Robert Bosch Corporation selected Southshore during a national search of third party logistics providers to develop and implement an off-site material warehouse in support of the Robert Bosch Corporation, Bosch Braking Systems plant in St. Joseph, Michigan.  Bosch is a tier one supplier to the automobile industry and manufactures anti-lock brakes and other automobile parts in St. Joseph.  Bosch required an off-site material warehouse (the Bosch Material Warehouse or BMW) to receive and store raw materials from Bosch suppliers, and to deliver this material as needed to the Bosch plant for production.  Bosch tasked Southshore to be the beta test warehousing logistics partner with the responsibility to develop and implement this off-site material warehouse to serve as a possible future integrated logistics solution for Robert Bosch manufacturing plants in North America.

Bosch directed Southshore to have the BMW operational within two months.  Southshore successfully implemented the BMW by accomplishing the following tasks in less than sixty days:

• Drafted, negotiated and executed a warehouse logistics contract to administrate the BMW
• Defined warehouse operating and quality control requirements
• Developed information system and communications requirements
• Directed a team effort to define, write, test and implement system and manual interfaces between inventory management software and internet based i-Supply software
• Constructed warehouse offices and space within a large Southshore owned distribution center for the BMW
• Developed warehouse operations processes and procedures to satisfy Bosch current and future requirements
• Wrote and received Bosch approval of a fifty-page warehouse operations manual for the BMW
• Hired and trained ten new Southshore employees for the BMW
• Acquired and installed a computer network with T1 internet access and all warehouse office equipment and systems

Bosch recommended Southshore’s warehousing logistics and transportation integration services to several foreign domiciled suppliers to Bosch that were not initially part of the BMW.  As a result, Southshore’s third party logistics work in St. Joseph now also serves Bosch suppliers based in Germany, India, France and Brazil. These Bosch suppliers’ products are shipped to Southshore via intermodal channels.  Southshore communicates directly with these Bosch suppliers by telephone, e-mail and facsimile in their foreign offices in order to service and support our mutual customer, Robert Bosch Corporation.