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Taking the Fright out of Shipping Back-Charges
Customer: Morris Costumes, Charlotte, NC
With October right around the corner, a question a few people might be pondering is who they should portray for Halloween this year! Perhaps they will be a superhero, possibly a character from a popular television show or maybe even a certain famous pirate. While this decision might be tiresome and hard to make, what is even more difficult is the problem costume distributors like Morris Costumes are having properly shipping their products without receiving back-charges.
Morris Costumes is the world’s largest distributor of costumes and theatrical supplies to both businesses and consumers. They currently offer over 15,000 different items. With recent oversize rate changes, Morris Costumes has incurred increased back-charges from their major carrier due to incorrectly calculating the dimensional weight of their shipments. Not only did they accumulate charges, but they also sustained production slow-down as a result of having to manually measure their packages using a tape measure. While the acquired charges were hurtful to their bottom-line, it was the slow-down in their operational process that sparked Morris Costumes to call METTLER TOLEDO. Between the expenses and the disruption of their workflow, Morris Costumes was looking to find a long-term solution they could integrate into their production line.
Morris Costumes is the world’s largest distributor of costumes and theatrical supplies to both businesses and consumers. They currently offer over 15,000 different items. With recent oversize rate changes, Morris Costumes has incurred increased back-charges from their major carrier due to incorrectly calculating the dimensional weight of their shipments. Not only did they accumulate charges, but they also sustained production slow-down as a result of having to manually measure their packages using a tape measure. While the acquired charges were hurtful to their bottom-line, it was the slow-down in their operational process that sparked Morris Costumes to call METTLER TOLEDO. Between the expenses and the disruption of their workflow, Morris Costumes was looking to find a long-term solution they could integrate into their production line.
In June 2007, METTLER TOLEDO installed a CNS810 configuration that fit flawlessly into Morris Costumes’ renovated production process. Install included inserting a five-foot section of gravity-roller conveyor with a dropped in PS90 scale that will eventually mount into their new conveyor system. The CNS810 dimensioner stand was then positioned behind the five foot section of the conveyor. Once the CNS810 system was set up, two of METTLER TOLEDO’s software packages were used.
METTLER TOLEDO’s flexible and customizable software allowed for the dimensioning of not only parcels but poly bags. Also, METTLER TOLEDO’s fully configurable interface software allowed the data string to be formatted to meet Morris Costumes’ ERP, WMS and manifesting needs. This flexibility meant less programming and IT cost on the customers end.
Upon the completion of the warehouse renovation project, Morris Costumes will have a virtually seamless shipping and manifesting station. The shipping associates will simply slide a package onto the drop-in scale portion of conveyor, which is directly underneath the dimensioner, and scan the bar-coded packing slip. The overhead laser will then dimension the package and send the information to the shipper’s manifesting software. Setting the system up in this fashion allows the whole process to take no more than a few seconds.
Since Morris Costumes installed the dimensioning system in their facility, they have recovered the revenue they were losing since the shipping rate change took effect earlier this year. More importantly though, Morris Costumes has been able to increase their throughput and better utilize their workers’ time. The system will pay for itself in less than three months as a result of the savings it has made possible. According to Scott Morris, the owner, “Within two weeks of installing the CSN810 we ordered a second system. Our initial tests show that we will increase the throughput of packages from 3,000 packages a day to 12,000 packages a day at our peak.”
Come this Halloween while you are passing out candy to trick-or-treaters or going to a friend’s costume party, you might remember Morris Costumes and how METTLER TOLEDO’s dedication to find real solutions helped them improve the efficiency of their business. Isn’t it spooky to think solutions for your business might be lurking just around the corner, too?
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