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Kimberly-Clark
How Early Tendering and Leveling — built on LevelLoad — eliminated order bunching and saved millions annually across Kimberly-Clark's entire North American network.
"AI in supply chain management is not a future aspiration — it's a present reality."
Scott DeGroot · VP Global Logistics, Kimberly-Clark
60%
Reduction in daily variability
Across all North American operations
80%
Of shipments covered by Early Tendering and Leveling
Across the North American network
10mo
Design to full deployment
Across the full NA network
The Challenge
Order bunching was making the network unmanageable.

Kimberly-Clark's North American replenishment network was running reactively. Manufacturing plants were releasing shipments unpredictably — creating spikes in carrier demand that planners couldn't get ahead of.

Securing trucks last-minute at premium rates had become the norm. The team recognized this wasn't a demand problem — consumer behavior had normalized post-pandemic. It was a planning and execution problem, and it was costing millions.

Scott DeGroot, VP of Global Logistics, saw it as a reset moment — an opportunity to fundamentally rethink how the network deployed inventory.

Unpredictable shipment spikes
Manufacturing plants releasing orders in bursts rather than a steady flow.
Last-minute carrier procurement
Trucks secured at premium rates because capacity wasn't reserved in advance.
Premium freight costs
Reactive planning meant consistently paying above-market rates across the network.
No network-wide visibility
Planning, TMS, WMS, and carrier systems operating independently with no unified view.
Daily data pull
EARL pulls shipment volume and committed lane capacity daily from Planning, TMS, and WMS — building a real-time picture of what the network needs and what it can handle.
30-day deployment plan
LevelLoad calculates the optimal number of trucks per lane per day — smoothing spikes by pulling forward urgent shipments and redistributing others across a flexible planning window.
Placeholder STO created
A shell Stock Transfer Order is submitted to the ERP with a dummy code — locking in carrier capacity days in advance without committing to specific product yet.
Early tender to carrier
TMS receives the tender automatically — securing preferred core carriers before other shippers can, at committed rates rather than spot market premiums.
Planning TMS WMS ERP
What Changed
EARL gave the network a plan it could actually execute.

Kimberly-Clark co-built EARL — Early AM Release and Leveling — with ProvisionAi, on top of the LevelLoad platform. The tool runs daily, analyzing shipment volume against committed lane capacity and recommending a redistribution that smooths the flow without touching service levels or delivery dates.

Instead of reacting to spikes, planners now see them coming 30 days out. Instead of scrambling for trucks, carrier slots are reserved days in advance. The planning team shifted from managing every shipment to resolving only the exceptions EARL flags.

The implementation was a 10-month project from design to full deployment across the entire North American network — now covering approximately 80% of all shipments.

Recognition
EARL earned Kimberly-Clark a finalist nomination for the 2022 CSCMP Supply Chain Innovator of the Year Award — the most recognized supply chain innovation award in North America.
The Results
Millions saved. A network transformed.
0%
Reduction in daily variability
Across all North American operations
0%
Of shipments covered by EARL
Across the full NA network
0%
Recommendation acceptance rate
Planners acting on EARL suggestions
0mo
Design to full deployment
Across the full NA network
Millions saved annually
In North American replenishment freight costs — every year, on an ongoing basis.
"
Kimberly-Clark fully deployed the platform across all North American operations. As a result of both the process improvements and new technology, it reduced variability daily by 60% — particularly in locations where production plants are shipping to distribution centers.
Scott DeGroot · VP Global Logistics, Kimberly-Clark
See It In Your Network
Could your network run this smoothly?

Kimberly-Clark ships billions of dollars of product across North America. If LevelLoad could eliminate order bunching at that scale, it can work for your operation. Most clients see ROI within 4 months.

See How LevelLoad Works → Book a Call
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LevelLoad builds a 30-day capacity-balanced deployment schedule across your entire network — automatically balancing every lane, every site, and every carrier.

60%
Reduction in daily variability
90%
First tender acceptance rate
~4%
Replenishment freight savings
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