Businesses are increasingly turning to third-party logistics (3PL) providers to manage all of their supply chain needs. These companies specialize in receiving, storing and delivering products for multiple businesses. Outsourcing your business' logistics department to one of these companies brings you multiple benefits. Below, you'll learn about three of them.
1. Increased Efficiency
The main benefit of outsourcing your business' logistics needs is that supply chain management is the only thing that 3PL providers do. Because of it, they're well versed in the industry and have existing relationships with multiple carriers. This expertise allows them to select the best carrier for your shipments depending on where they're headed, resulting in overall increased efficiency and lower transportation costs.
2. Reduced Infrastructure Requirements
3PL providers provide their own warehouses along with the staff needed to run them. Your business can leave all of its inventory in the 3PL provider's warehouses instead of leasing and managing its own. Warehouse efficiency requirements are increasing due to the fast shipping times expected by clients, and it can be difficult for businesses to implement standards that improve efficiency when they have no expertise in the area.
Supply chain 3PL solutions take care of your warehouse needs for you, including packing and shipping. This frees your business from having to manage logistics and allows you to concentrate on business goals like product development, marketing and branding.
3. Easy Access to New Logistics Technology
Newer supply chain management software provides features such as real-time inventory tracking. This tracking integrates with GPS software and allows your business to track the location of each individual product that you produce until it's delivered to a vendor. You'll be able to see inventory levels in each individual warehouse along with goods that are currently in transit. Inventory tracking is important for logistics because it allows you to prioritize shipments to where they're most needed.
Unfortunately, integrating real-time inventory management across the entire supply chain is difficult. Even if your business' IT department has the knowledge necessary to implement advances in logistics software, it's a project that takes a substantial amount of time to complete. 3PL providers are already using advanced supply chain management software, which frees your business from having to devise a strategy on your own.
Overall, almost every business can benefit from outsourcing its logistics. This is true even if the current in-house logistics department is functioning well. Third-party logistics providers serve multiple clients, and they need to compete with one another for business—this means that they become excellent at what we do. With supply chain 3PL solutions, you'll be able to focus more on running your business rather than on the nuts and bolts of logistics management.
To learn more about supply chain 3pl solutions, feel free to reach out to specialists to learn more
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