In addition to dedicating 1 million square feet of warehouse space to its sustainability program Code Green, Kane Is Able is establishing a $55 per pallet freight rate for distribution to all Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.
The Code Green Collaborative Distribution program for small to mid-sized consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers and retailers allows them to collaborate in revolutionizing their distribution models, making them more efficient and environmentally responsible, said Kane Is Able. The program rewards both manufacturers and their retail customers for collaborating to ship and receive products from multiple vendors as part of a single shipment.
The program will start with a super-regional collaborative distribution center in the Northeast and expand nationally as the newer, more efficient model takes hold, according do Chris Kane, vp of marketing and sales. “The program was developed to reduce logistics costs in the CPG sector and to respond to the global drive toward energy-efficient supply chains,” said Kane.
“Today, ten smaller manufacturers likely have ten separate supply chains within a region, with ten or more warehouses shipping to the exact same customers using costly, less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments,” says Kane. “Under this arrangement, each supplier is interested only in its own line of supply. It’s like taking a taxi to the airport, only to discover that five of your friends were going at the same time and you could have paid less, and burned less fuel, to ride a shared shuttle bus.”
According to Kane, the Code Green Collaborative Distribution program offers small and mid-sized CPG companies the volume-based efficiencies enjoyed by their larger competitors. “These companies will co-locate their inventory in our Northeast collaborative distribution center and we will consolidate outbound freight moving to common retailer delivery destinations,” he says. “Savings will be shared with both manufactures and their retail customers.”
Kane Is Able will establish a set freight rate of $55 per pallet for deliveries anywhere within a 500-mile radius of the company’s Northeast distribution hub in Scranton, PA, saving participating CPG manufacturers 30% to 40% on their current outbound freight costs. For retailers, Kane Is Able will offer a rebate of $5 for every pallet they receive under the program. The company has dedicated 1 million square feet of space at its Scranton campus to collaborative distribution.
Nationally, Kane Is Able operates 8.5 million square feet of distribution space. Storage rates at this collaborative warehouse will be lower and monthly charges will vary based on the actual volume of goods stored.