When compared to their big-box counterparts, small businesses face unique challenges. The ability to focus on a company’s core competencies is vital to ensuring the sustainable growth of your business. Activities such as accounting, supply chain and information technology can become a drag on a company’s growth unless they are a core competency of that company. As an example, small businesses are more likely to lack the ability to finance and lead dedicated management teams; therefore, oversight of the supply chain becomes one of many duties that the owner or store manager has to handle.

Finding ways to improve efficiency and overall supply-chain management isn’t just a matter of saving time and money for your small businesses: it becomes a way to ensure you can devote maximum time to growing your operations rather than struggling with complex supply chain needs. Here are some ideal techniques for improving your overall efficiency when managing a supply chain.

Use the Cloud

Engaging a cloud service has several benefits. The most direct benefit is that your own company does not need to have an IT department. Instead you can leverage the expertise of your cloud provider and get quality software, hardware, and support without having the full infrastructure on your end. This will further free up staff and time and allow the company to better focus on core business activities. The other benefit is that the cloud is often platform-neutral. You can upload data on your computer at the office, check it on the go using your phone, and make adjustments later on another terminal entirely.

Dashboard Reporting

The phrase “knowledge is power” applies particularly well to running a supply chain. Being able to see at a glance what your inventory, order, and shipping statuses are can be a great way to both improve access to information and allow for quick response to changing situations in supply needs. When considering options for dashboard displays you should have an eye for multi-platform functionality. Being able to check up on supply statuses on the go is very important, so you will want a dashboard that adjusts itself to be easily readable regardless of whether you are looking at it on a desktop, smartphone, or tablet.

Supplier Sharing and Integration

Suppliers want to properly meet the needs of their customers, both big and small. You can help them do this by engaging in logistic integration and information sharing. Whether this is accomplished by special enterprise-resource-planning software, joint cloud access, or some other means is up to your individual preference. The key is that your supplier should be able to view your inventory status and information, such as how quickly (or slowly) you go through your inventory. This can allow the supplier to be more proactive in how it meets your needs and reduce any delays when you need to make adjustments.

Shopping Cart and Transportation Companies

Today’s client expectations are changing, especially when it comes to seamless ordering entry and processing, as well as with quick ship cycles and order visibility. This is why integration with shopping cart providers, such as Amazon or Shopify, and transportation and courier companies is not only a great feature to have, but it is also a necessity to ensure you maintain a platform that can satisfy your clients’ needs.

Efficient and Effective

Lean Supply Solutions is a third-party logistics provider that uses its Lean Methodology to help our clients by overseeing all elements of the supply chain. Cloud computing is just one element of our proven philosophy of eliminating any operations, equipment, or resources that are not capable of adding value to your supply chain. By ensuring that products are provided the right service at the required time, we offer consistent and predictable quality results. To learn more about the Lean Methodology and how we can use it to help your business please read more at www.leansupplysolutions.com. You can also contact us via e-mail at info@leansupplysolutions.com or give us a call at 416-748-8982.

In the modern market, consumers are used to being able to get what they want. This not only refers to the ability to find a product, but to get their orders customized to their preferences, delivered in the right time frame, and sent to their doorstep. These and other elements of personalization affect all steps of the supply chain from stores to manufacturers to logistics providers and suppliers. Unfortunately, personalization comes with a cost and costs will inevitably add up. As a result, it is more important than ever to derive added value from existing warehousing and distribution activities.

 

Methods to Get Added Value

Value-added services come in numerous different forms and some are more suited to certain product types over others. Consider the following possibilities when looking for ways to derive extra value from your warehousing and distribution systems.

Kitting

Kitting can be understood by using a television as an example. When buying a television, you are receiving a few different things in  the box. There is the television itself, along with a remote and possibly HMDI cables or other plugs. The television cannot be  changed, but the other elements can. By mixing and building kits of these other items beforehand then adding them to the finished  good (the television), extra levels of customization and value-added speed-to-shelf improvements can be obtained.

Repackaging

This is what happens when an existing product needs to be changed in some way prior to being shipped to the customer. Examples  of repackaging could be changing a product’s manual to a newer version, swapping a phone’s casing for a new or more popular model, or some other form of design alteration. Repackaging can also be used when a defect of some sort has been found in the packaging itself and more protection is deemed necessary. Effective repackaging allows for products to retain or increase in value and or be sold faster.

Pick-and-Pack

Pick-and-pack is a form of value-added warehousing service that adds product distribution and fulfillment on top of a warehouse’s storage activities. Under this service, the warehouse becomes both the site where products are held as well as from where they are distributed. Pick-and-pack has a fair level of overlap with bundling and kitting since it means that the warehouse is also where product packages are assembled and customized for the consumers. Pick-and-pack is best for warehouses that are in centralized locations so they can be efficiently placed distribution centres with a large reach.

Lean Supply Solutions is a third-party logistics provider that uses its Lean Methodology to help clients by overseeing all elements of the supply chain. By ensuring that products are provided the right service at the required time, we offer consistent and predictable 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.

