Yet another reason to enter into a partnership with a 3PL Warehouse centers around Operational Focus.
There are several things to consider as you look to successfully manage and grow your business:
- What are the core operational strategies of your company?
- Do you want your company to focus on Sales and Marketing? Manufacturing? Your entire Supply Chain? A combination of all of these things?
- Even if your company has a robust Supply Chain, are certain aspects still a struggle?
- Can those aspects be easily fixed without draining resources? Is there a physical restraint preventing smooth operation?
I recently met with a potential new partner who wanted to outsource his entire manufacturing and warehousing operation. The customer was exhausted with call-offs, hiring (especially in this market), and operational mistakes. He really wanted his team to focus on increasing the internet side of his business. This proved difficult, as new opportunities were pushed to the back so that existing customers could be taken care of. By looking to outsource his entire supply chain, it would allow his team to really focus on what he considered important to the future of his company.
Maybe your company excels in its supply chain, and that is where you want to place your focus. However, as you analyze your business, you realize that your company may be weak in one or two aspects of supply chain. We have a partner who asked us to unload their overseas containers. Even though many of their warehouse needs are met internally, they realized they did not have enough docks nor adequate space to unload 50+ pallets worth of product by hand. So, they partnered with National Commercial Warehouse to handle this task for them. By utilizing NCW for this one task, it took enormous pressure off of their Warehouse Team and allowed their day-to-day operations to continue without disruption.
Operational Focus can be a powerful concept. By offloading a piece, or maybe all, of your Supply Chain needs, it allows your company to become laser focused on what you view as most important.