How Coast to Coast Fulfillment scaled order volume 17x while reducing labor

Complex EDI workflows

Early on, shortly after introducing EDI to clients, CTCF needed more flexibility to customize their offerings. Their in-house EDI solution, while functional, couldn't scale to meet enterprise requirements. CTCF faced a critical decision: settle for inflexible, out-of-box solutions that would force them to change their proven processes, or find a partner who could customize solutions to match their methods. They found the latter in Tech85.

By the time CTCF gained Citizen Watch (CWA) as a major retail client — 20 years into working with Tech85 — their decision proved to be the right choice. As a large company, CWA required a complex, automated EDI workflow and extensive setup. CTCF was challenged with designing the EDI they’d been offering for years to meet CWA’s unique needs — a degree of EDI automation, customization, and flexibility that only Tech85 could deliver.

Growth without compromise

Another early test of faith came when CTCF required a custom warehouse management system (WMS). Rationally, they weighed their options: “We evaluated a few WMS solutions, " explained Vanessa Ghazarian, Managing Director at CTCF. “Some were less expensive, but they all came with the same cost — losing the flexibility our clients depend on. We needed a solution focused on improving the efficiency of our core competencies, making us more profitable, and keeping our clients’ cost down.” Once again, Tech85 answered the call.

Custom warehouse management system

First, Tech85 developed a custom warehouse management system built specifically for CTCF's needs. The system's flexible architecture resulted in:

• The ability to handle increased order volume during presidential campaigns every four years while reducing operating hours
• Regular WMS improvements that increased efficiency and expanded CTCF’s order management capabilities
• Expansion into new verticals that require serial number tracking, like medical devices and sailing safety equipment

The custom warehouse management system handles everything from serial number tracking to purchase-history-based promotions, a degree of flexibility previously not available to them.What made this approach unique was Tech85's commitment to learning — and designing solutions for — the client’s business. Their engineers worked on-site regularly, optimizing the solution to handle increasing order volumes while actually reducing operating hours. This ongoing refinement helped CTCF maintain stable pricing in an industry known for regular increases.The second improvement involved EDI automation. Tech85's flexible EDI solution enabled CTCF to scale their offerings significantly, supporting 65% of their B2B clients with automated retail compliance. The outcomes included:

• Custom EDI workflows for unique client requirements (like CWA), including EDI mapping, reporting, data analysis, document support, compliance management, and non-EDI partner integration
• Seamless ERP integration with NetSuite, which helped clients upgrade their systems and operations, in turn growing CTCF's revenue

"What sets Tech85 apart is the flexibility,” Ghazarian explained. “Going with any other EDI solution wouldn't give us the flexibility we needed. When Tech85 came along, we could maintain the same flexibility at a larger scale. That opened up a whole new way of doing business."

17x more orders in less time

Scaling seasonal order volume by 17x wasn’t possible before partnering with Tech85, not to mention while cutting operating hours; CTCF accomplished this on top of their regular order volume. In 2004, processing 35,000 political campaign orders required running seven days a week with two shifts. By the 2012 presidential election, they handled 600,000 orders in just five days a week with a single shift — all while handling routine orders and avoiding service-related price increases, something all too common in 3PL.

“To handle our regular clients’ volume plus election volume is a huge undertaking,” Ghazarian relayed. “The enhancements to our WMS over the years working with Tech85 has allowed us to scale up quickly while decreasing the burden on our workforce.”

Saying “yes”: New services & verticals

CTCF has been providing EDI services for over two decades, but after partnering with Tech85, it’s allowed them to automate and expand even more: 65% of CTCF's B2B clients use automated EDI built specifically for their workflow, including major watch retailer CWA.

“What stands out is their ability to address our needs, even if it falls outside their typical area of expertise, " Ghazarian noted. “If we have a question or want to implement something new, they can pull in the right team members with the necessary skills to make it happen. It’s reassuring to know they have the resources and flexibility to adapt and deliver exactly what we need.”

By the numbers

• Scaled campaign orders 17x (from 35,000 to 600,000 annually) in addition to regular order volume while reducing operating schedule
• 65% of B2B clients now using EDI capabilities for retail partnerships
• Cut technical support response time from 24+ hours to immediate, including weekends