The Material Handling Blog

When people hear the term 3PL, they might ask questions such as: “What is a 3PL?” A 3PL or third-party logistics is a business that provides logistics operations to other business. These value-added logistic services include:

The average box is 40% too large for its contents and eliminating excess volume would result in 24 million fewer truckloads per year in the United States, according to DHL, The Logistics Trend Radar. With increased focus on sustainability and supply chain impacts to a company’s bottom-line, the importance of packaging strategy has never been higher. Fortunately for supply chain leaders, packaging automation has continued to evolve to address this need and the time has never been better to consider how right-sized packaging could positively impact your supply chain.

Bag or box? They aren’t the only packing options, but they are certainly the most prevalent when it comes to retail fulfillment. With ecommerce activity on the rise, planning for and designing DC efficiency around single order pick and pack operations is a necessary shift to remaining competitive in the retail industry. Not only does this factor into meeting consumers’ quick turnaround expectations but also in keeping costs low. When it comes to packing and shipping, you can make efficiencies in larger factors such as operations and system design but also in smaller details like the size of the parcel. Shipping fast and cost efficiently is a balancing act that starts in warehouse or distribution center design. Whether you are working with polybags, boxes or both, appropriate automation sizing and integration with surrounding equipment has immediate and lasting impacts.

The world of automation is more complicated than it has ever been, with several emerging technology options and configurations now readily available with more to come. What we know, however, is that creating a foundation for long-term resilience relies on adaptable automation. Together with data-backed system integration you can overcome business challenges to meet objectives now and, in the future, reaping better ROIs. This means taking a detailed look at the processes before a package leaves the warehouse.

Dealing with returns and reverse logistics can be a struggle for ecommerce order fulfillment - especially in the retail and consumer goods industries. Here's how we helped one client improve their returns process.

A seleção, o empacotamento e o envio é bastante simples. Mas com pressões cada vez maiores para processar pedidos de forma mais rápida, essas tarefas podem dar à sua empresa uma vantagem competitiva. Quando analiso para o centro de distribuição do cliente, há certos indicadores que procuro para encontrar oportunidades de melhoria. Para uma empresa que processa pedidos de comércio eletrônico, os tanques de coleta estão no topo dessa lista. Embora algumas vezes eles sejam necessários, costumam ser uma bandeira vermelha para ineficiências operacionais subjacentes. No entanto, essas ineficiências são facilmente solucionadas por meio de uma combinação de atualizações do fluxo do processo e nova automação. Esses projetos geralmente têm um ROI incrível, pagando o investimento inicial em um a dois anos. Além disso, são escolhas fáceis para o cliente implementar.

Pick, pack and ship is fairly straightforward but with increasing pressures to process orders faster and faster, these tasks can give your company a competitive edge.

For most companies, warehouse efficiency has become a matter of survival versus the profitability goals of a few years ago. Thus, most companies are looking for even more ways to make their day-to-day processes more efficient.