Sarnova Goes from Supply Chain Struggles to Streamlined Control

About Sarnova

Sarnova is a leading healthcare distributor, offering over 100,000 health and safety products, services, and technology solutions. Serving a wide range of customers, including emergency care providers, hospitals, educational institutions, businesses, and government agencies, Sarnova operates distribution centers across the U.S. in Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Indiana, California, and Wisconsin. 

Challenges

Before partnering with Shipwell, just 25% of Sarnova’s freight transportation was through a broker with third-party logistics (3PL) support. Meanwhile, 75% of the shipment volume was handled through direct carrier contracts.

Sarnova’s freight strategy led to several inefficiencies:

• Communication delays with third-party carriers
• Inaccurate freight classification, relying on error-prone Excel spreadsheets
• Limited routing guide enforcement 
• Insufficient shipment tracking capabilities
• Erroneous carrier rating from manual tariff maintenance, lacking API integration
• No invoice audit capabilities 

These issues negatively impacted operations and contributed to a high-dollar impact on their business. Sarnova sought more control over distribution, operational efficiency and real time visibility in their supply chain.

Why Shipwell

Sarnova evaluated several TMS providers and ultimately selected Shipwell for its industry reputation, highlighted by its placement in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Transportation Management Systems, as well as its flexibility in addressing Sarnova’s specific challenges. 

The key objectives included:

• Streamlining control as a healthcare distributor
• Enhancing shipment tracking and communication
• Improving freight classification and routing guide compliance through automation
• Reducing costs through API-based carrier rating and direct carrier contracts

Shipwell not only met these needs but also demonstrated a commitment to developing new features tailored to Sarnova’s unique supply chain and logistics needs.

“The choice was clear. Shipwell understood our vision and fully supported optimizing our supply chain and logistics operations. Their platform's flexibility and team’s commitment to solving our unique challenges made them stand out from other providers, enabling us to streamline distribution and unlock significant cost savings.”
- Brian D. Faehnrich, Supply Chain Logistics Manager, Sarnova

Solution

To meet Sarnova’s goals, Shipwell began implementing six key solutions:

• Core TMS with integrated visibility
• Automated routing script
• Settlements feature
• API carrier rating engine
• EDI 210 invoicing
• Enhanced tracking notifications 

The implementation process took seven months and was well-supported by Shipwell’s development team, ensuring clear communication and minimal delays.

Since going live with Shipwell’s TMS, Sarnova has achieved substantial improvements in cost savings, time efficiency, and operational control.

Cost Savings

By eliminating transactional TMS fees, expanding capabilities for carrier direct contracts, automating freight classification, and integrating API carrier rating, Sarnova has achieved significant cost savings from Shipwell’s TMS.

Time Savings

Sarnova’s internal teams now use a centralized platform to track shipments and access delivery documents, eliminating the need to navigate multiple carrier websites. Automated routing through Shipwell’s TMS also frees warehouse teams from transportation decisions, increasing productivity on their dedicated job functions.

Efficiency Gains

Shipwell’s automated routing guide and freight classification tools have improved overall efficiency, while enhanced carrier tracking and API rating integration allow for faster, more accurate shipping and real time visibility in supply chain.

Customer Satisfaction

By embedding delivery notes and accessorial requirements directly into the system, Shipwell’s TMS has allowed Sarnova to better accommodate their customers specific needs and improve the overall customer experience. The upcoming release of enhanced tracking notifications will further improve communication and delivery expectations for less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments.

Impact on Operations

Sarnova processes 26,000 LTL and truckload (TL) shipments annually. Shipwell’s automated routing script has ensured compliance with routing guides, enabled the warehouse teams to focus on core tasks, and allowed the company to transition from a broker-based model to an internal TMS without increasing headcount. A single individual now oversees logistics for all shipments across 13 distribution centers and more than 300 vendors. The TMS also functions as a vendor portal, further streamlining operations and improving supplier collaboration.

ROI & Additional Benefits

Sarnova projects substantial first-year savings, delivering a 16x return on investment (ROI). Additional benefits include increased control over distribution, enhanced data accessibility, and process improvements that will further drive cost reductions. An unexpected advantage was the development of Shipwell’s Workflow Routing Script, which provides real-time tender status updates and error reporting.

Looking Forward

Sarnova plans to further optimize its logistics processes by integrating shipment financial data into their ERP system. This will improve cost visibility and streamline financial reporting.