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23
Mar
2020

5 Reasons Why It’s Helpful to Use 3PL Warehousing and Trucking Providers

by Michael Kotendzhi | Warehousing, Trucking
5 Reasons Why It’s Helpful to Use 3PL Warehousing and Trucking Providers

Are the demands of your supply chain overbearing after a recent expansion? Are you unable to concentrate on your core functions because of miscellaneous business engagements? If your answer to any of these questions is a yes, then commercial logistics service providers (3PLs) are your ideal solution providers to these challenges.

Whether it’s warehousing, container delivery, packaging, heavy haul shipping, or inventory management, your company can get some extra help and benefits. This article highlights five benefits that your company can reap from partnering with 3PL service providers.

What solutions do 3PL service providers offer?

Third-party logistics service providers offer customized solutions that will fulfill your needs in the areas of warehousing, assembly, packaging, container delivery, and onsite integration. An ideal 3PL service provider should have thorough know-how in logistics. They should also have a wide array of resources, which can help in filling the gaps of your company’s deficiencies.

What benefits can you get from a 3PL provider?

You can save money and time

If you can avoid spending money on building a warehouse, facilitating container delivery, hiring extra labor, and installing technologies that support logistics, then you can save a lot of money. You could outsource all these functions to a 3PL provider and create more time for you to focus on your core functions. Apart from saving your company’s time and cutting its costs, 3PLs also do away with the need for extra staffing, paperwork, training, audits, billing, and optimization often linked to the supply chain.

You can scale up and down in a flexible way

If your company is expanding, you might need more room for warehousing, extra labor for inventory handling, or extra trucks for container delivery. Whether you’re planning for an expansion into new markets or dealing with a new product release, 3PL providers can support you by providing extra resources and space. Whether the expansion plan or the new product launch succeeds or not the 3PL providers can help you to scale up or down in a flexible manner.

You can harness a wider resource network than what you own

3PL companies often have a huge resource network, which has more advantages than any in-house supply chain found in most companies. If you have a limited network and resources and you can’t venture into the markets that you intend to venture into, then you can harness a 3PL company’s network and use it to your advantage. The 3PL companies have established relationships with other stakeholders in the market and you can take advantage of these relations as well as their resources.

You can expand your market reach

Do you want to reach into a new market that you know little about or lack the resources to do so? You can use a 3PL provider to position your new supply network in markets where your company lacks an established presence. If you get access to warehouses, container delivery trucks, and distribution centers in different regions, your company can get the resources to grow in new markets. Getting efficient container delivery and warehousing services without building storage facilities can allow your company to expand to almost any location.

Improved service optimization

It’s the goal of any business owner to fulfill the needs of their clients. But sometimes in-house supply chains get overburdened by the great amount of work, which they have to get done with a limited amount of resources. But by partnering with a third-party logistics service provider you can ensure that your customers’ needs get fulfilled. You can also ensure that they are happy because they can get accurate order fulfillment and prompt delivery of their orders.

Takeaway:

Some management advisers argue that companies can save money by handling all their supply chain tasks in-house. But sometimes this is not workable, especially; for some young and upcoming companies with limited resources. For small companies, trying to build warehouse storage and container delivery trucking systems can exhaust resources and hamper other core operations. As such, outsourcing logistics services to 3PL service providers is crucial for most medium-sized and growing companies.


Michael Kotendzhi is President of Operations & Transportation and a partner at 18 Wheels. Michael has over 15 years of experience and is equipped with a degree in Logistics from the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business. As well as a background in logistics from XPO Logistics (formally Kelron Logistics), North America's largest contract warehousing provider.

Michael's experience includes supply chain management, reverse logistics, & domestic transportation. He has developed 18 Wheels' trucking solutions, effectively utilizing the sister company's vehicle fleet and building a transportation supply-chain network across North America.