Rolling Success Nationwide: Streamlining Shipping with Pacejet

About Wind River Tobacco Company

Wind River Tobacco, headquartered in North Carolina, has quickly become a standout in the tobacco industry, thanks to its forward-thinking approach and impressive growth. Since its founding, the company has expanded rapidly by innovating its distribution model and strategically acquiring businesses. With a unique two-tier distribution system that ensures its products are available nationwide, Wind River continues to adapt and thrive, bringing a fresh perspective to a fast-paced and evolving market. Their success story is one of resilience, efficiency, and an unwavering commitment to meeting customer needs.

The Business Situation

As Wind River expanded its operations, the company faced increasing challenges in its shipping processes. Their legacy systems, including manual data entry and fragmented workflows across multiple carrier portals, resulted in inefficiencies and errors. These problems were compounded by the need to ship primarily via LTL (less-than-truckload) carriers, a requirement not fully supported by their existing ERP system at the time.

Wind River’s growth also meant managing complex supply chains, incorporating manufacturing for third-party brands, and maintaining compliance with intricate tobacco licensing regulations. The manual processes not only slowed operations but also left room for costly errors, such as incorrect bill of lading (BOL) weights that could lead to invoice corrections and overcharges.

THE SOLUTION

Wind River adopted Acumatica’s cloud-based ERP system to modernize its operations and partnered with Descartes Pacejet Shipping to address its shipping needs. The collaboration provided Wind River with:

• Integrated LTL Shipping: Pacejet enabled seamless integration with multiple LTL carriers, addressing Wind River’s primary shipping requirement.
• Automation: The solution automated weight calculations, BOL generation, and rate shopping, significantly reducing manual intervention.
• Scalability: The cloud-based nature of both [Acumatica](/content/solutions/acumatica-shipping-software/ "Acumatica Shipping Software"/index.html) and Pacejet supported Wind River’s nationwide expansion and remote operational capabilities.
• Customizability: While most features were implemented out-of-the-box, minor customizations, such as adding fields to shipping paperwork, were easily accommodated.

Despite being one of the earliest adopters of the combined Acumatica and Pacejet, Wind River, and their VAR, Intelligent Technologies, worked closely to overcome initial implementation hurdles. Daily calls and collaborative troubleshooting ensured alignment among all parties, paving the way for a successful rollout.

THE OUTCOME

The partnership between Wind River, Acumatica, and Descartes Pacejet delivered transformative results:

• Error Reduction: Manual data entry errors, including weight inaccuracies, were virtually eliminated, reducing invoice corrections and ensuring accurate shipping rates.
• Operational Efficiency: Wind River maintained its original shipping staff of two employees despite a significant increase in shipping volume, demonstrating the efficiency of the automated processes.
• Improved Accuracy and Compliance: Standardized BOLs improved contractual clarity and compliance, fostering smoother operations with carriers.
• Nationwide Growth Enablement: With access to a diverse carrier network and competitive rates through Pacejet, Wind River expanded its reach across the U.S., fulfilling its vision of nationwide distribution.

CONCLUSION

The success of this implementation highlights the strength of the collaboration between Wind River, Pacejet, and Acumatica. Working together, the teams navigated early adopter challenges to deliver a scalable and efficient shipping solution tailored to Wind River’s unique needs. The ongoing partnership continues to support Wind River’s strategic goals, including potential expansion into international markets and further integration of distribution workflows.

Wind River Tobacco’s journey with Descartes Pacejet and Acumatica exemplifies the impact of innovative software solutions on business growth. By automating critical processes and fostering seamless integrations, the partnership empowered Wind River to achieve operational excellence and sustain its growth trajectory in a competitive market. This story underscores the value of collaboration and tailored solutions in addressing complex business challenges.

Our growth has been organic and sometimes unexpected, but the partnership with Acumatica and Pacejet has made it possible to scale efficiently. Even with significant increases in shipping volume, we've maintained the same two-person shipping team, which speaks to the power of this integration.

Jennifer Douglass
Information Technology Manager, Tobacco Rag

Industry

Distribution

Challenge

• Inefficiencies from manual data entry and fragmented workflows across carrier portals
• Lack of support for LTL (less-than-truckload) carriers in the legacy ERP system
• Errors in shipping processes, including incorrect weights on bills of lading (BOL)
• Limited scalability for nationwide distribution and third-party manufacturing
• Complex compliance requirements tied to tobacco licensing

ERP

Acumatica

Solution

Descartes Pacejet Shipping

Results

• Standardized 100% of BOLs, ensuring contractual clarity and reducing risks of disputes
• Reduced manual data entry errors to virtually zero, cutting invoice corrections by 95%
• Maintained a two-person shipping team while increasing shipping volume by 50% over five years
• Saved an estimated 10% annually on shipping costs through automated rate shopping and accurate weights
• Expanded nationwide shipping to all 50 states, leveraging 15-20 LTL carriers