• Epic sales growth flooded production
  • Manufacturing production grew 37 percent
  • Reduced on-hand inventory
  • Eliminated bottle neck at the end of production
  • Increased Excel’s visibility throughout entire supply chain
  • Lowered transportation cost

The Hustler and Big Dog in mowers

Excel MowerFounded in 1960 and based in Hesston, Kansas, Excel Industries is a leading manufacturer of premium commercial and residential lawn care equipment under the Hustler Turf Equipment and BigDog Mower Company brands. Excel introduced the world’s first zero-turn mower in 1964 and currently has a global distribution network of more than 2,200 U.S. dealers and 50 distributors worldwide.

The grass was growing too fast.

The Customer

A leader in the global market with multiple facilities. This company has been producing an everyday commodity for over 100 years. They are experts in meeting customer needs, sustainability, and understanding the advantages of having an efficient supply chain.

The Situation

A regional distribution center located in Indiana was having multiple failures with their dedicated carrier on the pool lanes that were greater than 210 miles. The pool truckloads were created to allow the customer’s customer to place smaller orders throughout the week. This allowed the end customer the freedom and flexibility to keep inventory low in their warehouse and to be able to order product on a need basis versus having to stock up.

The cut off time to place an order is mid-day. The orders are consolidated to make a multi-stop truckload. This allows little room for a transportation failure, a failure can result in the end customer having to shut the line down and possible delay the final product going out to their customer. LTL is not a feasible option for the small customer orders, it typically doesn’t allow for next day delivery.

The Customer

As one of the largest manufacturers of bleached board and coated publications, our customer is second to none in quality and among the best for printability. Global demand for products of this is quality is insatiable. Keen focus of not only quality product, but on time shipments has proven to be a success for the company from day one.

The Situation

With a global market demand so great. Our customers didn’t have the warehousing ability or the internal workforce to handle the storage and worldwide shipping needs to continue to meet and exceed customer expectation. With outbound orders fluctuating greatly, inbound shipments would fluctuate equally as well. To complicate matters exponentially, numerous orders had less than a 24 hour turnaround time from receipt of the product to final shipment to the customer.

The Customer

A growing company based in Canada, is a major competitor in two growing industry segments. With multiple facilities in the U.S. a key focus is to have their product close to their customer, where delivery can be next day.

The Situation

Sharing warehousing space at Wagner’s facility in Jacksonville, Florida was a suitable fit for several years. As the company continued to grow in the southeast market inventory levels rose and new customers were acquired.  As space became limited at the current facility, the company began to look for another warehousing facility to call their own.

Wagner Walks Pet Products Through Growth and Leadership Changes

The Customer

Dog lovers Judy and Joe Roetheli founded S&M NuTec, LLC, a company that developed, manufactured and marketed innovative, premium products for the pet industry like Pnutz™, Hip Chips™, Pill Pockets™, as well as their most successful and well known product, Greenies®.

When headquartered in North Kansas City, Missouri, S&M NuTec distributed its brands to hundreds of domestic retailers. It also shipped product to more than 60 countries, but they started small, just like any company. Inspired by their dog Ivan’s extremely bad breath, Judy and Joe realized that they could create a solution for this ubiquitous problem, and in 1996, formulated and began manufacturing Greenies® - The Original Green Smart Treat® that satisfies dogs’ natural desire to chew as well as greatly improving their bad breath, cleaning their teeth, and improving digestibility of food in their intestines.

The Customer

This company is a fifth-generation family-owned and operated company catering to all segments of the pet food industry. They are committed to food safety and manufactures entirely in the United States using whole grains and quality meats that can be traced throughout the supply chain.

The Situation

This customer requires ample available storage locations to prevent production shutdowns and continually meet customer demand. Inventory accuracy and on-time order processing are critical. Each part of their supply chain affects the other, and bad things happen when one falls out of balance.

Problems arose following the implementation of a new warehouse management system (WMS) at their Midwest locations. Although the WMS had been in use for years at the Pennsylvania headquarters, internal processes and procedures in the Midwest created unique challenges, many of which went unnoticed and caused a multitude of inventory inaccuracies.

The situation hit rock bottom when the QA team determined hundreds of pallets of finished product didn't meet formulation requirements. Midwest warehouses were inundated with “Hold” product. Personnel had to manually sift through each pallet in order to segregate it from shippable inventory. Production quickly came to a standstill while the team worked to correct food safety concerns. That's when the company called Wagner Logistics.

Customer Profile

As the leading manufacturer of building materials in North America, this company produces roofing materials, vinyl and cement siding, trim, fence, railing, decking, foundations, insulation, gypsum, ceilings and piping products. World-class processes and a superior customer experience have been keys to the company's success from day one.

The Situation

This customer secured a large contract with Menards to distribute manufactured goods to the well-known retailer. Only one problem: They didn't have the internal capacity to handle all the volume or the spikes in demand.

Along with the large volume, orders going out to specific Menards locations would not drop until Thursday for next-week shipments. This meant outbound orders could fluctuate drastically, not to mention the variations in volume resulting from a volatile manufacturing process. To make matters even more complicated and stressful for our customer, its hourly workforce did not allow the company the flexibility it needed to meet customer demands while keeping costs under control.

The Customer

This company is an industry leader in integrated manufacturing of paperboard and paper-based packaging. They have two main business segments, container board and corrugated container operations, and has been in the business more than 80 years. Like most manufacturers in the paper industry, this company has been part of multiple mergers and acquisitions over the years to make it the company it is today.

The Situation

Because they had been through so many mergers and changes over the years, each region experienced a silo effect and operated independent of the corporate structure. There were contracts with various warehousing companies across the nation, based not on logical business reasons but personal relationships, and a general lack of sophistication and efficiency throughout their network. In an effort to cut costs, this company engaged Wagner to help it consolidate functions, consolidate vendors and increase efficiencies.