Positions Available
Lean Supply Solutions is looking for dedicated personnel. Job Offes – Warehouse
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Geography Serviced
Quickly and easily accommodating clients in locations throughout Canada, US & Mexico.
Lean Supply Solutions can accommodate clients in following areas:
Canada:
– Southern Ontario
– Alberta: Calgary, Edmonton
– British Columbia: Vancouver
– Manitoba: Winnipeg
– Quebec: Montreal, Quebec City
Continental USA:
– California
– New York
– Illinois
– Carolinas
Mexico
Launched initiative to become top provider in Mexico. See the Lean Supply Chain Solutions in Mexico press release
Quick turn-around and startup in other cities and locations.
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Is Now the Right Time to Change Your Third-Party Logistics Provider?
One of the ideas behind forming a partnership with a third-party logistics (3PL) service provider is that it will be a long lasting business relationship. Unfortunately, like all relationships, things don’t always work out as hoped. It may be that your 3PL provider hasn’t been meeting your expectations and has let you down one too many times in the past, or it might be that your current provider is still working out fine, but you’ve started wondering if you’re getting the best service or deal that you can. If you have ever wondered whether your current 3PL provider is truly right for you, try taking some of the following into account in order to make a proper assessment.
Signs You May Need a New 3PL Provider
Your Business is Outgrowing Them
The idea of “outgrowing” a 3PL provider can take two possible forms. The first is when your business develops to a point where it has begun needing things that your 3PL partner isn’t able to provide. For instance, you might want to expand into international shipping or your order volume has begun to exceed the abilities of your partner. If you have ever found yourself backing away from certain expansion ideas due to lack of 3PL support, a new partner may be a good idea. The second form outgrowth can take is if the 3PL company itself does not appear to be growing as a business. If you’ve noticed that your partner seems to be losing more clients than they’re taking on, is slow or resistant to implement new technologies or practices, or seems to have a revolving door at the executive level, it might be a sign that they aren’t doing well. Switching out at this point could be necessary to prevent their struggles from spilling over into your own logistics services.
Price Hikes
Certain fluctuations in pricing is inevitable during any business partnership and a third-party logistics provider is no exception. Simply finding yourself having to pay more on occasion is not automatically a red flag, but if this happens too often or if the price increases are particularly large, this could indicate that you are paying for your partner’s poor financial management decisions. If you begin to suspect that you are having to pay for your 3PL provider’s mistakes, switching to a more financially sound and diligent option may be in your best interest.
Inability to Learn
There is a certain degree of trial and error that is inherent in any business. Mistakes will be made and learning from them (or the mistakes of others) is an important part of ensuring a growing business. Consequently, constantly making the same sorts of errors over and over again can be a sign of poor management and an inability to learn important lessons. If your 3PL partner seems to be repeatedly making the same sorts of errors and you find yourself relying on workarounds more than how things are supposed to be done, it should be taken as a sign of managerial inability and a reason to start looking elsewhere.
Finding a Better Partner with Lean Supply Solutions
Lean Supply Solutions is a 3PL fulfillment company whose operations are based around the “Lean Methodology,” a proven philosophy focused on eliminating any operations, equipment, or resources that are not capable of adding value to our clients’ supply chain. By striving to ensure that the right products are provided to the right customers at the right time, Lean Supply Solutions is able to offer consistent, predictable, and quality results.
To learn more about the Lean Methodology or outsourcing to Lean Supply Solutions, or to ask any questions, give us a call at416-748-8982.
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How to Choose a Pick-and-Pack Fulfillment Service
Pick-and-pack is a form of value-added service that is an integral part of supply chain management. As a result, finding an effective pick-and-pack fulfillment service can lead to numerous benefits in efficiency and effectiveness within any shipping or supply operation. Here are the most important things to keep in mind when choosing which company to outsource your pick-and-pack fulfillment services to.
What Is Pick-and-Pack: Quick Summary
Pick-and-pack is best understood as a form of centralized distribution. Under a pick-and-pack fulfillment service, products are shipped en masse to a central location—usually a warehouse run by your company or a third party partner. These large quantities are then “picked” apart and contents separated out depending on their eventual destination. These smaller bundles are then “packed” up and sent on their way.
Why Outsource to an Order Fulfillment Company?
