Case Study

Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores® is the nation’s largest specialty retailer of fabrics and crafts, offering an unmatched, under-one-roof selection of products for quilting, apparel, craft and home décor sewing along with a full array of components, tools and kits for crafters of all ages.

Century, Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores®, and Acuitive Solutions LLC formed a partnership to improve Jo-Ann’s freight payment process. The objective of the collaboration was to run all Jo-Ann freight bills through a pre-audit process to verify the charges prior to remittance.

Acuitive maintains Jo-Ann’s contracted rates and terms in its system. The auditing process initiates with Century feeding ASN/856 transactions from VIZIV to Acuitive. Acuitive then receives corresponding freight invoices via EDI 310 feeds from the Jo-Ann carriers. Invoice anomalies are identified systematically and flagged for non-payment pending follow up with the carrier.

Validated freight charges flow unimpeded from Acuitive to VIZIV. Jo-Ann’s Accounts Payable team then runs a VIZIV report summarizing validated carrier charges in order to process payment. The average invoice approval time is 7-8 days before shipment ETA.

Jo-Ann and its carriers save time, short and over-payments are eliminated, data integrity has improved and carriers are highly motivated to self-correct to speed payment. The program is a win-win for everyone. It earned us the 2011 Supply Chain Distinction Award for “Best Collaborative Practice”.