DTA - Freight Analysis

CloverLeaf Seafoods

CloverLeaf Seafoods is one of the most recognized food brands in the seafood department of any retail grocery store. Its cans of tuna, salmon and crabmeat are a well-respected national brand with well-established trust and affection for the products from householders and grocery stores alike.

Tony Patrick, Director of Logistics for CloverLeaf needed reliable systems to handle the volume of orders and the detail records had to work logically and seamlessly. He liked DTA’s approach to the business and was pleased to hear about DTA’s business intelligence tools.

Although CloverLeaf wanted to move quickly, there were corporate concerns regarding the risks of using a third party freight management service. It was a new procedure for them, and all the details need to be carefully outlined.

DTA consultants provided a precise checklist of activities that needed to be undertaken and time lines and milestones for when these things could be accomplished. CloverLeaf staff needed to advise their ocean shippers as well as their truck carriers of the new procedures they had decided to pursue.

To smooth things during the transmission, DTA Services used a letter authorizing carriers to deal with DTA as if DTA were an extension of Clover Leaf; this gave the Clover Leaf carriers the assurance of DTA’s professionalism and confidentiality. Its use sped things up toward a tight and complete reconciliation and audit procedure.

Each week, CloverLeaf’s IT Department posts a file of released orders through an FTP that makes data interchange very simple. The decision to avoid VANs saved money without compromising the quality of the data exchange.

A bi-product of CloverLeaf’s strategy to use only a limited number of carriers as well as CloverLeaf’s ability to generate this electronic file of orders, delivered benefits immediately to both DTA and Clover Leaf. It operates seamlessly on a weekly basis and CloverLeaf is able to receive a timely and detailed accrual report for all shipped orders released but not invoiced or paid for.

DTA programmers were able to develop an electronic audit procedure to ensure the invoices presented by carriers matched the anticipated rates. Any changes can be flagged immediately.

When CloverLeaf bought another business, Jac Creative Foods, Inc., the integration of the new business and its product lines in the logistics supply chain posed no problem for DTA Services. New carriers were quick to understand how they were to prepare their invoicing and these carriers have come to appreciate the reliable contact points with DTA’s Accounting and Audit team.