Customer Service Manager

Paul Carlson

Email: *********@********.***

Address: **** *** ***** *****

City: Yorkville

State: IL

Zip: 60650

Country: USA

Phone: 630-***-****

Skill Level: Management

Salary Range: $90,000

Willing to Relocate

Primary Skills/Experience:

See Resume

Educational Background:

See Resume

Job History / Details:

Paul Carlson

2931 Old Glory Drive

Yorkville, IL 60560 (H) 630-***-****

(C) 630-***-****

*********@********.***

Offers more than fifteen years of experience in all aspects of operations and customer service, to include transportation, purchasing, warehousing, receiving and shipping, inventory control, replenishment and distribution; pick and pack operations with high volume and small parcel shipping. Held full profit and loss responsibility for operating budgets as much as $35M. Demonstrated proven ability in contract negotiation, expense control, and process improvement.

SELECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS

* Implemented and developed Mail Manifesting System while with Shaklee Corporation which saved $64,000 in delivery confirmation charges and became first vendor in Bedford Park to electronically transmit a manifest daily to USPS.

* Improved inventory accuracy to less than 1% on $8 million inventory while with Shaklee Corporation. Aggressively increased cycle counting to improve inventory accuracy while with retail furniture companies.

* Saved more than $400K in trucking and rail costs in a five-year period by negotiating better freight rates with freight carriers. Resolved demurrage and detention charges with the railroad, cut costs by more than $150K during the same period.

* Through the use of Kaizen, continuously improved methods, created efficiencies, reduced man hours, and improved performance outputs by more than 10% with two companies.

* Experience with implementation of multiple warehouse management systems.

* Worked with Lean Manufacturing in Production environment.

CAREER PROFILE

S.P. Richards Co.: a subsidiary of Genuine Parts, is a leading distributor of office supplies and other business products, including furniture, computer accessories, office machines, cleaning supplies, and break room necessities.

Operations Manager (2011 to Present)

Report to the General Manager and responsible for managing all facets of the supply chain including the distribution center facility, its employees, inventory, customer fulfillment, and logistical sales support by performing the following duties personally and working through a management team.

* Set goal standards and improve the operation performance measurements in quality, productivity, and inventory accuracy.

* Manage all capital assets including conveyor systems to ensure safe operation, quality condition, and optimum performance.

* Develop and train management team, instilling an employee involvement management model.

* In conjunction with the general manager, assume P&L responsibility.

* Responsible for customer satisfaction and problem resolution.

* Responsible for all outbound freight and route building to meet service goals and cost efficiencies.

* Manage personnel and administer human resource policy and procedure.

DesignPac Gifts LLC: A $50 million wholly owned subsidiary of 1-800-flowers.com and is a full-service product development and production company that provides a range of food products and liquor gifts.

Fulfillment Operations Manager (2009 to 2011)

Reported to the Vice President of Operations and responsible for managing all order fulfillment processes for direct-to-consumer Internet and call center orders for 1-800 Baskets brand of 1800Flowers.com. Additional responsibility for the inventory, order fulfillment and process management of 16 drop ship vendors who ship gift baskets for the 1-800 Baskets brand.

* Assist in the development and execution of strategic plans for 1-800 Baskets order fulfillment operations.

* Lead order fulfillment and distribution for $22M E-commerce start-up division.

* Develop tactical plans for daily execution of anticipated demand, production, and inventory control.

* Responsible for defining fulfillment process flow to optimize system capabilities, improve service and reduce cost of inventories.

* Negotiating pricing from overseas purchasing for all inbound containers with product.

* Implement the Sterling WMS for order and inventory management and improve data integrity.

* Responsible for managing inventory of finished product in coolers, freezers, and warehouse storage and individual components at 16 drop ship vendors located throughout the country.

* Work with the Production and Marketing groups to ensure the best possible quality gifts are being developed and forecasting for the E-Commerce direct to consumer business.

* Direct shipping and fulfillment of over 180,000 orders per year and 120,000 orders from drop ship vendors.

* Experience with BAAN ERP systems, Oracle Inventory Systems, WMS, and RF scanners.

* Safe Quality Food certified facility.

Phillip's Flowers and Gifts: A $21 million florist with 8 Chicagoland retail locations plus a Central Design Center. Phillip's ranks in the top 1% of florists in volume and sales nationwide. The Central Design Center supports the 10 store locations with product and delivery and does 60% of the company's business.

General Manager, Central Design Center (2006-2009)

Reported to the President of Phillip's with responsibility for the management of the Wrapping, Rental, Delivery, Retail, Gourmet Baskets, Production and Sympathy Departments. Due to declining sales, this position was eliminated.

* Increased annual revenue by more than 5%, with 9% profit on gross sales in the company's biggest division.

* Through Kaizen, improved performance measurements of retail, production design, and delivery departments by 10%.

* Coordinated and directed hub and spoke delivery model on distribution to the retail stores, resulting in elimination of delivery labor and incorporating their deliveries into the central division's workload.

* Directed mass production and purchasing of gourmet, candy, and fruit baskets for retail order fulfillment.

* Improved COGS over 8% by reducing purchases of fresh flowers and reducing waste.

