Ken Seidl’s career helping Fortune 100 companies save money, uncover efficiencies, design and manage large capital projects, and enhance customer service began in a sector that remains close to his heart: parcel shipping. Seidl began his 17-year tenure at United Parcel Service as a driver before working his way into leadership roles where he helped national accounts improve their operations.
Later, after obtaining undergraduate and graduate degrees from John Hopkins University while working full time, Seidl honed his skills at major organizations like Industrial Distribution Group and Fruit of the Loom. Those experiences inspired him to create his own consulting firm, one able to serve as an extension of customers’ operational teams and a true partner.
Today, his firm Sunriise Business Solutions, reflects that vision - helping fast growing brands tackle mission-critical questions and projects. Whether it is helping a European conglomerate decide if it makes sense to enter the North American market or providing a large domestic apparel company with the information it needs to decide where to build its next distribution center, Sunriise’s experts see extensive projects through from start to finish.
When Sunriise's customer, a high-end yoga brand experiencing meteoric growth brought Seidl’s team in to help streamline its parcel shipping operation and asked for help to transition from a 3PL to an in-house operation, the complexity of the question was immediately apparent. With 40% year-over-year growth, more than $1 billion in sales, a skyrocketing e-commerce business and a rapidly-growing network of brick-and-mortar stores, the company’s inventory management, warehousing and fulfillment needs were changing.
But no one knew how much the transition away from a 3PL would cost or how much it would save. What was known was that the company needed to have the control it would only gain by managing and owning its own fulfillment process. While inventory and warehouse costs associated with the move would require a detailed analysis, Seidl knew that information could be attained. And he knew it would be factual and data driven.
What he was most concerned with was the shipping operation. The company had basic visibility over its shipments, but no way to put that information in context, let alone see how any carrier contracts it might secure on its own would compare to those enjoyed by the 3PL vendor. In fact, no one knew what an optimal carrier contract would look like given the company’s shipping profile or its dramatic growth.
Download the case study to see how Reveel helped Sunriise get a factual analysis of its brands shipping data and transition into an in-house shipment model.