Outsourcing to a third party fulfillment company is extremely beneficial for most small- to medium-sized businesses. These are businesses who have the sales volume to require supply chain management but which lack the funds, infrastructure, or other resources to do things like maintain or run a warehouse long term. Working with a third-party fulfillment provider allows you to get the following at a manageable rate you can actually afford:
- Warehouse space tailored to your unique needs
- Numerous value-added services like pick-and-pack, kitting, and more
- Experienced and flexible warehouse workers who can adapt as your inventory needs change
- Warehouse and inventory management systems to provide full visibility on the supply chain
Save Your Time with the Best Pick-and-Pack Fulfillment Service
Lean Supply Solutions is a leader in supply chain management and all of its associated services, including pick-and-pack. Efficiency and effectiveness is a core part of the Lean Methodology that we use to capture value and speed at every stage of our operations. With us, pick-and-pack isn’t just an added service—it’s a piece of common sense and a key part of what makes a lean, mean, supplying machine.
Services Provided
- General warehousing
- Product fulfillment
- Distribution and cross dock facilities
- Pick-and-pack
- Vendor-managed inventory programs
- Real-time inventory visibility
- RF-based warehouse and labour management
- RFID supply chain solutions and compliance
- Yard management
- Postponement services
- Containment and screening
- Repackaging and labeling
- Reverse logistics and returns management
- Asset management…and more!
Locations Served
- Within Canada: the Montreal, Quebec City, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton areas, as well as most of Southern Ontario.
- Within the Continental US: Michigan, Illinois, Alabama, Florida, North and South Carolina, Texas, Arizona, and California.
- Select areas in Mexico.
Support Systems
- Contract logistics
- Manufacturing support
- Consulting and project management
- Supply chain technologies
- 4PL services
- Value-added services
To learn more about the Lean Methodology, Lean Supply Solutions’ pick-and-pack services, or to ask any questions, give us a call at 416-748-8982.
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Using Supply Chain Management to Achieve Big Objectives
The supply chain is everything required to get your product or service to your customer. It is a series of events and processes that involves the movement of materials, finished goods, information, and money. For a lot of small businesses, the supply chain is seen as a lesser concern. After all, so long as you have enough supply to meet customer demand, why would you worry about how it gets there when you have more pressing business matters to attend to? Although common, this view is unfortunately not going to produce the best possible results.
How Supply Chain Management Improves Primary Goals
There are a number of ways that supply chain management will benefit your business. However, the three most important objectives of supply chain management are as follow:
Reduced Costs
If you have never given your supply chain a proper evaluation, then that means there are likely many inefficiencies present that are costing you money you don’t need to spend. Taking the time to manage your supply chain means reducing costs and saving money that can be better spent elsewhere.
Improved Operations
A good supply chain is like a timely freight: it gets items from point A to point B with no fuss, delays, or hitches. Stability is always preferred when your supplies are involved.
Happy Customers
A better supply chain means your products or services can get to customers in the timeliest way possible. As your management of the supply chain improves, you can offer better customer care and options that will keep people coming back for more.
Forming a Supply Chain Strategy
It’s one thing to know the objectives of supply chain management, but it’s another thing to actually instil an efficient strategy. Here are some things to consider:
Consider Overall Business Strategy and Objectives
Before you can begin to design a management strategy for your supply chain, you need to consider how it will fit in with your overall business approach. You likely have a direction you want to go, customers you want to target, services you want to expand, and the like. Your supply chain strategy should compliment and support these objectives as well as your overall management style.
Map the Chain
Get a bird’s eye view of the entire supply chain and map out how your products get from raw materials to finished products in your customers’ hands. Since this can be a very large process, it helps to break things down into stages. Examine where the original material comes from, where and how it is turned into the finished product, and how that product is delivered to you and/or your customers.
Related: What Is Supply Chain Mapping?
Develop a Plan
Once you have a grasp of your supply chain, begin considering plans for improvement. Look at common benchmarks for your industry and see where you line up. Are there inefficiencies that can be corrected? Suppliers or manufacturers that you can switch to who offer better rates, faster results, or other benefits? Make sure to have specific performance goals in mind for this part. By having an ideal rate of improvement in mind, you can better tailor your plan and make it more specific to your needs. A concrete, measurable improvement also means that progress of the plan will be easier to track.
Find Efficient and Effective Help
Lean Supply Solutions is a third-party logistics provider that uses its Lean Methodology to help clients by overseeing all elements of supply chain providers and participants. Our proven philosophy is based around eliminating any operations, equipment, or resources that are not capable of adding value to your supply chain. By ensuring the right products are provided the right customers at the right time, we offer consistent, predictable, and quality results. To learn more about the Lean Methodology and how we can use it to help your business, give us a call at 416-748-8982.
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