Case Studies Arizona Ice Tea | Case Study: Warehousing
Keeping the #1 tea in America on store shelves is the job of AriZona Beverages USA, national marketer of AriZona® brand iced teas, and AZ Southeast Distribution, the company’s distributor. It’s no small feat to coordinate the distribution of more than a million and a half cases of product each month, so AriZona Beverages looks to Saddle Creek Logistics Services for assistance.
Over the years, the relationship between AriZona Beverages and Saddle Creek has evolved from a simple, single warehouse operation to fullservice integrated logistics in three key regions. Saddle Creek now provides warehousing and rainbow packaging services and manages case-pick operations with routed, full truckload and single shuttle operations in Florida, Texas and California.
The Business Challenge
In the fast-paced world of convenience stores, suppliers need to be able to turn on a dime. For example, one of AriZona Beverages’ largest customers, a leading nationwide convenience store, requires a remarkably tight turnaround time for fulfilling and delivering orders.
The Solution
Saddle Creek receives orders for the day at 10:30 a.m. and has them case picked and delivered to the customer’s DCs in Orlando and Tampa — 45 minutes away — by 1:00 p.m. the same day, so they can be broken down and delivered to stores that night. Each shipment is between three-fourths to a full truckload — approximately 1,000 to 1,500 cases per day for each DC.
The Results
The convenience store customer has been very pleased with the service they’ve received, and AriZona Beverages’ order fill rate has improved dramatically. They’re now at 99.9 percent. Saddle Creek has been instrumental in helping to achieve this level of customer satisfaction.