Case Studies > Ace Hardware Leverages e2open®’s Transportation Management to Reduce Freight Spend

Ace Hardware Leverages e2open®’s Transportation Management to Reduce Freight Spend

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

e2open Transportation Management
e2open Logistics as a Service
e2open Road Freight Rate Index

Tech Stack

Transportation Management System (TMS)
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Business Intelligence and Analytics

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Productivity Improvements
Customer Satisfaction

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Transportation Management Systems (TMS)
Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms

Applicable Industries

Retail
Consumer Goods

Applicable Functions

Logistics & Transportation
Warehouse & Inventory Management

Use Cases

Fleet Management
Supply Chain Visibility
Inventory Management

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

Founded in Chicago in 1924, Ace Hardware Corporation is America’s neighborhood hardware retailer with over 4,000 stores in 50 U.S. states and 60 countries. Ace Hardware stores are supported by 14 world-class distribution centers and six freight consolidation centers, supplying over 65,000 products. Ace has annual sales of over $3.5 billion. The Ace Hardware transportation network consists of 30,000 truckload over-the-road (OTR) shipments, 8,000 intermodal shipments, 17,000 Ace fleet shipments, and 2,700 lanes. Headquartered in Oakbrook, Illinois, as a leading home improvement retailer, Ace spends about $50 million in truckload transportation costs annually.

The Challenge

More than half of Ace Hardware’s shipments move as freight collect, meaning Ace pays for the moves. The inbound transportation process was managed manually with spreadsheets, utilizing inefficient processes and producing outdated information. Ace wanted better control of inbound transportation to automate processes, gain efficiencies, understand costs, and identify areas for improvement. Ace was also in the process of implementing an ERP solution, a project expected to take three to four years and consume many IT resources. Meanwhile, the company recognized the potential ROI of deploying a TMS and decided to prioritize the TMS project to find a solution requiring limited IT resources. Ace sought to improve visibility into inventory and orders while gaining control of supplier performance and freight costs. The company established a list of goals for a TMS: gain visibility into true freight costs, identify and manage inbound freight, centralize freight payment, obtain business intelligence to assess carrier performance, and reduce freight costs.

The Solution

Ace Hardware selected e2open’s transportation management solution to meet its needs and goals. The transportation management software transmits Ace orders to suppliers, then selects and tenders to the lowest-cost or best-match carrier. The carrier accepts the load through the transportation management solution, where the supplier has visibility to carrier acceptance and schedules an appointment. E2open’s technology platform gives Ace Hardware visibility to order and load statuses while providing information on true transportation costs. With e2open’s technology, Ace Hardware gains many capabilities, including automating transportation tasks such as planning, execution, and settlement. They leverage the global trade network to manage inbound shipments for greater freight savings and use e2open’s procurement capabilities to automate spot market RFPs. Additionally, they utilize e2open’s road freight rate index to compare freight costs to the market and gain visibility of orders and shipment status.

Operational Impact