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4 Questions to Ask Your Cleveland Freight Station
Spot ocean container rates have tripled in the last year, an unprecedented spike in the history of container shipping. Rates for bulk commodity shipping may be elastic to a certain extent, but it’s imperative that when working with a Cleveland freight station, you’re getting the most for your money. Asking key questions before contracting with any freight station – domestic freight handlers and import/export freight handlers – ensures you’re receiving the best possible value.
The freight industry is a complex one, and you want to make certain the third-party logistics team working for you is a good fit for your business, particularly if you’re trusting them to transport your cargo. One Cleveland freight station may operate differently from another, so before you sign on to any agreement, it’s best to have a full understanding of the provider’s services, locations, experience and network.
To aid in your search, On Time Delivery & Warehouse has outlined several questions you may consider asking prospective Cleveland freight station providers.
Cleveland 3PL Can Help With Supply Chain Optimization By Improving Inventory Accuracy
Supply chain optimization is all about getting customers what they want, when they want it and spending the least of money possible to do so. However, if your inventory is inaccurate, there will come a time that a warehouse worker will go to pick a SKU for an order, and it won’t be there – or there won’t be enough. Working with a dedicated Cleveland 3PL helps ensure that you aren’t losing time and money to avoidable inventory inaccuracies.
Third party logistics providers (3PLs) like On Time Delivery & Warehouse continually evolve their service offerings, not only to set ourselves apart in the marketplace, but also to meet increasingly rigorous customer demands. 3PL operator customers trust us to manage numerous functions, including warehousing, trucking and overall supply chain optimization and management.
As noted by research published in the International Journal of Recent Research in Commerce Economics and Management, outsourcing inventory management allows a company to:
- Maintain their focus on core competencies.
- Broaden competitive advantages.
- Enhance differentiation in the marketplace.
- Avoid outlying, resource-intensive tasks.
- Reduce logistics and carrying costs.
Working with a Cleveland 3PL provider that can capably manage inventory means entrusting the company’s most valuable assets to a third party. But this also assures peace of mind. They likely recognize that poor inventory management is the root of many operational problems, missed sales, lost time to perform reconciliation and shrinkage. That means it must be given high priority. Doing so, however, is a significant challenge, particularly when the company is responsible for maintaining numerous items of inventory for multiple clients in the same place. A third-party logistics provider already has the resources and experience with best practices.
Some of the factors that result in inventory inaccuracy include:
- Poor store records or documentation.
- Manual documentation and records posting, leading to long processing times and increased odds of misplacing figures or making a recording mistake.
- Keeping inventory in the wrong place.
- Errors in inventory transaction.
- Physical inventory is either stolen, damaged, expired or spoiled.
Cleveland Trucking Companies Seeking More Drivers
Following U.S. market trends, Cleveland trucking companies are among those seeking to hire more certified drivers amid sharp increases in consumer demand and tight shipping capacity. Some have been increasing wages since the demand for trucking spiked last summer, when the national economy first began emerging from lockdowns intended to stymie the spread of the coronavirus. That demand continued through the holidays and hasn’t slowed since.
At On Time Delivery & Warehouse, we provide qualified truckers with competitive pay, benefits, bonuses and a safe, positive working environment. Truckers are key to our operation, which includes delivering client goods to locations near and far – intact, on time, every time.
The Wall Street Journal reports shipping volumes are likely to remain strong for the foreseeable future, as the economy kicks into even higher gear with increased government aid and vaccination rates. Shippers will be searching for Cleveland trucking companies with competitive freight pricing, and we strive to deliver on this as well.
Cleveland Warehouse Club Packaging Can Be Key to Success
A deal with a warehouse club store, such as Costco, BJ’s or Sam’s Club, can mean big things for your business. Getting the packaging right is a top priority. Your company must comply with the wholesale store’s specifications for packaging – or risk losing the partnership. Our Cleveland warehouse club packaging professionals can help.
Having a Cleveland contract packaging team working for you is especially important when you consider that primary wholesale clubs are constantly updating their expectations for supplier packaging. These can include evolving requirements for retail-ready designs, innovation and reduced environmental impact. You need a packaging plan that not only meets the standards, but is adaptable.
How a Cleveland Container Freight Station Keeps Your Goods Moving
Cleveland is a dynamic transportation hub and a vital location for many supply chains. Choosing the right Cleveland container freight station (CFS) for your import and export shipments is crucial to your bottom line and customer satisfaction. Container freight stations are a critical element of any supply chain moving interior point intermodal freight.
The largest users of CFS service companies are typically freight forwarders, though some shippers and other third-party logistics firms rely on us to ensure their customers’ freight gets where it needs to go – intact, on time, every time.
Shipping Hazardous Materials: A Guide to Ohio Hazmat Certified Shipping
Paint. Dry ice. Lithium batteries. Perfume. There are just a few of the seemingly innocuous items that are considered potentially hazardous when they’re in transit. If you sell these or other regulated hazmat goods, there are tight regulations for transporting them. As our Ohio hazmat certified shipping providers can explain, the U.S. Department of Transportation mandates that anyone shipping hazardous materials be both trained and certified. Proper shipping of hazmat materials means correctly packaging, labeling and documenting all items as well. Non-compliance can result in costly legal action – both from government fines and civil liability for injuries. The skillful handling of your hazardous materials is essential for the safety of everyone in the supply chain.
