About NDC

National Distribution & Contracting, Inc. (NDC) began in 1953 as a buying cooperative for healthcare distributors and has since grown into a leader in healthcare distribution and supply chain solutions. Today, they support over 1,500 independent healthcare distributors and more than 700 manufacturers.

The Never Ending “To Do” List

David Mintz, Chief Supply Chain Officer of NDC, has spent over 20 years driving supply chain efficiencies. He is passionate about finding ways to better serve customers while uncovering cost savings.

At NDC, it was easy to identify that cartonization was an opportunity, given inconsistencies in how associates packed shipments coupled with an inexact way to determine the optimal assortment of shipping boxes to utilize. But without a clear, practical solution and an easy way to measure the potential savings, it kept getting pushed aside.

Prioritizing the Problem

Driven by their commitment to continuous improvement, NDC revisited the idea of enhancing their cartonization strategy. Back on the hunt to find a solution, Mintz partnered with a consultant who was a former statistics professor to explore hundreds of open-source algorithms and considered developing a custom solution. However, the project’s complexity and lack of immediate ROI made it unfeasible.

After deciding to look for an existing solution, they discovered Paccurate, a packing intelligence platform that stood out for its unique approach.

Mintz stated, “Paccurate has developed an innovative and easy to use solution that enables companies to optimally pack parcel orders in real time. The ability to optimize packing based on detailed cost and material factors has led to significant savings while supporting our ESG environmental initiative.”

Paccurate’s Packing Intelligence Platform

Paccurate’s platform integrated seamlessly with NDC’s existing Warehouse Management System (WMS), Tecsys, and delivered results quickly:

PacAPI enabled NDC to determine the optimal way to pack every order, taking multiple factors into consideration, such as their negotiated rate card, cost per carton, and 3D SKU geometry.

The Paccurate ROI

Paccurate enabled NDC to reduce parcel freight costs:

• Cost per pound dropped 14%

Beyond direct cost savings, Paccurate delivered additional value with:

• Improved Data Accuracy: Employing Paccurate helped identify SKUs with inaccurate measurements. Correcting this dimensional information resulted in optimized packing and improved shipment accuracy.

• Optimized WMS Logic: NDC’s WMS occasionally directed picks from broken cases instead of prioritizing full pallets or full cases. Paccurate’s insights and ability to handle complex operational logic like eaches/inners/case quantities enabled NDC to adjust the logic, ensuring the inventory was prioritized in the correct order. This adjustment improved productivity and reduced errors.

“With Paccurate’s help, packaging optimization was one of NDC’s most successful improvement initiatives over the last year,” added Mintz.

Looking Ahead

NDC is exploring additional functionalities with Paccurate. One opportunity involves implementing PacHealth® to monitor the performance of their fulfillment operation. This will allow them to compare recommended box usage against actual parcel data, driving accountability and further cost savings. Another opportunity involves building and shipping mixed pallets.

For NDC, Paccurate has proven to be a trusted partner in their mission to deliver exceptional value to their customers while reducing costs and improving efficiency.

“Paccurate has great solutions and an even better team. They are focused on creating value for their customers,” said Mintz, “They are collaborative, responsive, innovative, and enjoyable to work with. We consider them to be a trusted partner and continue to find new ways to create value with them.”

To read the full case study, click here.