How WIC Sources Carrier Capacity with Best-in-Class Freight Management Software

About WIC

Founded in 1973, Western Industries Corporation (WIC) creates custom designed shipping protection and crating solutions to meet the unique needs of each customer. WIC has the manufacturing and engineering capabilities to design solutions for wood, foam, paper, plastics, and other packaging systems.

Challenges

Big Expectations On A Small Business

Jake Spencer, Customer Service Manager and Logistics Manager, has been working at WIC for 8 years. He is a one-man team who didn’t have a background in freight before WIC.

“I have freight people calling me all the time. We have our own trucks and do our own deliveries, most of the time we aren’t using a third party.”
- Jake Spencer, Customer Service and Logistics Manager

As more consumers do their shopping online, they become more familiar with remarkable shipping times at low visible costs. According to Spencer, everything is driven by the dollar and consumers tend to prefer a cheap price tag over a quality product.

Competing with big businesses that can guarantee quick shipping is difficult when companies like WIC will not sacrifice the quality of their services.

When demand is high and all the trucks are out making deliveries, Spencer looks for solutions to make sure the product reaches customers in a reasonable time, regardless if they order at the last minute. He looks for outside help to get the products on the road to customers.

Why Shipwell

Shipwell is a cloud-based freight management software (or Transportation Management System, abbreviated ‘TMS’) that gives businesses like WIC real-time visibility on their shipments and a platform to manage their entire supply chain. It does this by connecting to over two million carriers across the country, through APIs, ELDs, and its native mobile apps, which allows it to provide real-time quoting, booking, and tracking of freight shipments with either our carrier relationships or yours.

By leveraging Shipwell to source additional carrier capacity for its freight, WIC is able to get all of their shipments on the road without delay and at competitive rates.

Solution

Complete Freight Visibility

Spencer says he went with Shipwell because it was the “total package” when it comes to dealing with logistics. He enjoys using the platform while still getting to talk with his representative whenever he needs.

“I used to have to wait 2-3 days to get quotes back, but with Shipwell, rates come back fast and usually cheaper than expected.”
- Jake Spencer, Customer Service and Logistics Manager

Find Carriers Quickly

When they are over capacity, Spencer reaches out to Shipwell. “I started using a great Customer Service Rep at Shipwell to get some of our shipments on the road, and she has never done me wrong.” Spencer says using the platform makes scheduling shipments and getting rates so much simpler, especially on busy days. “If I’m ever swamped at work, I just shoot my rep a text and she takes care of all my needs.”

Deliver Customer Delight

With Shipwell’s extensive list of carriers, WIC was able to get all of their extra shipments covered quickly so customers would be happy and the manufacturing plant wouldn’t be backed up with orders. Now they can meet customer expectations and still deliver a high-quality product.

WIC is planning on giving Spencer more employees to help out with the demand, and they plan on continuing to stay customer focused. With Shipwell’s freight management software, he can grow his department to be freight experts in no time.