A 3PL provider is a professional service provider who offers a diverse range of services namely warehousing, storage, wholesale, distribution, transportation and retail services for the existing demands of the proficient customers. The 3rd party logistic service providers offer end to end management of business operations which are outsourced to them by their customers. The 3 party logistic service providers play a vital role in the supply chain management and several other logistics businesses all around the world.
How do third-party logistics Service providers estimate their customers about the services?
The services of 3 party logistics service providers are intensively drafted and documented in the mutually signed contracts and service level agreements (SLAs). These documents usually cover the details of scope, duration, costs and several other important aspects of the services offered by the 3 party logistic service provider.
What are the main areas services offered by the third-party logistics service provider?
The types of logistics services offered by 3PL businesses are classified in many areas in the supply chain industry.
Therefore, the areas of services are namely:
- Procurement: Ordering and receiving goods from several locations of the supply chain industry.
- Order Fulfilment: Collection of orders from the prospective customers. The process involves picking and packing of the orders to be fulfilled and delivered respectively.
- Storage: The provision for storing cargo and goods in the storage facilities and warehouses in same or other locations.
- Transportation: The process of arrangement for the consolidation, deconsolidation, transportation and management of the goods. The 3PL services providers offer wide ranging areas of services namely IT system integration, inventory management, data exchange, reporting, reverse logistics and other offerings.
What are 3PL procurement and receiving services?
Procurement is the process of ordering and receiving orders and cargo in accordance with existing demand of upstream customers in the supply chain industry. The procurement and receiving services include:
- Inventory Management.
- Identification of stock levels in management with manufacturers and distributors.
- Arrangement of transportation of goods from supplier to the warehouse of the 3 party logistic service provider.
- Receiving goods into the warehouse.
- Management and storage of ordered goods.
What are third party logistic order fulfilment services?
The primary responsibility of a third party logistic service provider is order management, fulfilment and distribution of goods. The components of order fulfilment services are: -Receiving requests and orders of goods from the customers and other members of the client's group. - Inventory Management -Management of stock levels when the orders are received -Packing of ordered goods for commencement of the shipping process -Arrangement of loading and supply of the ordered goods to requisite destinations. The order fulfilment, picking and packing happens in several networks of the supply chain industry. The process further unfolds in the stream of ecommerce process for further distribution to the respective customers as part of retailing.
What are 3 PL storage and warehousing services?
The primary functions of the 3 party logistic service providers are to manage the storage of goods and distribution of goods from warehouse to customer. The storage services of the 3 party logistic service providers are: -Public warehousing which is assigned in consonance with demands of customer as the primary priority - Contractual warehousing which is usually allotted to prominent customers according to the duration of their upcoming demands. -Specialist Storage facilities for many types of industrial products like chemicals, food, and products which are meant to be stored in mandatory environments. - High Security Storage facilities for the valuable, volatile and subtle loads. - In House warehouse tracking and positioning for facile goods -Auditing of the packages with simultaneous maintenance of receipts. -Stock Management and Distribution of ordered goods.
What are 3 PL distribution Services?
The leading domain of services offered by the third party logistic service providers is distribution. The process involves transportation of goods from the service provider’s storage facilities to diverse ends of supply chain customers.
The areas of services are:
- The input of methodical distribution procedures like cross docking, drayage and Intermodal Transportation
- Other areas of distribution processes are namely FTL, LTL, FCL and LCL.
- Optimal Fleet organization for effective delivery of goods
- Tracking of parcels with the help of GPS and IOT devices.
- Deconsolidation and consolidation of goods.
What are other areas of services offered by the 3 party logistics service providers?
The third party logistics businesses provide supplementary services like:
Freight Forwarding: The freight forwarders usually organize and allocate the distribution of goods as the outsourced process for other businesses. A freight forwarder is usually similar to a third party logistics service provider. The freight forwarders work with logistic companies for management of rental spaces. The freight forwarders also significantly manage relationships with clients and providers for the creation of schedules and progress reports.
Reverse Logistics: The reverse logistics allows its customers to cycle their products back to source if they are not satisfied with the services and benefits offered by the products. The reverse logistics supports management of discarded inventory and schedules their optimal disposal.
Environmentally Controlled Freight:
The goods which are needed to be delivered in a specific temperature controlled environment are also managed by third party logistic service providers. The specialized vehicles are equipped with temperature controlled trailers which regulate the humidity and light levels so that the loads are well preserved until they reach the source destination.
Consolidation and Deconsolidation:
The consolidation means that a 3 party logistic service provider combines goods from several sources into one single shipment for optimal transportation. Deconsolidation is the splitting of goods from singular shipments into multiple shipments which are meant to be delivered to different destinations.