Case Study:
POLYWOOD
Overview
POLYWOOD was founded in 1990 by two friends who wanted to develop functional
furniture that could withstand the test of time, but was also sustainable and beneficial
for future generations. As the saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” and it couldn’t be more true in the case of POLYWOOD. The friends used old milk jugs, detergent bottles and other recyclables to create POLYWOOD lumber, a durable, weather-resistant material that forms the basis for all of the company’s products to this day.
POLYWOOD is based in Syracuse, IN, and its outdoor dining furniture, Adirondack chairs, benches, swings, chaise lounges and other products can be found in major retail stores, wholesale clubs and just about everywhere furniture is sold.
Benefits and Key Outcomes
Increased order volume but only using 60% of the workers as with their previous process
Able to move shipping process workers to other value-add roles
Automated order fulfillment processes
Reduced order processing times
API-based integration enabled smarter decision making
Challenge
POLYWOOD quickly grew from a medium-sized business into an enterprise and needed a shipping solution that could be scaled
to match its growth and enable the company to respond to change with speed and agility. “When we were selecting a new TMS
solution, one of the biggest areas that we were looking at was the partnership with our vendor,” said Neil Slabaugh, ERP Operations
Administrator at POLYWOOD. “We are always looking for that vendor that is willing to partner with us, understand us, and be able
to grow with us.”
Before implementing ShipHawk, POLYWOOD had to manually process every order which was a barrier to growth. Additionally, the
IT department was spending a lot of time supporting the team to ensure labels were printing out at the correct times and that user
settings were accurate for the numerous systems they were using. POLYWOOD also needed a shipping solution that would
integrate seamlessly with Acumatica and sync order and shipment fulfillment data.
ShipHawk has helped tremendously in automating and streamlining our processes. The throughput we’ve
been able to achieve in our shipping department has been phenomenal.
Solution
“The biggest impact ShipHawk has had on our business is being able to reduce the number of people we need to move the same
amount of goods out the door,” said Sean Valencourt, Executive Vice President of Information Systems at POLYWOOD. “We’re
doing more volume with about 60% of the shipping processors we had to have last year, and those other people are being used
for different value-added work.”
Since implementing ShipHawk, POLYWOOD has streamlined its order fulfillment process and scaled batch processing. Now, the
warehouse team at POLYWOOD can assign orders to batches and group them by things like SKU, bin number, created date, or
recipient, not just for better organization and visibility, but also to expedite actions on a larger group of orders. “ShipHawk has
helped tremendously in automating and streamlining our processes,” said Randy Woodcock, an ERP Administrator at POLYWOOD.
“I can process a dozen orders, click a button and get all of my UPS labels. Ready-to-ship mode has also enabled our team to scale
because the amount one person can get done now has increased dramatically.”
Since implementing ShipHawk, POLYWOOD has streamlined its order fulfillment process and scaled batch processing. Now, the
warehouse team at POLYWOOD can assign orders to batches and group them by things like SKU, bin number, created date, or
recipient, not just for better organization and visibility, but also to expedite actions on a larger group of orders. “ShipHawk has
helped tremendously in automating and streamlining our processes,” said Randy Woodcock, an ERP Administrator at POLYWOOD.
“I can process a dozen orders, click a button and get all of my UPS labels. Ready-to-ship mode has also enabled our team to scale
because the amount one person can get done now has increased dramatically.”
The biggest impact ShipHawk has had on our business is being able to reduce the number of people
we need to move the same amount of goods out the door.