Prepared for the unpredictable

The client:

The challenge:

This premium bottled water brand’s supply chain struggled to stay resilient and fulfill demand in the face of seasonal surges.

The outcome:

The bottled water brand secures cost-effective coverage through Convoy Dynamic Backup. The transportation team also leverages Convoy’s shipper platform to track shipments, resulting in 95% On-Time Pickup (OTP) for contracted and Dynamic Backup volume during one of their most hectic summer months. Convoy’s Shipper Insights team are driving additional operational efficiencies to reduce costs and improve service quality.

Convoy solutions:

• Dynamic Backup
• Online shipper platform
• Custom insights
• Primary contracts

Achieving a state of flow for transporting goods can be challenging, even for one of the world’s leading premium bottled water brands.

This bottled water brand’s production processes stay agile to fulfill customer demand and drive operational efficiencies. Decisions made on where to bottle and ship their water adjusted on a weekly basis.

As a result, it was difficult to accurately forecast shipment volumes, define pickup facilities and designate drop-off destinations. The importer also experienced seasonal surges during summer months and had high customer expectations to fulfill.

Enter Convoy’s freight services and technology

Shipment needs that were predictable and consistent were low and fulfilled through Convoy primary contracts. Coverage for the majority of the bottled water brand’s volume today is provided via Convoy Dynamic Backup, and loads are tracked via the online shipper platform.

Transportation teams are able to get instant rates and book loads with guaranteed tender acceptance by activating the Dynamic Backup API. They are also able to secure high-quality capacity from Convoy’s digital freight network of more than 400,000 trucks—all powered by 80,000 carriers with higher safety ratings than industry averages.

We’re able to lean on Convoy. [They] have our confidence handling high-volume orders. No other carrier has as many tenders as Convoy has on a monthly scale.”

Transportation Planner, Leading Premium Bottled Water Brand

More flexibility, improved visibility

The bottled water brand has completed nearly 6,000 shipments through the dynamic pricing program since late 2019. Teams also used Convoy’s online shipper platform to track shipments and access PODs and BOLs to verify on-time delivery for their customers.

Performance is improving as a result. Most recently, the bottled water brand reported 95% On-Time Pickup (OTP) for contracted and Dynamic Backup volume during one of their busiest Summer months. 97% of all loads serviced in that same period were delivered on time, continuing to help the brand save significantly by avoiding fines due to missed deliveries.

Ready for the soft market

As the U.S. full truckload market softens, the bottled water brand now has options to consider for low-cost, high-quality coverage. With Dynamic Backup, they can quickly get and compare rates to secure cost-effective coverage. They are also paying an average lower rate-per-lane than they would on the spot market, even in soft market conditions.

Today, Convoy is the premium water bottled water brand’s top API carrier. Trucking costs are optimized in real-time to ensure quality coverage at rates in-tune with the market.

The bottled water brand is also partnering with Convoy’s Shipper Insights team to explore ways to enhance performance monitoring beyond shipment tracking. By optimizing their operations across facilities and modes of transportation, there is a shared vision to continue reducing costs and improving service quality.