L.L.Bean, Fortna Partner to Prepare for Holiday 2008

Dec. 1, 2008
NASHVILLEUse of an analysis tool is enabling L.L.Beans to increase throughput and forego investment in a new DC or use outside storage this holiday season.

NASHVILLE—Use of an analysis tool is enabling L.L.Bean’s to increase throughput and forego investment in a new DC or use outside storage this holiday season.

Fortna Inc. used its FortnaDCModeler, a proprietary operations analysis tool, to analyze a huge amount of data representing over 200,000 SKU’s and more than 40 million order lines which represented a year’s worth of sales for online, retail stores and business-to-business transactions. In depth data analysis was performed by cross profiling SKUs against order types and other variables to identify high correlations.

For example, SKU’s that often shipped together were analyzed to specific locations within a catalog. Insights gained from the study will lead to improved throughput by providing the ability to forecast SKUs that are picked together and will optimize L.L.Bean’s operations for Holiday 2008 and beyond.

“Fortna’s analysis detected relationships in customer orders and SKU correlations that provide real tangible insights and recommendations,” says Mike Perkins, vice president, Distribution & Returns Operations for L.L.Bean. “Their approach, tools and capabilities drove value into the results of this analysis and we are confident of the savings we will achieve from these recommendations while improving customer service.”