Architectural Lighting Company Basks in Centralized Communication

Overview

EcoSense Lighting is a Los Angeles–based, architectural lighting solutions company that aims to make spaces more beautiful. Producing both made-for-stock and custom high-quality LED lighting for customers such as Marriott, Tesla and Burberry, EcoSense requires a supply chain that delivers on time.

EcoSense employs a global team to meet the unique needs of each of its project clients. Working under the strict deadlines of large architectural projects, it was a challenge for EcoSense’s team members across the United States, China, and Hong Kong to stay aligned on their shipments efficiently.

With Flexport, EcoSense has been able to bring more visibility to its global team on shipment status, milestones and data, bringing peace of mind that they’ll be able to meet their project deadlines. With better team alignment, EcoSense is able to spend less time reacting to unforeseen developments and more time proactively improving the business.

Getting Started

As the Logistics & Fulfillment Manager of EcoSense Lighting, Andreas Andrea wears many hats. Much of his day is spent managing EcoSense’s partner relationships — their network of suppliers, distribution partners, and their freight forwarder.

“When I joined EcoSense, we were working with a more old school freight forwarder, where everything was done over email,” Andrea says. “You’d have to email them shipment dimensions, wait for them to email you back, and it took a lot of emails going back and forth to get products moving.”

“At the time,” Andrea says, “I didn’t fully know what a proper relationship with a freight forwarder should look like, but I knew that it had to be better than doing everything over email.” After a colleague suggested Flexport, he requested a demo, and went back to his forwarder. “I said to them, ‘Look, if can you do the things Flexport can then we’ll stick with you, because we know you,’ and they said, ‘We’re sorry, but we don’t have the capability to do that.’” The decision was made.

Global Team, Centralized Platform

Andrea wanted a platform where all shipment communication, data, and documents could be centralized to align his global team and suppliers across the U.S., China, and Hong Kong to meet project deadlines. “When you’re working on projects with electrical contractors and architects, you can’t have the lighting arrive late,” Andrea explains.

“We have our suppliers and our Hong Kong team onboarded to Flexport. Our suppliers can send Flexport shipment dimensions directly and Flexport provides us a quote quickly. By the next business day the shipment has been started.”

EcoSense’s supply chain analysts and demand planners can also access shipment data on the platform. “With Flexport, you don’t have to be a logistics expert to understand what’s going on. Flexport makes it easy to follow a timeline of events, shipment milestones, or to read shipment communication.”

From Uncertainty to Peace of Mind

Since switching to Flexport, Andrea has more time to dedicate to strategic efforts. “I’m able to focus on analysis and finding ways to reduce costs,” Andrea says. “I can focus on improving the business versus just running the logistics portion.”

“Not only has it freed up time, but it’s eliminated a lot of anxiety,” Andreas says. “Two years ago there was a lot of anxiety about the lack of visibility and uncertainty with the old system. With Flexport, anyone on our team can quickly check the status of any shipment. It’s given our team a lot of peace of mind.”