Logistics services

Hiring specialized logistic services providers is one of the smart and strategic managerial decisions taken by companies which want to achieve a higher level of efficiency in their internal logistic operations. For professional logistic companies, logistic services efficiency is assessed by a complex formula which takes into account both short term and long term improvements in their customers logistic costs and operations.

One of the key aspects placed under scrutiny by logistic services suppliers is the way companies spend their budgets on Logistics services packaging materials and the way they organize their warehouses and shipments of goods. These are the main three ways in which companies lose time and money: through unreliable packaging materials and inefficient transportation and logistics.

Logistic Services Optimization in Three Actionable Steps

Once a professional logistic company is hired to analyze a client's internal processes, they will spend time at their premises, observing how things are done. After this assessment, the logistic services provider will use their know-how and previous experience working for other clients to propose the most efficient solutions for the supply chain optimization and decreasing of logistic and transportation costs.

These are the main three steps which are generally recommended in most cases:

1. Replacing the Stock of Reusable Packaging

Many companies still use wooden pallets instead of plastic pallets and lots of cardboard boxes and supplementary load securing packaging materials. These materials are both expensive and unreliable at the same time. They are usually used only once, so for every shipment the company has to replenish its stock of packages. Professional logistic services companies recommend plastic packaging materials such as: foldable pallet boxes, stack-nest containers or EURO containers, because they are reusable for a long time, are reliable, easy to clean and designed to minimize the use of storage space by stacking or nesting.

2. Using Specialized Handling Equipment

One of the ways in which companies are not reaching a high level of efficiency in their operations is by letting employees handle the loading/unloading operations manually. Logistic services providers recommend purchasing simple but efficient machines, such as the pallet inverter or the discharging system for pallet boxes which speed up and automate the replacement of damaged pallets, respectively, the unloading of pallet boxes, without risking the occurrence of labor accidents on your premises in case of manual handling of heavy containers by your employees.

3. Implementing Lean Manufacturing Principles

Lean manufacturing is a Japanese concept which has grown into a globally accepted best practice. At the core of this principle is promoting logistic services efficiency through an increased productivity of every operation performed by the employees, reducing wastes and creating smooth, integrated internal processes, by eliminating unnecessary, intermediary operations. Lean manufacturing principles have lead to the development of specialized packaging products and logistics equipment, such as Kanban shelf systems and labels, automated guided vehicles and specialized storage bins and trays.