How Digging Deep Solved Misco Products' Biggest Logistics Management Frustrations

Misco Products is a manufacturer of liquid cleaning chemicals used primarily in private branding for janitorial sanitation, food service, education, healthcare and other commercial and industrial markets. With a single location based in Reading, Pennsylvania, the Company transports its products nationally.

Over time, the manual and annual negotiation of freight contracts became a burden for its operations and customer service teams, resulting in the need for a more streamlined and technology-enabled approach to logistics management.

Transportation costs accounted for a large portion of company overhead yet the Company was still manually handling all logistics management operations.

As a manufacturer of liquid cleaning chemicals, Misco Products’ water-based shipments yield a high tonnage with minimal value. While the density of the freight is attractive to carriers, it’s incredibly expensive for Misco Products to ship across the country. As a value-added service to its clients, the Company also offers free shipping, causing its freight spend to eat significantly into the bottom line.

The idea of engaging with a 3PL, however, did not seem like an effective solution initially, as the Company welcomed several meetings with 3PLs in the past that resulted in empty promises of cost savings. Upon reviewing Misco Products’ freight bills, the ‘pitching 3PLs’ would identify that there was not much potential for cost reductions.

As a result of these unsuccessful meetings, the Company’s customer service, operations and accounting departments continued to internalize the burdensome tasks of:

Manual Year-Over-Year Negotiations

Day-to-Day Logistics Management

(including shipment tracking)

Allocating More Funds to Increasing Freight Spend and Internal Resources

TLI Solution

During Misco Products’ first meeting with TLI, their negative perception of 3PLs quickly shifted. Instead of immediately asking for freight bills to hunt for cost savings, TLI took the time to understand Misco's transportation challenges and frustrations. TLI showcased a demo of ViewPoint TMS, highlighting exactly how the transportation management platform could help scale their supply chain.

The demo impressed Misco Products’ customer service, operations, and accounting teams. They saw how ViewPoint could free up staff, reduce the need for new hires, and eliminate the headaches of manual shipment tracking.

TLI implemented ViewPoint in the background of daily operations, ensuring a smooth go-live. The process was technologically integrated and included:

What Misco Products' said: