Outsourcing your logistics needs can be daunting. The first step before outsourcing order fulfillment is to conduct a third-party logistics center eval. Finding the right match can take time because not every 3PL is suitable for every type of business.
This blog will guide you through the nine essential services of a 3PL company.
1. Freight Forwarding Service
Freight forwarders often manage and keep track of shipments on behalf of other businesses. In addition to renting space in distribution fleets, managing relationships with customers and suppliers, developing timetables, and reporting progress, a freight forwarder can also be a 3PL provider. Freight forwarders handle a wide range of air, sea, and land transportation.
2. Transferring Commodities Between Modes Of Transportation
Moving goods in transit modes has become easier with the complement of 3PL. While there are many ways to switch between different modes of transportation, these are some of the most common:
● Using shipping containers designed to interface easily with multiple modes of transportation, intermodal transportation
● Cross-docking makes it easy to transport, load, and unload objects and stabilize and destabilize them.
You can increase effectiveness using these two modes of mode transfer.
3. Reverse Logistics Service
Customers can return products and goods that are not suited for their intended purpose thanks to reverse logistics. Reverse logistics handles customer returns, product delivery, refunds, and management or disposal of excess inventory.
4. Environmentally Responsible Shipping
Some products require special transportation arrangements. Specialized trucks are equipped with systems to control temperature, light levels, humidity, and other variables to keep products safe till their destination.
5. Combinations And Separations Service
When products from multiple shipments are combined into one shipment by a 3PL provider, they may be shipped together. In contrast, deconsolidation divides product shipments into separate shipments with different receivers and final destinations.
6. Distribution 3PL Services
Distribution is another type of service that 3PL companies offer. It includes products moving from the supplier’s storage facilities to customers or other supply chain nodes. A 3PL company offers product tracking using GPS and Internet of Things (IoT) devices and commodity stabilization and decommissioning as part of its distribution services.
7. Warehouse and Storage Services
Managing the safe storage of items until they are needed elsewhere is one of the primary duties of a 3PL supplier. 3PL fulfillment services can provide public warehousing that can be hired to a specific client for a limited time and assigned to customers depending on desire.
8. Services For Completing Orders
The 3PL company offers the management, fulfillment, and distribution of orders. A 3PL provider handles the inventory and deducts it from the stock level after receiving orders. The 3PL retrieves the requested item from storage in its warehouse, packages it, and prepares it for shipping.
9. Procurement Services
The basis of procurement is the ordering and receipt of items from the supply chain upstream. A 3PL provider manages inventory on behalf of its client and notifies suppliers and manufacturers of stock levels as part of the purchasing and receiving service. Additionally, it coordinates the shipment of goods from the supplier to the 3PL warehouse, handles receipts, and monitors storage.
Conclusion
You can quickly monitor your 3PL’s performance and ensure to meet your clients’ demands by choosing key performance indicators (KPIs) to track. 3PL service guarantee that your packages arrive on schedule, in condition, at the right place, and at the right price. Internally, your company can benefit from accurate inventory information and simplified returns procedures.