Case Study
Overview
This project was the complete renovation of a 700+ guest room, Four Star hotel that is the marquee downtown Miami property of a premier hotel ownership group.
The project timetable spanned more than a year. HLI was contracted to handle vendor and purchase order management, freight transportation and logistics, warehousing in Miami, and final delivery.
Solutions Implementation
Vendor & Purchase Order Management
HLI’s role was to monitor, manage and facilitate the activities of approximately 10 overseas and 90 domestic vendors. Key tasks included:
- Confirm all purchase orders were received by vendor
- Collect all necessary cargo information for shipping
- Identify and confirm ready dates for products were in alignment with overall project schedule
- Communicate client expectations to vendor
- Proactive issue management
On two separate occasions, the HLI team stationed in Shenzhen, China confirmed that a specific factory would be two weeks late on order completion. Our highly effective vendor relations process provided visibility to the challenge so we were able to identify the delay upstream, address the issue, and deliver on time with no impact to the installation schedule or budget.
RESULTS
Diligent vendor monitoring, proactive issue management and timely communication prevented additional costs from delays being incurred by the client.
Cargo Management
HLI’s responsibility was to identify efficient equipment and modes of transportation that adhered to delivery requirements while reducing overall shipping costs. HLI maximized savings by leveraging our industry expertise and diverse portfolio of transportation contracts to book the cargo and move it effectively and efficiently to its destination.
RESULTS
Our team identified several vendors with included transportation rates that were not market competitive. HLI assumed responsibility for those shipments, providing a budget savings without effecting delivery timelines.
Cargo Management Service Total Savings: $23,415.
Carrier Management
HLI analyzed the project’s scope and timeline to determine the best mode of transportation. A thorough understanding of the scope allowed us to identify purchase orders that supported routing and transit time flexibility.
RESULTS
By collaborating simultaneously with manufacturers and the procurement firm, HLI was able to develop a logistics plan utilizing the most economic routes. This substantially reduced transportation costs and decreased delivery times by 7-14 days, depending on the vendor.
Carrier Management Service Total Savings: $45,000
Customs Management
HLI was responsible for overseeing the customs clearance process for all case good and vanity shipments. Tasks included paperwork distribution to respective brokers, addressing questions and managing all payments, including duties.
RESULTS
HLI successfully guided the client team through the customs process, and provided expert solutions that prevented unnecessary customs delays and associated costs.
Delivery Management
HLI’s responsibility was to analyze project requirements in order to calculate cargo arrival dates, and coordinate a single source solution with end to end visibility for transportation and warehousing.
RESULTS
HLI adjusted the project plan to accommodate the fact that the installer had fallen behind schedule. By coordinating multiple deliveries per day, providing up to date inventory reports, and scheduling deliveries directly to the hotel as necessary, our efforts kept the client’s overall project on schedule.