Change is inevitable. Just because you are doing well today, does not mean the future will be the same. Likewise, the role of a warehouse in a supply chain has changed through the years.
A warehouse is no longer simply a space to store goods. Instead, warehouses have become a facility that connect the upstream and downstream of a supply chain. Warehouses face product increased proliferation along with increased volumes of goods resulting in additional complexity.
With each passing year, handling goods in less time and with less error has become one of the most critical challenges. By strictly maintaining the functions of a warehouse, you can optimise your space, order processing and shipping times. Providers of 3PL in Melbourne have adopted certain critical parameters to ensure that key deliverables are achieved with consistency.
Read on to learn 4 warehousing secrets adopted by providers of 3PL in Melbourne that can assist you to gain the maximum advantage from warehousing.
Warehouse locations
Whether you are importing or exporting goods, the strategic location of a warehouse can reduce freight forwarding costs and speed up delivery. The challenge is to identify optimal zones for both your company and your customers from the perspective of where the goods are coming from and where they need to be delivered. Additionally, a warehouse should be easily accessible by major transportation channels.
One secret of providers of 3PL Melbourne is that they have consider the current shipping locations of their customers’ suppliers, as well as the delivery locations of their customers. If you are importing or exporting a great deal of freight, 3PL warehousing facilities close to major port locations will strengthen your product flow. It will not only benefit your transport rates from port to warehouse but also reduce costs from warehouse to customer.
Warehouse processes
Warehouse processes vary from customer to customer. Based on the product type, some customers have strict order fulfilment processes and safety requirements when compared to others. The secret to optimum warehouse efficiency lies in controlling inventory flow. Consequently, an eye over the handling process of goods in a warehouse can save time and energy. Providers of 3PL in Melbourne focus on aligning the warehouse process to your unique needs.
They offer processes such as bulk or piece pick, first in-first out (FIFO) or last in-first out (LIFO), whichever is suitable for your need. Furthermore, if your 3PL provider also manages your freight forwarding, they can ensure that shipments are arriving simultaneously on dock at the time when delivery trucks arrive to save space. Thus, to get the maximum benefit out of all warehouse assets, it is particularly important that processes should be organised as efficiently as possible.
Advanced technology
The third secret is the use of advanced technology. Inventory tracking and accuracy are important when managing logistics. Every movement in a warehouse is an activity that can potentially lose track of inventory, or result in additional picking. The volume surge in today’s processes have made manual entry and hand-written tracking obsolescent.
However, old-styled warehouses still exist in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Townsville, and Perth. The manual processes used in these facilities have the potential to create havoc. Providers of 3PL in Melbourne have integrated technology that include scanners and barcodes, which eliminate many human errors while also automating the collection of valuable inventory data.
Workforce training and safety policy
The secret asset in the warehouse is just not technology; it is the also the people utilising the technology. Even though you may have an excellent designed warehouse and the perfect location, a lack in training, retraining and safety policies can obstruct your warehouse operational processes. Furthermore, warehouse safety policies create safe environments for their employees.
Providers of 3PL in Melbourne look for the success of their people as a signal of their warehouse success and understand the importance of safety in warehouse management. Providers of 3PL in Melbourne, such as BCR, set guidelines which provide secure workplaces for all employees.
Warehouses will remain a critical link in a supply chain. Whether setting up new operations in a warehouse or reshaping an existing one, the inefficient handling of warehouse activities can influence your supply chain performance. Responsible for storing and managing inventory, the warehousing function plays major part in inventory flow optimisation. If not optimised, it can lead to increased costs, an unpleasant experience and unsatisfied customers.
It takes time to discover the best warehousing processes and services. The secret of success lies in knowing, focussing and making all the factors work together. Outsourcing to providers of 3PL in Melbourne such as BCR can assist your business as they have secured a vast amount of best practice knowledge, and at the same time deliver flexibility to your business as things change. To learn more about outsourcing warehousing to a 3PL, download the free e-book below.
For more than a century BCR has continued to assist small, medium and large businesses to achieve an optimum logistics solution with 3PL warehousing, air freight and sea freight services to and from the major ports in Australia including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Fremantle (Perth).
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