Resources

Among the first considerations for anyone seeking distribution services are the economic stability of their prospective fulfillment partner, their capacity to handle the tasks they're given and their ability to keep internal control over their operations. TASCO's ability to provide low cost, quality services and maintain customer confidence is due, in part, to its management goal of maintaining financial and operational control over its resources.

Information Systems

The experience associated with 30 years of helping associations and firms create successful publication and product distribution programs is a powerful resource. TASCO has brought this experience to bear in its applications software for collecting and processing orders.

All TASCO applications software has been developed in-house and is specifically designed for publications and product distribution. This provides for tremendous flexibility in accommodating the special needs of each TASCO client. As your needs change, modifications can be easily and quickly made. There is never a delay waiting for a response from an outside software developer, who may not understand your needs.

TASCO also places great emphasis on reporting. All the reports necessary to effectively monitor your sales activity are provided on a weekly, monthly, year-end or ad hoc basis. Reports can be provided in paper format or electronically.

Facilities

Facility ownership is very important because lease terms for large facilities can directly impact storage costs and other related expenses. Since a partnership with a fulfillment firm is a long term arrangement and facility costs are generally among the largest expenses a distribution firm must incur, it's always comforting to know your fulfillment partner has the economic protections and stability that can only take place through asset ownership.

TASCO owns its 192,000 square foot headquarters facility and just completed constructing another 58,000 square foot distribution center. Both are located in the Waldorf, Maryland area, and are within 25 miles of Washington, D.C. The TASCO headquarters facility is of brick and block construction and is fully insulated, alarmed and sprinklered. It has been designed to store and ship effectively while offering maximum protection to stock.

Telephone Systems

If the call center staff is the heart to any Customer Care Center, the communications system is its backbone. TASCO realizes this and has made recent, major investments in its incoming call hardware, switch and operating systems. All this adds up to an instantaneous, positive response to your buyers' inquiries.

TASCO has partnered with Avaya Technologies for its state-of-the-art Definity telephone communications system. Some of its features include skill-based routing, dynamic Call Center agent realignment, client-specific greetings and announcements, off-site call transferring, quality assurance call monitoring, real-time call center reporting and a series of standard reports that fit most needs. Additionally, TASCO can import data from its call center system for customized reports as needed.

Warehouse Operations System

TASCO's warehousing operation is equipped with all the tools necessary to efficiently manage inventory and accurately process work. TASCO's storage is organized in pallet racks designed for use with standard GPO storage requirements and is made available through TASCO's automated location system.

TASCO has made a sizable investment in automated conveyor systems to organize and speed the processing of orders. Each conveyor system has been specifically designed to accommodate the precise dimensions and characteristics of our clients' packages.

TASCO uses a multi-carrier shipping management system operating from a Windows NT platform and multiple processing stations. The system is compliant with the major carriers' specifications for billing and information interchange and is customized by TASCO to meet the needs of our clients. As shipments are processed, they are evaluated against a set of programmed business rules to insure that the shipping methods are in accordance with the objectives of our clients and their buyers. The data collected in the shipment databases are merged and distributed selectively to the carriers and our clients.

TASCO's commitment to providing an environmentally-conscious workplace is demonstrated by our policy of using only emission-free pallet lifts and bio-degradable wrapping supplies. We've also invested in equipment used for the preparation of obsolete materials for recycling. In 1999, TASCO recycled over 300 tons of waste material.