As all of us in SCN know, GOOD CAUSES need GOOD LOGISTICS!
The Girl Scouts of America have their annual fundraiser sale each year in January. In leading up there is a MASSIVE distribution campaign required from the cookie manufacturer. Each Summer, the manufacturer and the regional US state chapters of each Girl Scout council determine the amount of PRESALE boxes of cookies they will make based on previous years sales and current year forecasts.
Because there is so many boxes of cookies being made for the USA this requires a secure central warehouse to be set up so that they can preship Full Truckloads of the cookies into the region, which have real time inventory controls/WMS systems in place, can safely store the cookies for 1-2 months in advance as they are being baked and shipped—and then, once it is closer to the cookie sale—-the IGL warehouse works with the regional council members/leadership groups of the area to arrange the initial cookie delivery dates.
One mega site was also set up, whereas the largest council in the greater Phoenix area (Cactus Pine council) have an entire mall parking lot reserved on a Saturday—and we have to sort just over 600,000 boxes of cookies, placed over a 400 yard area, and provide event management at the site including forklifts, waste & recycling, lighting, portable restrooms, traffic flow management and 24 hours of on site loading/unloading to serve and support over 20,000 local girlscouts and 90 communities with 100’s of troops that covers nearly 2/3 of the state of Arizona.
ALL DURING COVID PROTOCOLS!!!
Needless to say—it was MANY days in a row for our team of not sleeping, working around the clock, pulling off small miracle after miracle, dealing with 100’s of volunteers on sites to coordinate the movements and delivery of the cookies—but we managed to get almost 2.3 million boxes safely ( minus a few for quality assurance purposes 😊) delivered, distributed and to the girlscouts in time for them to start their 2022 cookie sales campaign. Truly a remarkable feat in a very short amount of time for our IGL Logistics, Phoenix(PHX) team, but it is what we do for many of our clients each day, but just not as sweet as the cookies and for such a wonderful organization such as Girl Scouts of America.
For further information and if you’re lucky, a few biscuits don’t hesitate in contacing:
Jim Burke: iglintl@iglnow.com
