return of the unwanted or defective item.
As for repairs, ATCLE does some “triage” on
the phones, but anything beyond that goes
to Sony Ericsson to work on.
Neither party is eager to publicly
quantify the results of the relationship,
but they are real, says Correal. For
instance, since the direct distribution
model didn’t allow for buffer stock, you
couldn’t prevent customers from requesting part orders. “Product was either in
Asia or on a plane.” Part orders are no
longer the headache they were because
now he can get product on customers’
shelves right away. And that’s important
because it avoids penalty clauses.
“We’re subject to them if we don’t
deliver within a certain window, and they
can be pretty high,” Correal says. “We
haven’t incurred a single one for late
delivery since having this solution in place
with ATCLE.”
“We saw an opportunity not only to save on
transportation but to bring final customization
of the product closer to our customer in Dallas.”
— Fernando Correal of Sony Ericsson
relationship with ATCLE, keeping the
final-stage customization model going. In
fact, says Correal, most of his company’s
product comes through the 3PL’s facility
now so that he can offer his large customers the same kind of flexibility.
One of those customers is another carrier, which also is benefiting from the postponement strategy. “We were able to start
off with this second big operator with a very
positive supply chain performance in the
first months of the relationship as a result of
having ATCLE in the middle and being able
to offer that extra level of flexibility and
availability of product so they can keep
their fill rate and inventory targets in place.”
Though the relationship between Sony
Ericsson and the 3PL is successful and continuing, it does not include transportation
management at this point. That aspect is
controlled entirely by Sony Ericsson,
though discussions are under way to determine if the manufacturer might use an
ATCLE foreign trade zone soon.
The 3PL also handles some exchanges
and repair work. Under one program, it
ships customers replacement units with the
appropriate labels and cartons for the
ATC Logistics & Electronics, www.atcle.com
Resource Link
SPOTLIGHT ON BNSF LOGISTICS
“BNSF provides us with great service, attention to detail,
a thorough and comprehensive supply chain solution,
and a great brokerage group.”
“BNSF Logistics is always on point, very professional
and extremely reliable.”
“I could not be happier with the services that BNSF provides.”
“They are not only very knowledgeable but have a great work
ethic and can always help with whatever needs to be
done to speed deliveries.”
“They are quick to respond and work out any problems
that occur in the logistics stream.”
