“With GraceBlood’s help, we are able to onboard new partners in a fraction of the time it took previously.” ~ Jeff Wojciuk, Applications Manager
Executive Summary
Green Bay Packaging (GBP) is a large manufacturer of packaging products primarily for CPG, including cosmetics, food and beverage. When their long-time EDI Coordinator announced his retirement, they knew they were at a crossroads – rehire or outsource? With big plans in the works, including a brand-new paper mill, it was determined that the direction for EDI would be to outsource, allowing GBP to focus on more strategic initiatives.
A third-party consultant GBP was using knew of GraceBlood’s expertise and reputation so an introduction was made.
Challenges
GBP had roughly 100 customers and vendors that would need to be migrated over to GraceBlood’s platform. Due to the large number of unique maps and monthly transactions, GraceBlood made the determination that a dedicated server would need to be commissioned for this project, adding them to the growing roster of GB’s Exclusive Managed Services clients. In addition to the sheer quantity of partners, maps and transactions, GBP also has many internal applications, some of which are tied to EDI and some are not. To complicate matters further, GBP has many divisions that may send or receive the same transaction types, depending on whether the partner is a vendor or a customer.
Prior to the EDI Coordinator leaving, these processes would all need to be documented and a timeline established so that the project would be well under way, if not completed, by the time his tenure ended. In addition, GraceBlood would not only need to convince GBP of the ROI realized with such a transition, but also that they would seamlessly and efficiently take on the role of Green Bay’s “EDI department” – enormous shoes to fill, to be sure.
How Exclusive Managed Services Helped
In the spring of 2021, GBP and GraceBlood closed the deal to transition to GraceBlood’s Exclusive Managed Services. Immediately, a project management team was formed and consisted of an Onboarding Specialist, Team Leader, Services Director, and a Senior Integrations Analyst. Together with GBP, a timeline was formed, documentation was gathered (specs, process flow, partner contacts) and GBP was able to go live within the committed 90-day time frame. GBP now has GraceBlood’s dedicated team monitoring their transactions and responding to exceptions 24/7. This freedom allows them to focus on continuing to streamline internal application integrations and processes, due to recent acquisitions like Interstate Packaging, as well as the many moving parts of their vast enterprise.
Results
Two years later, GraceBlood is processing upwards of 60,000 transactions monthly for GBP. With GraceBlood’s guidance, Green Bay Packaging continues to uncover areas that can be further modernized and/or improved upon, including transitioning database cross-referencing from their process flow to GraceBlood’s map translation efforts. Jeff Wojciuk had this to say about the now two-year relationship, “Losing such a vital member of our team was intimidating. It’s such a relief knowing that our critical B2B technology is being handled with the professionalism and excellence that our partners expect from Green Bay Packaging.”
Speak to an expert at GraceBlood now to learn more about EDI solutions.