November 3, 2020

Master Lock Cracks the Code with Logistyx TME Parcel Integration to Blue Yonder Warehouse Management

Founded in 1921, The Master Lock Company (Master Lock) is a global manufacturer of padlocks and related security products. Seventy percent of Master Lock’s shipments are parcel. The company had a strong desire to improve its parcel shipping capabilities, fueled by two important business drivers. First, one of their major carriers was soon undergoing an upgrade to its e-ship web services, and second, Master Lock would be upgrading their Blue Yonder Warehouse Management solution in the future and needed something that would carry over for the upgrade.

THE CHALLENGE WITH PARCEL INTEGRATION

Master Lock began the search for a new parcel solution, approaching long-time partner Open Sky Group for help understanding their parcel options within their timeframe. While looking at various parcel shipping software packages with Master Lock, Open Sky Group proposed retrofitting Blue Yonder’s Parcel Handling Integrator (Blue Yonder PHI) to work with Master Lock’s current version of Blue Yonder WMS. Blue Yonder PHI was developed for Blue Yonder Warehouse Management versions 2017.2 and newer, so the retrofit was essential for Master Lock to continue shipping normally—regardless of the parcel shipping software they chose.

Users: 80 active users
Blue Yonder Warehouse Management: 2009.2
Carriers: FedEx, UPS, Purolator
Timeframe: Four months
Volume: Just under a million parcel cartons a year and roughly 400,000 parcel shipments

THE SOLUTION FOR PARCEL INTEGRATION

Master Lock chose Logistyx Technologies’ Transportation Management Execution (TME) multi-carrier parcel shipping solution and worked with Open Sky Group to retrofit the Blue Yonder PHI to their Blue Yonder WMS. The decision was based on several key factors including Open Sky Group’s WMS expertise and long-term relationship with Master Lock, the transportation execution technology and multi-carrier parcel shipping software of Logistyx, and the companies’ successful partnership with Blue Yonder. Using Logistyx TME with Blue Yonder PHI would allow Master Lock to ship to Canada without using a separate system and prepare them for their future WMS upgrade. The team of Blue Yonder, Logistyx, Master Lock and Open Sky Group worked together closely to ensure the retrofit would work. Early unit and volume testing were thoroughly executed to address the kinks and bugs normally expected during the development, testing phases, and environment of a project like this. All parties supported whatever was necessary to get the job done, which helped reduce roadblocks and streamline project timing.

THE RESULTS

The cutover to production was done all at once—not just a few packages at a time. The solution went live smoothly and handled volume very well. As a result, post-go live support was not necessary for long. This smooth cutover is a testament to the entire project team and the thorough testing job performed by Master Lock. Overall, the retrofit of the Blue Yonder PHI allowed Master Lock to be secure in their parcel handling regardless of any forthcoming carrier changes. Additional benefits to Master Lock include the following:

Impact to costs

• With Open Sky Group implementing the PHI retrofit, Master Lock was able to delay the time and costs associated with a complete WMS upgrade to a more suitable timeframe for the company.
• By implementing Logistyx TME, Master Lock was able to eliminate their manual process for parcel shipments to Canada and streamline their international shipping overhead.
• While leveraging a new software solution increases costs, Master Lock now has a longer-term, sustainable solution for parcel. Implementing this solution at the time they did has helped them avoid a costly, future operational impact.

Better decision making

Master Lock is now positioned to leverage future functionality at a time the business deems appropriate.

Smooth customer experience

As Master Lock shipments are 70% parcel, this solution delivered a zero-service level interruption to current customers.

Faster, less expensive upgrade path

The solution works with Master Lock’s current version of Blue Yonder WMS and with the version to which they will upgrade in the future.

Positioned for continued growth

Master Lock is now able to respond to carriers’ changing requirements and can leverage new services not previously available.

Greater collaboration

The new Logistyx parcel shipping system was integrated transparently into existing screens, avoiding the need for user re-training, etc.

Master Lock was able to seamlessly deliver uninterrupted services to their broad customer base through the partnership with Open Sky Group, Logistyx and Blue Yonder for the delivery of their parcel solution. In addition, they will be able to react and respond to their carriers’ ever-changing requirements with this scalable and sustainable solution.

“We needed a solution to ensure business continuity for our parcel customers and Open Sky Group and Logistyx delivered.” — Robert Wylie, Lead Systems Analyst, Master Lock

Download the case study here.