CUSTOMER

Lodge Cast Iron

INDUSTRY

Household Goods

HEADQUARTERS

South Pittsburg, Tennessee

NUMBER OF LOCATIONS

2 Locations

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

500

EVS SOLUTION

mobe3 WMS Cloud

Changing label-printing providers helped a legendary cast-iron cookware manufacturer double employee output, save $180,000 in freight costs, and cut label expenses by 93% when the coronavirus pandemic caused direct-to-consumer orders to surge.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced many Americans to isolate themselves at home, something strange happened in kitchens across the country. Newly housebound consumers who could no longer dine in restaurants or subsist on take-out meals decided it was finally time to learn how to cook. 

The last few months of the year have always been Lodge’s busiest . . . until 2020.

Suddenly – and unexpectedly– culinary wizard wannabes began ordering cookware from manufacturers that include Lodge Cast Iron, the oldest family-owned cookware company in the U.S. The company’s popular skillets are at the top of most “best cast-iron cookware” lists, as these new chefs most likely discovered. 

This was good news and bad news for the Tennessee company founded in 1896. The pandemic hit as the company was catching up on a record number of fourth-quarter holiday orders and beginning to replenish inventory. The last few months of the year have always been Lodge’s busiest . . . until 2020. 

Dramatic consumer order increase

First-quarter 2020 direct-to-consumer sales jumped a surprising 127% over that period the previous year, but second-quarter sales shot past that to an astounding 663% increase. Lodge had to quickly ramp up manufacturing and fulfillment, adding second shifts to both the foundry and the three-year-old, 212,000-square-foot distribution center powered by the company’s first warehouse management system, mobe3 from EVS. 

Depleted inventory because of the holiday surge wasn’t the company’s only problem when pandemic orders started cooking, though. Months earlier, the company began having problems generating small parcel shipping labels quickly enough. The slowdown at the end of the fulfillment process for retailer drop-shipping, small-order retailer, and direct-to-consumer orders was causing a backup that challenged employees and customers alike. 

“It was very frustrating, especially from an associate level, because they would just be standing there waiting for a label to come back after they packaged the order.”

“It was very frustrating, especially from an associate level, because they would just be standing there waiting for a label to come back after they packaged the order,” says Warehouse Manager Teresa Baugh.

Lodge implemented a solution, but that third-party process was slower than promised – during this particularly high volume period users were waiting 30 to 90 seconds for a label – because of an API interface problem. What’s more, since this solution was provided by a middleman vendor, Lodge didn’t have direct access to the software manufacturer’s support. That introduced another level of delays when there was a problem. 

EVS recommends trusted solution

When Baugh discussed the problem with Kris Windlinx, Vice President of Product at EVS, he recommended techSHIP, a label-generating and rate-shipping solution offered by Techdinamics Integrations, Inc.

“Most of the label companies have been acquired and stopped innovating, but Techdinamics is still independent, innovative, and agile, like us. Plus, we were already familiar with its techSHIP solution through another e-commerce client and knew it would not only be the best solution for Lodge, it would be the best value, too,” he says. 

“We’ve been able to process double the number of web orders with the same employee headcount. Our associates are now happier and more at ease.”

Could they risk more disruption?

Still, Baugh hesitated. What if they made such a significant process change in the middle of the pandemic order surge and it failed? She didn’t want to risk it – nobody wants to jump out of the (cast-iron) frying pan into the fire. But when staff morale and on-time delivery continued to plummet because label printing was holding up orders, she said to Windlinx, “Let’s do it.”

“Teresa took a leap of faith, for sure, but we were confident that Lodge wouldn’t be disappointed,” Windlinx says. 

The mobe3 team starting making things happen with techSHIP immediately. 

“We quickly began working with the WMS team to understand the customer’s needs and pain points. We looked at everything from the front-end order integration to the final mile carrier selection process,” says Reg Adams, Techdinamics Vice President. 

By working collaboratively, the two software teams developed what Adams refers to as a “proprietary black box” process. While the distribution center associate interfaces only with mobe3, behind the scenes, techSHIP does the rate-shopping, zone-skipping, and carrier selection before delivering the resulting label to the user in mere seconds. 

“It’s one seamless process for Lodge from beginning to end,” says Adams. 

Baugh echoes that, adding, “Both parties understood what we needed and where we needed to be. Everything was smooth; everybody responded appropriately and in a timely way.”  

The leap of faith paid off

Baugh and colleagues weren’t disappointed. Not only were there no crunch-time catastrophes, but the new process also helped them get caught up with a backlog of nearly 1,000 direct-to-consumer orders. “We’ve been able to process double the number of web orders with the same employee headcount,” she says. Just as importantly, she notes, “Our associates are now happier and more at ease.”

But that’s not all. While improved label-printing speed was the goal, techSHIP’s rate shopping function has saved the company almost $30,000 in freight costs over two months. In addition, because techSHIP’s per-label costs are significantly lower than industry norms, Lodge has cut label-generating expenses by 93%. 

Then there’s that happiness factor. 

“This is all pretty significant,” Baugh says. “We have a cost-savings aspect plus the improved happiness level, so we’re pretty content right now.”

And those home kitchen chefs? Now they’re really cooking with the best.

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