From New York to New Zealand, we deliver speed, accuracy and cost containment.

Speed:

  • ISS facility locations are in Portland, Seattle, Phoenix and Denver as a general rule ship all orders received by 3 pm (local time).
  • ISS uses FedEx and UPS for most domestic shipping, and have access to highly competitive rates because of our enormous volume.
  • We have a natural speed advantage in shipping to the East Coast, as an order placed as late as 6pm (Eastern) can still arrive the next day because of time zone differences.

Our ability to process orders quickly has been a core competency for more than 60 years, and is a major reason why we ship thousands of orders to every state and dozens of countries world-wide.

Automated packaging system used in our Kent facility

Automated Packaging

Accuracy:

  • All of our facilities use ISO certified best practices for order fulfillment. Because of our modern bin location system, inventory management system, and highly controlled processes, we manage a 99.997% shipping accuracy rate company-wide.
  • We perform regular cycle counts on all active inventory to ensure that everything we see in our system matches the reality on the shelves.
  • All inventory is purchased using cutting edge purchasing practices that maintain optimum turn rates for each product. These target turn rates may be as little as a month for fast-moving product, or a year to two years to meet a specific customer’s demands for hard-to-source product. As a general rule, we target four months for turning a product.

A key to our ability to operate at low costs is our mistake-free shipping ethic. We consistently find that identifying and preventing mistakes before they happen is far more cost-effective than fixing them afterward.

Cost containment:

  • Our non-union facilities manage inventory delivery with a singular focus on driving down the cost per line item.
  • Our distribution managers meet monthly across facilities to benchmark each other against this critical number.
  • Ingrained in our culture is the concept of ramping up for peak season and new transitions, and rapidly trimming down during the slow time of the year. This core flexibility allows us to stay lean year-round.

This focus on driving down cost allows us to pass along savings to our customers without affecting profitability.

To find out how we can help you with your distribution needs contact ISS today!