It’s not just technology that is moving faster. The nature of relationships between retailers and customers, warehouses, stores and associates, carriers and shippers are all experiencing evolutionary shifts forward too. Manhattan’s Active Solutions are allowing enterprises like KeHE, Gregory Distribution and Michaels to optimise their large and complex operations, adapt to market and demand fluctuations, and to innovate at pace.

KeHE optimises supply chain execution and planning

KeHE Distributors is the largest distributor of natural and organic, specialty and fresh products to more than 31,000 retailers throughout North America. Before adopting Manhattan’s transportation management system (TMS), KeHE relied on a legacy system that was ill suited for the complexities of modern supply chain management. Additionally, the previous demand forecasting and inventory optimisation (DFIO) platform did not seamlessly integrate with the legacy TMS, creating inefficiencies and coordination issues between the planning and execution teams.

To address these challenges, KeHE implemented Manhattan’s TMS, coupled with their existing Manhattan DFIO platform. The integration of TMS with DFIO aimed to streamline operations, enhance visibility, and improve coordination across its supply chain. This resulted in a notable 10% improvement in on-time performance and a reduction of lead times in carrying costs.

By optimising truckloads and enhancing routing, KeHE has managed to lower its cost per pound, directly contributing to improved profitability. Kevin Volk, Vice President of Supply Chain at KeHE comments: “By bringing these systems together, we’ve optimised our truckloads and improved our overall logistics performance. The connectivity between the platforms allows us to catch potential issues early and resolve them effectively.”

“Our collaboration with Manhattan has transformed KeHe’s approach to logistics.”
Kevin Volk, Vice President of Supply Chain at KeHE

Gregory Distribution responds to customer demand, fast

Founded in 1919, Gregory Distribution is one of the largest privately owned transport companies in the UK with 45 locations across the country. Due to rapid growth, it faced the pressing need to efficiently manage increasing demands on it supply chain while upholding its commitment to customer satisfaction. To achieve this, Gregory Distribution leveraged Manhattan SCALE for its configurability and integration capabilities. This warehouse management system (WMS) allowed Gregory Distribution to be highly responsive to customer demands and evolving trends and requirements, while maintaining the support of Manhattan’s expertise.

Liam Jordan-Martin, Head of Technology at Gregory Group says: “Manhattan SCALE is a solution that is configurable and flexible. It is a solution where we can put those controls in the hands of our team so we can be really responsive for our customers. We’ve opened new facilities in very short spaces of time thanks to the new system we have in place, the expertise we have in the business and the support of Manhattan.”

“We want to work with partners where we can have a long-term relationship and a strategic approach, as part of our portfolio of solutions.”
Liam Jordan-Martin, Head of Technology at Gregory Group

Michaels and Manhattan: crafting operational excellence

As the leading creative destination in North America, Michaels operates over 1,300 stores in 49 US states, in Canada and online at Michaels.com and Michaels.ca. For a long time, Michaels relied on a third-party order management platform that struggled to keep pace with the company’s growth and the increasing complexity of today’s omnichannel retail ecosystem. To address these challenges, Michaels partnered with Manhattan to implement Manhattan Active Omni’s Order Management solution, optimising ordering from search to fulfi lment. The transition to Manhattan Active Omni focused on minimising disruption to operations while ensuring a seamless integration with existing systems. 

Post-implementation, Manhattan Active Omni provided the robust infrastructure needed to handle peak periods and increase order volumes without compromising performance. By transitioning to Manhattan Active Omni, Michaels has experienced significant improvements in areas including scalability, efficiency and real-time visibility, with the partnership between Michaels and Manhattan extending well beyond the initial implementation.

“We can now handle higher volumes with ease, and our fulfilment times have improved dramatically.”
Uma Bhemisetty, CIO at Michaels

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