UNBUNDLING THE SUPPLY CHAIN
Case Study - 2019
To reduce the cost of bulk shipments from our vendors, our team was responsible for analyzing and identifying the necessary changes to create a simple, and easily documented way to combine multiple shipments and plan the distribution from multiple vendor locations to multiple stores. This was the team’s first exposure to having the support of a user experience designer.
Collaborative Partners
Bobby Bohman, Sr. Business Analyst
Pradeep Rao, Lead Developer
WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
The team identified that many bulk shipments were being underutilized by our vendors, causing longer delivery times and increased cost per shipment. How might we better increase load visibility, utilize shipment space, and reduce shipment planning time, so that we can reduce the cost of bulk shipments overall?
HERE'S THE STORY
Onboarding into a team that has not engaged with user experience can be a daunting task. Initially, the biggest goals were in team alignment and product direction, as well as building team working agreements and analyzing product metrics as well as team development metrics. Once the team had a plan, we focused on stakeholder and subject matter expertise to build a vision for what we wanted to accomplish. We attempted to integrate the development team into the design process to build their skills and investment, with mixed results. Upon completion and validation of the design, we focused on the use of our internal engine for planning and were able to achieve our reduction of approximately $5 million in the first year of deployment.
OUR USERS
Bulk Distribution Center Vendors
Transportation Planners
SCOPE & CONSTRAINTS
Affecting over 1,200 vendors for a total of 3.7 million shipments in 2018
Multiple additional goals to the primary statement
Increase success of onboarding vendors to a new transportation system
Work within the larger effort to reduce redundant systems over time
Measurably increase the efficiency of the development team
Limited development resources
Lack of official product management resource
OUTCOMES
Reduced annual shipment costs by $5m
Onboarded 700 / 1200 vendors
Introduced support of omnichannel shipments
Reduced dependency of expensive third-party solutions
This product was very effective in allowing me to enhance facilitation, product vision and leadership skills
I was proud to see the regular use of roadmaps, product molecules, service blueprints and OGSM-focused goals as talking points being regularly brought up by the balanced team when speaking with partners and stakeholders
ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES
Strategy
Research Planning
Hypothesis Creation
OGSM (Operations, Goals, Strategies, Measures)
Service Blueprint Development
Goal Alignment – Product, Development, User Experience
Implemented short/long term product roadmaps
Research
Heuristic Review of current application
Stakeholder Interviews
Balanced Team Interviews
UI Design
High-Fidelity mockups
Submitted for Peer Design Critique
Clickable Prototype creation
Usability
Conducted seven vendor sessions
Collaboration
Weekly Report Out with an adjustable short-term roadmap
Facilitation of weekly core team meetings
Facilitation of weekly design/development pairing sessions