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Canadian Alliance Terminals Sees Explosive Growth and Better Customer Experience Through Strategic Collaboration with Extensiv

Written by Extensiv | Sep 12, 2023 3:00:00 PM

El Segundo, Calif. Extensiv, the leading provider of omnichannel software solutions for warehouse, inventory, and order management, today announced an expanded collaboration with Vancouver, British Columbia-based Canadian Alliance Terminals Inc. Canadian Alliance Terminals, a leading third-party logistics (3PL) service provider, built its substantial North American growth with Extensiv as its technology foundation. Leveraging Extensiv 3PL Warehouse Manager and Extensiv Network Manager, Canadian Alliance Terminals expects to accelerate its growth trajectory further.

In the past few years, Canadian Alliance Terminals has succeeded by building a state-of-the-art facility, streamlining processes, and establishing a robust technological foundation. Recognizing speed to market as a critical differentiator, brands have increasingly chosen Canadian Alliance, leading to a 35% growth in order volume over the past year. The company anticipates doubling again in the next three years. 

"To continue this pace of growth, we recognized the need to provide more than just warehousing – we had to deliver a comprehensive, tech-driven solution," said William McKinnon, president of Canadian Alliance Terminals. “Our partnership with Extensiv has been and continues to be a game changer, offering us a platform that gives us the horsepower to scale our growth exponentially, magnify revenues, and work collaboratively with our fulfillment network partners while eliminating the traditional capital-intensive approach.”

Experience Meets Innovation: Modern Warehouse Management

McKinnon joined Canadian Alliance Terminals in December 2017 after a successful logistics, commerce, and sales career. It was immediately clear to McKinnon that a significant technological shift was necessary. By early 2018, a management team concluded that replacing the warehouse management system (WMS) was paramount. Drawing from McKinnon’s experiences with global firms like DB Schenker, the goal became clear: align with a partner with deep technical expertise and leverage software for enhanced metrics transparency and easy, automated integrations. This pursuit of adaptability and efficiency led Canadian Alliance Terminals to Extensiv 3PL Warehouse Manager, recognized for its seamless customer system integration and optimization capabilities.

"We're not just about one location. Our investment goes beyond physical buildings. It's about our commitment to our customers and our passion for driving growth through strategic partnerships," said McKinnon. “Canadian Alliance Terminals remains committed to innovation and excellence, with a clear goal of ensuring our clientele receive top-notch service while helping them grow organically throughout North America.”

Canadian Alliance Terminals Leverages Extensiv’s Network Manager to Reshape Their Fulfillment Strategy

Extensiv Network Manager empowers Canadian Alliance Terminals to offer next generation fulfillment solutions, order orchestration, and global visibility to their customers: 

  • Unlimited Scalability with minimal risk: Canadian Alliance Terminals can now access a vast network of 3PL warehouses running the Extensiv platform. The Network Manager Program helps Canadian Alliance Terminals manage their customers’ fulfillment business around the country and around the globe, helping to diversify inventory, expand into new territories and provide additional value added services by using a partner network of 3PLs.  The network expansion model allows for more fluid business strategies and growth while eliminating the risk and overhead of standing up a new facility.
  • Maximize ROI through reduced shipping time in transit: Using Network Manager’s enterprise grade order management tools, orders automatically route to the closest fulfillment center for processing. History and demand planning reviews indicate additional warehouse location needs to minimize shipping times and costs, lowering the overall cost to their customer, and the graphical interface makes adding new warehouses to the network easy when the customer is ready to realize the ROI
  • Real-time tracking and analytics: Extensiv offers Canadian Alliance Terminals sophisticated tracking tools and analytics to keep the company informed about inventory and shipments at all times. Visibility they pass on to their customers for a seamless customer experience.
  • Better shipping cost efficiencies: To meet consumers’ high expectations without similarly high costs, Extensiv Network Manager enables Canadian Alliance Terminals to partner with other geographically dispersed 3PLs to offer lower shipping rates and faster delivery times. Leveraging intelligent order routing, the system can select the best location with inventory available with the lowest shipping rate, helping Canadian Alliance create a better consumer experience for their clients. 
  • Reliable supply chain today and future proofing for tomorrow: Leveraging Extensiv’s modern WMS combined with Network Manager, Canadian Alliance Terminals has streamlined processes for fewer disruptions and a more reliable supply chain and can adapt and scale to future market shifts.

About Canadian Alliance Terminals Inc. 

Established in 1999, Canadian Alliance grew steadily under the stewardship of an expanding team of dedicated warehousing and transportation professionals. This team has always prided themselves on unwavering Excellence in Service and Commitment to Customers. Our goal is to ensure that every employee, supplier, and customer who comes into contact with Canadian Alliance has a positive experience.

About Extensiv

Extensiv, formerly 3PL Central, is a visionary technology leader focused on creating the future of omnichannel fulfillment. We partner with warehouse professionals and entrepreneurial brands to transform their fulfillment operations in the radically changing world of commerce and consumer expectations. Through our unrivaled network of more than 1,500 connected 3PLs and a suite of integrated, cloud-native warehouse management (WMS), order management (OMS), inventory management (IMS), and integration management software, we enable modern merchants and brands to fulfill demand anywhere with superior flexibility and scale without painful platform migrations as they grow. More than 25,000 logistics professionals and thousands of brands trust Extensiv every day to drive commerce at the pace that modern consumers expect. Learn more at www.extensiv.com