Marketing Case Study

Inland Label & Marketing Services has been working with this national management group since 1999. As a governmental organization, the group is responsible for the promotion of fluid milk and educating school children of its nutritional value. They work in conjunction with regional organizations to develop teaching programs and national advertising.

This group came to Inland looking for opportunities to lower their print production costs by improving the print management process. After saving the organization 55 percent in production cost on one of their first projects, Inland then analyzed the group’s warehousing and fulfillment operation. Inland's years of experience in kit packing, pick and pack, and drop shipping fit their needs well. With 22 individual and distinct warehouses across the country, the management group had significant duplication of services and substantial freight costs resulting from sharing materials between locations. Inland saw both of these areas as an opportunity to streamline processes and save considerable dollars.

Inland’s Solution

The cost savings in print production was achieved by applying Inland's print management and inventory expertise to the full scope of materials produced. This first project was a series of 22 posters all with different specifications. Inland was able to standardize the posters into four categories that resulted in significantly lower production costs.

After reviewing the group's warehousing and fulfillment operation, Inland came up with a plan utilizing years of experience and innovation in warehousing, kit packing, pick and pack, and drop shipping. Many regional organizations were willing to centralize their individual warehouses hundreds of miles away based on the increased services and reduced costs. With the group utilizing Inland's print management service, Inland was able to provide precise control of inventory allowing reports to be consistent and global in scope for the first time. A centralized call center handles all phone, fax, web-based and e-mail orders for both the regional offices and the national management group including credit card processing and invoicing. The call center also answers questions pertaining to materials or orders, and refer calls to the appropriate contacts within the group.

Result

As mentioned above, Inland's print management expertise provided the organization with a print production cost savings of 55 percent on the first project that Inland Label and Marketing Services managed for the group. However, the most remarkable benefits to the group were realized by using Inland's expertise in the following areas:

• Kit packing
• Warehousing
• Drop shipping

In the five years that followed the consolidation, warehouse savings have exceeded 20 percent. And armed with good information, the management group has been able to make better decisions regarding when and how much to print and procure. With one facility, material is moved electronically in and out of each regional group's inventory as needed, saving the freight costs previously incurred by physically shipping inventory across the country.

With Inland's print management services, national campaigns are handled more effectively. Material can be produced, procured, or pulled from inventory; kit packed, and shipped to schools or retail locations nationwide all from one facility. Additional materials or kits can be put back into inventory in the same facility, and utilizing Inland's drop shipping services, can be shipped to fulfill individual orders.