E-commerce is a rapidly growing sector. Having your business sell through cyberspace—or even exist purely on the Internet—affords a great deal of flexibility and agility that can help small retailers stay competitive. This edge is at increasing risk, however, as big-box stores begin to step up their online presence. In light of these heavyweights and their superior resources, supply channels, and infrastructure, it can be daunting for small businesses to try and carve out their own share of the market. It’s very possible to do so, however. All it takes is some help.

 Swing Big With 3PL Warehousing and Distribution

Small- and medium-sized businesses can get the same kind of reach and breadth of big-name companies by taking advantage of  third-party logistics (3PL) services. 3PL companies provide an integrated warehousing, packaging, and parcel-delivery operation, as  well as e-commerce fulfillment services that let you enjoy an established distribution network at a manageable cost.

The Keys to 3PL Efficiency

3PL firms create efficiency by pooling resources and clients. This allows you affordable rates and numerous savings on supply-chain elements that might otherwise be out of your reach.

Warehousing

A 3PL company maintains an extensive warehousing operation that is likely exceeds your own business needs. You can take advantage of this by only paying for the space that you require. This creates a flexible environment where you can easily scale your warehousing operations up or down, depending on seasonal shifts, for maximum efficiency. As a bonus, warehouse staff does the pick-and-pack services for you so that your personnel costs are even lower.

Shipping Networks

One of the biggest differences between using a 3PL provider and trying to go it alone is how it affects your efforts to ship products to customers. Most shipping providers offer bulk discounts on their rates, but you may not have the necessary volume to take advantage of this. A 3PL provider takes care of the shipping needs of multiple firms at once. Together, this combined workload creates more than enough shipping volume to let a 3PL firm get you the best rates possible. Since one of the biggest points of competition in e-commerce is shipping costs, you can pass these savings on to your customers and maintain a competitive edge.

Efficient and Effective

Lean Supply Solutions is a third-party logistics provider that uses Lean Methodology to help clients by overseeing all elements of the supply-chain. Our e-commerce fulfillment services are part of our proven philosophy of eliminating any operations, equipment, or resources that are not capable of adding value to your supply chain. By ensuring that products are provided the right service at the required time, we offer consistent and predictable 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.

The goal of conventional logistics is to move things forwards from manufacturer to warehouse to shipping to customer. However, not all products stay on the customer’s end. Warranty returns, damaged or defective products, equipment upgrades, buyer’s remorse, or simple delivery errors can all result in products getting sent back through the supply chain, potentially all the way up to the manufacturer level. This process is naturally referred to as “reverse logistics” since it represents an inversion of the typical flow of a supply chain. Depending on how well run a reverse logistics process is, costs from these steps can be anywhere from minimal to colossal. Therefore, being able to keep things efficient is extremely important.

What Triggers Reverse Logistics Services?

Although the specific cause of an individual product’s return can vary   wildly, there are a few common categories they can fall in to.

Recalls

Whether as the result of a legal mandate or precautionary measure, a   business will sometimes be forced to issue the recall of a batch  of its   products.

End-of-Life Returns

This often comes up when your business serves as a supplier to other stores. Eventually shop managers will decide (or be told) to stop selling older goods and make way for newer ones. Any of the older products that are left over will be sent back.

Seasonal Returns

Holidays mean special products and sales, but when the festivities end, there is usually inventory left over that needs to be sent back because it’s no longer seasonally relevant and to free up space.

Parts or Repair

If a product becomes damaged, a customer may send it back to be repaired and returned to them. This can be the result of a warranty or other customer service programs, but it can also be due to mishandling during delivery.

The Three ‘R’s of Reverse Logistics

An effective and efficient reverse logistics service is one that can not only easily move products back up the supply chain, but one that is also capable of recapturing value and minimizing losses. Much like with recycling, reverse logistics has its own little components—called the three ‘R’s—that govern its main operating goals.

Restock

If there is nothing wrong with the product itself, the most logical solution is to repackage the item and prepare to sell it elsewhere. This could mean returning it to the warehouse shelf or sending it off to another brick-and-mortar location to be resold. You may not be able to restock some products easily, so they will have to be liquidated in a secondary market instead.

Repair or Refurbish

If a product is not in sellable condition then it must be mended. It may need new parts, a bit of cleaning or a number of other tasks in order to get it in good-as-new condition. Repairing and refurbishing does cost more than restocking, but that cost is still less than writing the whole thing off as a loss. This process is also used in the case of warranty-related returns where the product will be fixed and then shipped back to the customer.

Recycle

In the worst-case scenario, a product is not in a condition where it can reasonably be fixed or resold. These instances call for the product to be disassembled for spare parts, if at all possible. Disassembly is common in machinery, cars, tech products, and similar items. How effective this process is at recapturing value will naturally vary depending on what the product actually is along with its condition.

Efficient and Effective

Lean Supply Solutions is a third-party logistics provider that uses the Lean Methodology to help clients by overseeing all elements of supply-chain providers and participants. We provide a set of tools and processes to facilitate lean reverse logistics that help to maintain the value of goods throughout the process, while also tracking relevant information needed. Our philosophy is to eliminate any operations, equipment, or resources that are not capable of adding value to your supply chain. By ensuring that products are provided the right service at the required time, we offer consistent and predictable quality results. To learn more about the Lean Methodology and how we can use it to help your business, call us at 416-748-8982.