Cannabis Company Gains Supply Chain Efficiencies from Centralized Solution | Retail
3/14/2022 RRD
A centralized source delivers supply chain efficiencies through new project management tools
CHALLENGE
With 21 production sites, 15 cultivation facilities operating in 10 states, and 45 owned dispensaries, a well-established cannabis company (a multi-state operator) was in need of specialized solutions to keep up with the demand for its products sold in more than 700 dispensaries nationwide.
Growing pains for this company included increasingly complex packaging, labels, shipping, and distribution needs related to variable products. With its 13 brands sold across 12 states, varying laws and regulations necessitated different packaging labels across the product line. As a result, supporting the sale of cannabis in medicinal and recreational spaces created demands beyond what the company could manage with its existing resources.
Working with multiple vendors made it difficult to track assets at each supply chain step. Finding solutions efficiently would require a single-source partner who could scale supply chain needs — e.g., packaging, labels, commercial print, uniquely sourced containers, warehousing, fulfillment, and translation services — within this emerging industry.
SOLUTION
With the right combination of experts on board to tackle these challenges, RRD organized a team of veterans in management, sales, design, client service, quality control, warehousing, and manufacturing. They became the central agency to help manage the company’s unique supply chain needs.
By optimizing supply chain services, RRD can scale with the client and respond quickly and efficiently to the ever changing and growing market. RRD implemented key project management technologies to gain operational efficiencies at various steps of the supply chain, including:
- Packaging core system that manages the specifications of all packages required for all 13 brands and more than 2,230 SKUs
- Warehousing and fulfillment platform (via third party) connected through RRD to manage the logistics of inventory planning and control
- RRD’s ConnectOne Storefront℠ portal to create requests for raw supply chain materials to supply the company’s grow facilities, farms, and co-packing sites to prepare and finalize finished products
As part of a continuous improvement approach, RRD also developed a quality performance report for this client’s products. In 2022, RRD has plans to add the lot acceptance rate (LAR) indicator as part of the report.