* Increased productivity and storage by building a delivery cooler.

Aronson Furniture Company: A $50 million company that sold household furniture, electronics and household appliances with 11 Chicagoland retail store locations and a 200,000-square-foot RF controlled distribution center. Aronson filed for bankruptcy and dissolved in 2006.

Warehouse General Manager (2004-2006)

Reported to the President of Aronson and was responsible for all warehouse operations in a union environment. Managed order picking, receiving, replenishment, assembly, loading teams, inter-store transfers, and assisted with inventory control.

* Improved processes and organization, made physical improvements inside the warehouse and with personnel attendance and performance.

* Made receiving improvements to accommodate more inbound merchandise and warehouse space.

* Eliminated $50,000 in damaged and discontinued merchandise from the warehouse in less than three months.

* Negotiating pricing on inbound containers with furniture purchased from overseas.

* Responsible for all outbound freight and route building for all customer furniture deliveries.

Harlem Furniture: Harlem has 15 retail store locations and a 400,000-square-foot RF controlled distribution center.

Assistant Distribution Center Manager (2002-2004)

Reported to the Distribution Center Manager and was responsible for operations that included seven managers,

62 owner operator delivery drivers, and 200 warehouse associates. Oversaw order picking, receiving, assembly, prepping teams, replenishment and inventory control. Responsible for troubleshooting computer problems related to inventory and operations.

* Improved processes and organization, cutting delivery driver load time.

* Reduced the percentage of customer pickup waiting time.

* Provided product training and ensured that products were properly tagged with RF labels, facilitating quicker product stocking.

* Coordinated load planning and allocation of delivery trucks on a daily basis with customer service.

* Responsible for initiating claims with third party carriers on damages and service issues.

* Executed cross-docking function reducing the amount of merchandise handled by 20%.

Shaklee Corporation: A multi-level marketing distributor whose niche in the consumer market is nutritional products and vitamins.

Distribution Operations Manager (1998-2001)

Reported to the Vice President of Operations. Managed the operations of Shaklee's largest national distribution center, generating 43% of corporate revenues. Key member of the distribution transportation team responsible for inbound trucking to distribution centers and outbound freight. By implementing Kaizen methodology, orders processed faster and reduced labor expenses.

* Developed and implemented mail manifesting system with Shaklee Corporation saved $64,000 in delivery confirmation charges. First vendor in Bedford Park to electronically transmit a manifest daily to USPS.

* Directed UPS and USPS small package shipping with UPS costs exceeding $2.8 million and postage charges exceeding $1.8 million annually.

* Originated relationships with USPS to get label approval, bar coding approval, scale certification, and electronically wired funds for postage into a central Post Office account to cover three Shaklee locations for priority mail postage.

* Directed order fulfillment and kitting for Shaklee's personal care product line and worked with outside manufacturers to get personal care products manufactured and shipped into the distribution centers.

* Participated as a key contributor and troubleshooter to the marketing and packaging departments to resolve departmental issues for Shaklee's nutritional and personal care product lines.

* Cut costs on supplies, equipment, and services by $200,000 by changing various vendors.

* Improved customer satisfaction, efficiency, and frequency of product delivery by sourcing and selecting a new LTL delivery system for the Chicagoland area, while managing full truckload and LTL shipments.

OmniTrax Logistics: OmniTrax Logistics was a warehousing and distribution start-up division of the Broe Companies, which held real estate and short line railroad holdings throughout North America. The company liquidated its assets due to poor cash flow.

Director of Warehouse Operations (1997-1998)

Directed all aspects of business operations and maintenance of a 230,000-square-foot warehouse facility, holding profit and loss responsibilities for a 5 million-dollar operation. Responsibilities included: managing $5million in customer inventory; auditing and paying all bills; filing claims with vendors and railroads; and saving 15% on trucking and freight charges eliminating detention charges with the railroad.

Continental Paper Grading Company: Continental Paper Grading is an independent broker that buys and sells all grades of waste paper.

Operations Manager (1993-1997)

Promoted to this position within 14 months to oversee the operations and logistics of a 120,000-square-foot warehouse including all customer service and inventory management. This included the management of 14 employees and profit and loss responsibility. Enhanced workflow processes for better account management by consolidating the billing and customer service departments. Saved more than $400,000 on rail and truck freight by maximizing loads and negotiating better rates.

Customer Service and Traffic Manager (1992-1993)

Overhauled the customer service management by tripling the size of the department in less than six months and increasing the productivity to meet the growing demand of the customer base. Reorganized in-house and over-the-road trucking to improve service and cost efficiency. Resolved demurrage and detention charges with railroads saving over $150,000.

Miller & Company, Inc.: Miller & Company is a $90 million industrial metal wholesaler.

Product Analyst (1991-1992)

Maintained, reconciled, and planned inventories of raw materials sold to steel mills and foundries. Arranged for the transfer of materials between docks and warehouses which included traffic management for trucking, rail, and barges. Served as the Secretary of the company's TQM Team for docks and warehouses.

Education

DePaul University, M.B.A., Operations Management, 1998

University of Illinois, B.A., Mass Communications, 1986

Contact this candidate