated with the client on determining layout; planning, selection, and implementation of material handling equipment according to specifications; the physical relocation of inventory; and the start-up of services.

Case Study 2

F. Curtis Barry & Company helped develop requirements and RFPs for a third-party fulfillment project for one of America's largest credit card companies. We analyzed responses from a qualified short list of vendors and selected a third-party facility to take the client's customer calls and ship annual product premiums. We have also completed similar projects for direct response and collateral/literature clients.

Case Study 3

F. Curtis Barry & Company completed an overall warehouse operations assessment for a hard goods multichannel retailer. The assessment led to a layout redesign that extended the life of the existing facility. We helped make layout and process changes to improve the picking and packing processes for both direct-to-consumer and retail replenishment functions, developing a slotting process and increased capacity. The assessment reduced the client's costs and allowed them to delay expansion.

Case Study 4

F. Curtis Barry & Company developed a five-year strategic plan for a billion-dollar, public, multichannel company. The plan included a freight analysis that led to inbound/outbound freight savings of $4.5 million annually, and development of a fulfillment process for three distribution centers, including a review and revised layout of one center. In addition, we introduced inventory balancing to help serve the client's customers better, and addressed the client's future needs by developing system requirements for cross-docking, inventory optimization, warehouse management, and planning.

Our Competitive Advantage

We take a collaborative approach to working with our clients. The client defines the work to be done. Our experience in working with large, multichannel businesses allows us to provide clients with practical guidance that helps them manage their businesses better. We listen carefully to what clients want and then keep them involved throughout the different steps of the consulting process. Discover the six reasons why our clients hire us.

To learn more about how we can help your business, please contact us. You'll find we are the experienced warehouse and fulfillment consultants of choice.  Give Jeff Barry a call at (804) 740-8743, e-mail him at jbarry@fcbco.com, or fill out our Request Information form.

Warehouse Management and Distribution Consulting Articles What Are Your Shipping Options? In the next few weeks, all the carriers will complete their 2008 pricing announcements. As we look at the future, it’s probably a good bet that these carriers’ rates aren’t going down any more than the cost of oil. So what’s the impact and action plan for your business. Read more... Trends, Best Practices, and Metrics in Fulfillment These are challenging times for the multichannel industry. On the basis of our consulting assignments in multichannel operations and fulfillment and proprietary data from the F. Curtis Barry & Company Benchmarking ShareGroups, we have identified several current trends in multichannel fulfillment, and ways in which businesses are addressing these trends by implementing industry best practices. Read more... Rising Transportation Costs - and What to Do About Them For most multichannel merchants, transportation of goods is the highest operational expense. Inbound freight costs for domestically sourced product typically range from 2%-4% of gross sales, while for imported product, inbound freight costs 6% to 12% of gross sales. Outbound transportation costs typically average 6% to 8% of net sales. Read more... Read more related articles and whitepapers

Warehouse Management and Distribution Consulting Blog Posts Mon, 05 May 2008 21:19:09 70 Ways to Reduce Costs, Increase Productivity and Improve Customer Service Cost Reduction and Productivity Improvement Assessment 70+ Ways to Reduce Costs, Increase Productivity and Improve Customer Service By Curt Barry Over the past 23 years F. Curtis Barry & Company’s work with multichannel companies in operations and fulfillment consulting has allowed us to compile these 70+ ways that can cut costs and increase productivity, which will ultimately lead Read more... Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:11:27 Operations Expense Reduction – Managing the Pennies Nobody needs to tell you it’s a tough business climate. Last week at NCOF, I gave a speech to 180+ people on Operations Expense Reduction – Managing the Pennies. You can access the speech on our website. Also, in working with our clients to reduce expenses, F. Curtis Barry & Company has compiled an 11-page Read more... Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:16:05 F. Curtis Barry & Company, Taurus Software Partner to Make Key Multichannel Data Easily Accessible and Usable FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Upcoming solution will bring together multiple data sources to analyze business performance, aid merchandise analysis, analyze productivity in call centers and fulfillment centers Redwood City, CA, and Richmond, VA; April 2, 2008 – For 20 years, Taurus Software has been “making data liquid” for over 700 companies world-wide, with over 80 clients being in the Read more... Visit our blog site to read more