Hodges Warehouse is an innovative third-party logistics, or 3PL, provider and the premier such business in Montgomery, Alabama. Family owned and operated for more than four decades; they boast over 4 million square feet across 50 warehouse facilities.
The company serves an array of individual, corporate and government clients throughout the Southeast, specializing in warehousing and real estate services, both commercial and residential.

The challenge:

Hodges sought to upgrade their warehouse logistics system to maintain an edge in this competitive marketplace. They recognized that their in-house warehouse management system left them with potential vulnerabilities that would be best addressed by outsourcing these operations.

The SC Codeworks Solution:

Hodges opted for three of SC Codeworks’ offerings:

• Codeworks Enterprise
• Web-Based Customer Portal
• Electronic Data Interchange, or EDI

“The warehouse management system from Codeworks provides us with the comprehensive, industry-standard capabilities we need to maintain our position as the value leader in third-party warehousing services.” added Lance Hunter, CEO of Hodges Warehouse

The Products:

Enterprise is a hosted software solution that provides cutting-edge management for a 3PL’s regions, campuses, buildings, labor, docks and workflow. The wizard-driven set-up process is swift and simple.
The system is as powerful as it is versatile, allowing Hodges or any other business to:

• Manage up to 10,000 customers
• Charge customers by all international weight types
• Process orders either in batch or real-time
• Pick by voice prompt

SC Codeworks custom built the WDLS for Hodges to ensure it maximized flexibility, precision and accuracy for the company.
The system incorporates handheld, radio-frequency bar code scanners.

• To ensure the greatest value, Hodges could select a brand of scanners from an array of major suppliers.
• This includes all 802.11x-type scanners

The branded, web-based, self-service portal enabled Hodges to provide their customers the opportunity to:

• Run real-time inventory queries, by pallets and lots
• Produce customized reports
• Publish monthly PDF invoicing
• Download data sets
• Enter orders through the portal, in the case of customers with more limited inventories

The automated EDI interfaces between Hodges’ existing systems and their customers and provides:

• Real-time notifications of freight movement and conditions
• Improved data accuracy through SC Codeworks' centralized data validation

The Benefits:

Between the three of them, the SC Codeworks products helped:

• Free up staffers’ time, including those in accounting and IT, allowing Hodges to tackle extra projects with no need to increase head count
• Increase the flexibility that Hodges maintained over their warehouse workflow
• Maximize inventory accuracy
• Boost Competitiveness against other 3PLs

Future Scalability: Should Hodges need it, SC Codeworks is always able and ready to scale up their operation and implement new business solutions.

The Return on Investment:

SC Codeworks helped Hodges become more nimble and efficient, allowing the company to offer more competitive value to their current and future customers and priming them for growth.

Shane Parish noted, “We now provide technological capabilities associated with larger warehouses at a price point that can’t be beat. Our new warehouse management gives both Hodges Warehouse and our clients a competitive advantage.”