For businesses aiming to streamline their supply chain operations, partnering with a 3PL provider is a prudent idea, as they can manage all or parts of your supply chain operation and typically provide transportation, warehousing, and inventory management.
These services are fundamental in modern logistics but will not help you stand out from the competition. Certain 3PL providers go above and beyond these rudimentary offerings and provide a few value-added services that can significantly enhance your supply chain.
As the term suggests, these value-added services contribute extra benefits and minimize work, enhancing overall performance and operational efficiency. Some of the most common examples of value-added services include the following.
Temperature-Controlled Storage
Businesses dealing with perishable or chemical products face the risk of product spoilage when storing or transporting their products. Temperature-controlled reefers and warehousing space can overcome these issues by sustaining an optimal temperature range from supplier to retailer.
Refrigerated trucks, insulated containers, and climate-controlled warehouses maintain prespecified temperatures through integrated sensors and ventilation systems. These systems continually monitor the internal atmosphere. adjusting when necessary.
Temperature-controlled has become a requirement for pharmaceutical, dairy, and beverage businesses aiming to reduce losses due to spoilage.
Cross-Docking
Cross-docking is an innovative way to speed up deliveries and reduce storage costs. By moving products directly from incoming docks to outgoing transportation without interim storage time, you significantly reduce storage costs while ensuring quicker deliveries to customers.
Unlike traditional storage which requires products to rest in a warehouse before distribution, cross-docking streamlines the process substantially by bypassing the need for long-term storage.
With effective cross-docking, your products will reach their destination faster, and your inventory management becomes drastically simpler - immediately adding value to your supply chain.
Custom Labelling
In today’s dynamic marketplace, where hundreds of products vie for consumer attention, custom labeling offered by 3PLs can make your brand stand out in a sea of packaging.
Custom labeling uses technology like digital printers to create bespoke labels tailored to your brand. You have total flexibility over design, and you can add vibrant images, logos, unique texts, or barcodes. Stylish personalization can help your product stand out on crowded retail shelves, building brand awareness and sales.
Bundle Wrapping
Bundle wrapping involves consolidating individual items into a bulk offering, simplifying transportation, and reducing delivery costs significantly. Beyond the logistical benefits, offering unique product bundles is a great way to move large quantities of inventory from warehouse to retailer.
The process of bundle wrapping products is quick and efficient, as automated machines wrap products in heat-sealed plastic film, protecting them from damage and handling issues.
Variety Packing
Variety packaging enables businesses to package diverse items in a single unit, providing an organized and efficient way of shipping mixed SKU orders to minimize inventory.
By offering a variety of packs, companies can cater to various customer tastes without the inconvenience of separate packaging processes. Beyond this, by bundling popular products with new SKUs or underappreciated products, you help your consumers expand their horizons.
Moreover, for customers, it provides a "tester" pack of sorts, that makes it easy for first-time buyers to try more of your product line and discover what they like the best.
Reverse Logistics
Reverse logistics, a key value-added service of 3PL providers manages the return and reintegration of goods into the supply chain. Managing returns is often a hassle for businesses, and having a partner to manage documentation, transportation, and processing is crucial for long-term success.
By proficiently managing product returns, refunds, or exchanges, 3PLs ensure a smoother transactional experience for consumers. It adds a sense of confidence to buyers knowing that they can purchase something from your store and return it if anything goes wrong.
Quality Inspections
Ensuring the goods meet standard quality parameters before dispatch saves your business from potential complaints and protects your brand reputation. However, dealing with these checks internally can be manpower intensive and take away from primary areas like production or sales.
Rather than hiring new staff or shipping subpar products, employing 3PLs for quality inspections can mitigate these risk factors effectively by assuring that all your shipped items meet stringent quality demands.
Container Stuffing & De-Stuffing
Container stuffing and de-stuffing involves the efficient loading and unloading of goods from shipping containers. This process, when efficiently executed by a 3PL provider, can drastically cut down on time and effort for businesses, while allowing you to ship a large quantity of goods for a low rate.
The role of a 3PL provider has evolved far beyond traditional functions, and those that can provide any of these value-added services can significantly enhance supply chain operations.
As a business, partnering with a 3PL provider that offers these powerful services is one of the best strategic moves you can make. 3PLs specialize in optimizing supply chains, and with these specialized services, they can give you a competitive advantage.
Freight Xperts specializes in Vancouver 3PL warehouse services and trucking across North America. We specialize in Vancouver 3PL Warehousing services, full truckload and less than truckload services including dry van, temperature controlled, and flatbed, plus cross-border shipping.
Our goal is to provide the highest level of service in the most cost-effective manner possible for the warehousing and trucking of your products ranging from single pallets to full truck loads.