Issue link: http://digital.nexsitepublishing.com/i/778359
27 the same geographic area. This service allows the customer to better utilize the cubic capacity of a container and pay for the physical transportation of fewer shipping containers. In addition to Payless, Crowley has also developed similar pool point programs for clothing and home goods retailers to help them optimize labor and container handling along with load planning, resulting in a streamlined flow of products to store and a better process for multi-spot delivery routes or "milk runs." "By allowing Crowley to orchestrate the logistics of their supply chains, retail customers are able to concentrate on their core competencies, which are selling goods, servicing consumers and expanding into new markets," said Ayesha Díaz, general manager of Crowley's warehousing services. For Payless, the new logistics model starts at its eastern distribution center in Brookville, Ohio. Through that warehouse, the company moves over 100 million pairs of shoes a year to over 2,000 Payless stores. Understanding that Crowley will organize final delivery based on specific store inventory requests and requirements upon arrival in Puerto Rico, warehouse workers at Payless' distribution centers simply floor load full containers instead of "pre- picked" cargo palletized by store. This means they stack boxes of product floor to ceiling and side wall to side wall using every inch of space. This method saves costs by maximizing container capacity, load consolidation, flexibility of load planning and eliminates the need for cargo sorting. Once the containers are filled, Crowley truckers move the cargo to Cincinnati, where it is railed to Crowley's port terminal in Jacksonville, Fla., then loaded onto a Crowley vessel and transported to San Juan, where again a Crowley truck driver picks it up and delivers it to the company's 98,000-square-foot warehouse in Guaynabo. Streamlining Destination Services Essentially a city inside a city – dedicated solely to moving goods throughout the Caribbean basin – Crowley's Guaynabo warehouse operates like a symphony. Below: Customers' sales staffs can efficiently stock store shelves thanks to Crowley's timely, integrated supply chain services. Story continued on page 28 Connections Winter 2017 Within only a matter of hours, merchandise received at Crowley's Guaynabo distribution center can be unloaded, sorted, consolidated, put on a delivery truck and delivered to retail stores on the island.