Sporting Goods: 30% Less Labor & 70% Faster Shipping with RF-SMART

KR Strikeforce, a bowling products manufacturer headquartered in Melrose Park, Illinois, is one of the only bowling companies assembling their goods from start to finish in the United States. As the most trusted name in bowling, Strikeforce needed a warehouse management solution and shipping software to meet their global demand. 

NS Case Studies - Info Picture - KR Strikeforce

INDUSTRY: eCommerce

ERP: NetSuite

CHALLENGE

On a legacy WMS that was clunky, hard to train new team members on, lacked cloud-based scanning capabilities, and fell short of delivering the all-in-one functionality they needed.

RESULTS

With RF-SMART WMS and RF-SMART Shipping, Strikeforce cut labor costs by 30%, significantly accelerated shipping, and reduced training time from hours to just minutes.

RF-SMART PRODUCTS USED

RF-SMART Shipping
RF-SMART WMS

 

30%
Reduction in Labor Costs

70%
Decrease in Shipping Time

 

"We just scan, scan, ship and the labels print without
clogging up fulfillment."

Collin Smith, Operations Manager at KR Strikeforce

The Challenge

As KR Strikeforce worked to meet growing global demand, both their warehouse operations and shipping process became significant sources of friction and cost.

Key issues:

  • Clunky, difficult-to-use WMS: Their first scanning solution made their transition to NetSuite harder than necessary. It was antiquated, hard to train on, and failed to support the flexibility needed for exception-based orders.
  • No inventory counting routine: Without regular stock counts, Strikeforce had blind spots in their inventory accuracy, unknowingly incurring avoidable labor and resource costs.
  • Shipping bottlenecks during peak season: Their previous shipping software caused significant delays, wasting minutes per transaction and required employees to work through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend each year to catch up on hundreds of orders.
  • Manual carrier decision-making: Staff were required to manually choose a shipping carrier between every scan, slowing down fulfillment and adding unnecessary complexity to the packing process.
  • Heavy onboarding burden: Training new employees required days of hands-on instruction with three supervisors, along with constantly updated documentation for multiple systems and manual processes.

quoteWe went from no scanning to some kind of scanning. So it was better than nothing, but looking back, it was painful to say the least, which is why we started evaluating
RF-SMART."
-
Brian Nendza, VP of Operations at KR Strikeforce

The Solution

Strikeforce chose RF-SMART WMS and Shipping for NetSuite, building a unified warehouse and fulfillment solution on the platform they were already running. This eliminated the need to jump between systems or re-key data across disconnected tools.

With RF-SMART, Strikeforce:

  • Implemented a weekly blind stock count using RF-SMART's Stock Counting function, achieving real-time visibility and accuracy across their warehouse inventory.
  • Deployed RF-SMART Shipping with a Rules Engine to fully automate carrier selection, choosing the lowest-cost compliant provider with a single scan, no extra clicks required.
  • Embedded smart shipping rules for made-to-order shipments, removing manual decisions at the packing station entirely and eliminating guesswork for shipping clerks.
  • Leveraged anon-site implementation at their Chicago facility, giving the RF-SMART team direct visibility into warehouse operations and allowing for tailored configuration guidance.
  • Simplified workflows so thoroughly that seasonal employees and new hires could learn to process orders within minutes.

quote"We just scan, scan, ship and the label prints without clogging up fulfillment."
- Collin Smith, Operations Manager at KR Strikeforce

 

The Transformation

Strikeforce dramatically improved both warehouse accuracy and shipping efficiency by:

  • Reducing labor costs by 30% through weekly stock counting and real-time inventory visibility
  • Cutting shipping time by nearly 70% by eliminating software delays and automating carrier selection

quote"RF-SMART's WMS is self-explanatory, especially the way the mobile scanner walks you through the warehouse. We've been able to put rules in place to overcome the complexity of exception-based orders." 
- Collin Smith, Operations Manager at KR Strikeforce


These gains enabled them to:
  • Save a full day of labor as all orders placed over the long weekend are now processed the following Monday
  • Reduce onboarding time from multiple days with three supervisors down to minutes, even for seasonal staff
  • Expand their RF-SMART usage over time, adding features and functionality as their partnership with RF-SMART deepened

RF-SMART's ease of use and hands-on implementation approach freed up time and resources across the business, relieved management of longstanding training pain points, and created a better working environment on the warehouse floor. 

quote"For our made-to-order shipments, we can simply scan the order and RF-SMART's Shipping Rules Engine validates the details in the background for us. It's all automated, no additional clicks or scans necessary." 
- Brian Nendza, VP of Operations at KR Strikeforce

Read the Full Case Study

 

“RF-SMART Shipping takes the guesswork out and reduces decisions made by the shipping clerk. It’s tremendous.”

Read to learn more about why Strikeforce chose RF-SMART.

Download the Sporting Goods: 30% Less Labor & 70% Faster Shipping with RF-SMART Case Study

CLOSE