At On Time Delivery & Warehouse, our Ohio hazmat certified shipping teams are experienced in packing, crating and securing these materials to minimize potential risks – from pickup to delivery and every point in between.
Demand for FDA Registered Warehousing to Grow Rapidly Next 5 Years
What’s the difference between a tire and a tin of tomatoes? Ok, a lot – especially when it comes to inventory storage and shipping requirements. Tomatoes, like all foods, skin products, medicines, vaccines, veterinary supplies and medical devices made or sold in the U.S., are regulated under stringent safety rules and guidelines set by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for storage and shipping. The FDA is responsible for assuring the safety, efficacy and security of many human and animal products. For companies that sell these goods, FDA registered warehousing is essential to ensuring both regulatory compliance and customer confidence.
Recently, a new report indicates the global refrigerated warehousing and storage market (which includes blast freezing, tempering and modified atmosphere storage services) is expected to grow from $112 billion in 2020 to more than $164 billion in 2025. This growth is driven by several factors, including consumer demand for quality manufacturing and transparent sourcing, as well as companies restructuring their operations in response to the pandemic.
As longtime providers of FDA registered warehousing in Cleveland, we’re familiar with industry-wide efforts over the last decade to improve protections of temperature-controlled consumer products for packaging, processing and storage. Some measures have included onboarding better sensors, data logging and RFID devices. Not only does this help improve supply chain efficiency, it also helps reduce unnecessary losses and the potential for contamination.
Companies that make products requiring strict temperature controls and/or monitoring often outsource these responsibilities to 3PL warehousing companies for the benefit of operational costs, greater flexibility, improved efficiency and logistics expertise.
How a Cleveland 3PL Can Help When Winter Weather Short-Circuits Your Supply Chain
Winter weather can make even the most trivial tasks exponentially more difficult. As recent events have proven, this is especially true when power lines (or entire power grids) are down, rail services have ground to a halt, natural gas is in short supply, hundreds of flights are canceled and icy roads are exceedingly perilous. All of this will have a snowball effect on your supply chain. While there’s no way to control the weather, working with a Cleveland 3PL can help you better insulate your supply chain for the inevitable moments when you won’t have control.
As in sports, the best defense is a good offense when it comes to supply chains. Ideally, you will have planned and prepared for supply chain setbacks. As a longtime Cleveland 3PL, we have trucking, warehousing and shipping partners all over the country, allowing you to navigate more nimbly through some of the most serious seasonal swings and challenges.
In third-party logistics, our success depends on your success. We’ll only recommend actions that are in your best interest. Some of the top ways you may benefit from a 3PL partnership in advance of a weather crisis:
Vaccine Distribution Highlights Cleveland Last-Mile Delivery Challenges
As a long-time 3PL firm and provider of Cleveland last-mile delivery services, we understand the important role logistics plays in getting products where they need to go – intact and on time. When logistics aren’t effectively coordinated, communication and visibility suffer and bottlenecks and delays become inevitable. This was illustrated recently in early efforts to distribute newly-available COVID-19 vaccines.
We should start by saying this was never going to be a perfect process because of the scale, limited supply, outsized demand and sheer number of stakeholders. But it was largely presumed the rollout wouldn’t be overly-taxing on U.S. transportation capacity. So why the many roadblocks? And what can businesses learn from it?
It’s possible supply chain inefficiencies in some states could be partially addressed with expanded trucking capacity. But complex storage, handling and administration requirements were an undeniable part of the equation. Beyond that though, it does seem the trouble broadly has been less in getting available vaccines from manufacturers to the states and more with logistical struggles in facilitating last-mile deliveries.
This is unsurprising because, as any 3PL service provider knows, last-mile deliveries are often the trickiest. This is true whether we’re talking about airplane parts or toilet paper or medicine. It didn’t help that this was essentially a massive, brand new supply chain with untested routes and logistics coordination.
The takeaway for businesses is that no matter what your industry, it’s imperative that your Cleveland last-mile delivery 3PL service be one with extensive experience, established routes, top-tier technology and trusted supply chain partners.
Is an Ohio Dedicated Fleet Service Right for Your Business?
In any business decision, a cost-benefit analysis is critical. One of those decisions for many companies involves private vs. outsourced fleet operation. Getting your goods from where they are to where they need to be is a time-consuming and often complicated task. Hiring drivers and managing routes, payroll, vehicle maintenance, safety compliance, insurance, taxes – the demands can very quickly start encroaching on your primary business operations. If that’s the situation you’re facing, an Ohio dedicated fleet service might be your best transportation solution.
To be fair, having your own private fleet has some advantages, mainly full control. But that means the cost, liability and responsibility is all on the shoulders of your firm too. For many businesses, that’s too significant a burden. As a long-time third-party logistics firm, we offer Ohio dedicated fleet service to companies of all sizes.
A dedicated service gives customers optimized transportation that can be tailored to their organizational structures. A group of drivers, tractors, trailers and other resources are assigned exclusively to their business operations, facilities or lanes in a transport network. It runs much like a private fleet, but the management and maintenance are outsourced.
Among the potential advantages many On Time Delivery & Warehouse customers glean from dedicated transportation services:
- Improved on-time delivery performance
- Guaranteed capacity (whether you need just-in-time delivery or hot-shot service, dedicated services can assure the fleet is always available)
- Supply chain control
- Reduced freight transportation costs
- Operation visibility and transparency