Jones Apparel Group

Project Background

Jones Apparel Group, Inc., (JAG) is a Fortune 500 company and leading designer, marketer and wholesaler of branded apparel, footwear and accessories. Business changes and systems upgrades prompted JAG to enlist the services of Peach State to help understand how to maximize their current apparel distribution network and minimize costs. Through extensive logistics modeling, Peach State helped JAG answer key supply chain questions that enabled them to build a roadmap for success.

Project Objectives

• Determine how JAG should maximize their current distribution network and minimize costs given new capability to ship any apparel garment from any apparel DC.
• Assess the impact of growth on the distribution network and evaluate the cost/benefits of building a West Coast DC in the future.
• Recommend the appropriate role of 3PL’s within the JAG distribution network.

Solution Benefits

• By re-assigning products to the lowest cost DC, Peach State identified a potential savings of $12.4M ($8M Inbound Freight/$4.4 M Warehouse Cost).
• Based on the output of the network model, adding West Coast flat & hanging capacity and increasing capacity in the El Paso DC lowers overall network variable costs. In addition, the model suggested that JAG should increase capacity in the South Carolina area to handle future growth.
• 3PL’s reduce overall network costs for pre-pack as well as some piece pick products but are not cost effective for products requiring value added services.