Jill Appel
Palatine,IL
Summary
Service-focused Transportation Manager with extensive experience in supply chain management. Highly skilled at efficiency management, cost reduction and performance maximization to ensure the timely flow throughout the transportation life cycle. Dedicated to continuous productivity improvements through training as well as timely and efficient transportation operations. Stellar problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Thrives on new challenges.
Overview
19
19
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Manager, Transportation
Essendant
Deerfield, IL
09.2022 - Current
- Manages the flow of global and domestic transportation to ensure the timely delivery of goods into 26 distribution centers
- Leads cross-functional project teams to achieve milestones and deliver high-quality results
- Engages team to ensure alignment to meet goals and objectives
- Develops and implements team operational standards, policies and procedures
- Utilizes data-driven insights regarding transportation and operations costs to make informed decisions
- Negotiate rates with transportation providers
- Develops KPIs to monitor carrier on-time performance and establish corrective action plan when necessary
Inbound Transportation Manager
Essendant
04.2018 - 09.2022
- Managed inbound consolidation network comprised of roughly 800 unique supplier locations
- Supported the deconsolidation of import containers through 3 facilities for distribution to 34 DCs
- Responsible for Inbound/Outbound domestic transportation and 3PL management
- Manages carrier relationships within in a high-volume multi-modal network (Rail, FTL, LTL, Parcel)
- Guided the vendor implementation JDA / Blue Yonder TMS to optimize shipments
- Leads large, multi-department supply chain projects to optimize the inbound consolidation network while reducing costs
- Collaborates with finance team to establish annual budget
- Directs the day-to-day activities of associates
Sr. Analyst, Transportation
True Value
04.2006 - 03.2018
- Managed inbound freight from over 3,000 vendors to 13 distribution centers to ensure timely availability of product and lowest cost
- Interacted with vendors and carriers to answer questions and resolve issues
- Conducted freight analysis to support activity-based accounting
- Negotiated freight allowances, metrics and terms with vendors to ensure cost effectiveness
- Designed an Access database to streamline transportation reporting
- Researched and documented standard procedures for transportation department
- Re-designed Vendors Online website providing a uniform platform for supplier communication while simplifying login and navigation
Supervisor, Logistics
Market Day – Itasca, IL
04.2005 - 04.2006
- Implemented new distribution strategies for brochure program to reduce costs by over $75,000
- Negotiated rates and maintained contracts with over 60 refrigerated truckload service providers to meet time sensitive delivery standards while driving down costs
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Liberal Arts
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Whitewater, WISkills
- Team Leadership
- TMS routing and maintenance
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Contract and rate negotiation
- KPI development
- Budgeting
- Process improvement
- Project management
- Innovation
- Drive for success
- Strategic planning
- Data-driven decision-making
- Problem-solving abilities
Additional Information
- MS Office proficiency
- MS Access/SQL creation of queries, reporting and macros
- Ability to extract, analyze and present data
Timeline
Senior Manager, Transportation
Essendant
09.2022 - Current
Inbound Transportation Manager
Essendant
04.2018 - 09.2022
Sr. Analyst, Transportation
True Value
04.2006 - 03.2018
Supervisor, Logistics
Market Day – Itasca, IL
04.2005 - 04.2006
Bachelor of Arts - Liberal Arts
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater