Supply Chain Automation
Between a pepper garden in Vietnam and a seasoning plant in Ohio there are a dozen documents, four or five handoffs and at least one ocean. The Logistics module of HELM handles the paperwork and watches the ocean so that our coordinators can handle the exceptions.
Freight Booking
HELM compares carriers and routings on cost, transit time and recent reliability, consolidates purchases into full containers where possible, and proposes bookings for coordinator approval. It schedules inland pickup at origin and drayage at the U.S. port, and keeps the exporter informed of cutoffs automatically.
Documentation
For every shipment HELM prepares, checks and files or transmits the documents the shipment needs, including:
- Importer Security Filing, transmitted before vessel loading
- FDA Prior Notice for every food shipment
- Customs entry data, transmitted to our licensed customs broker with the commercial invoice, packing list and bill of lading
- Foreign Supplier Verification Program records linking the shipment to the supplier's approval and verification activities
- Certificates of origin, phytosanitary certificates and treatment certificates, where applicable
- Organic import certificates for certified organic shipments
Documents are cross-checked against each other and against the purchase order before filing. Discrepancies are flagged to a coordinator rather than filed and fixed later.
Container Tracking and Predictive Arrival
HELM combines carrier event data with vessel position data to track every container we own on the water. Instead of relying on the carrier's scheduled arrival, it predicts the actual arrival and the date the goods will be available at our dock, using recent port congestion and drayage performance. Customers can see the predicted availability of their inbound product in the Quarterdeck portal. When a shipment slips, the customer service representative knows before the customer calls.
Inventory and Replenishment
For each stocked item and each forward warehouse, HELM forecasts demand from customer order history, program forecasts and seasonality, and recommends replenishment quantities and timing. Program customers on vendor-managed inventory receive replenishment automatically against agreed minimum and maximum levels. See Forward Warehousing.
Integration
We exchange purchase orders, acknowledgments, advance ship notices and invoices by EDI with customers who use it, and offer a documented REST API for customers who prefer it. Orders placed by email are entered once and flow through the same system.
