As your company expands, you can simplify your operations with a contract warehouse and/or a third-party logistics (3PL) partner. With an efficient partner, you can focus your attention on what matters most for your business and allow your partners to manage what they do best. The more complex your operations become, the more likely you will need to delegate some responsibilities. Utilizing a contract warehouse or 3PL can make the transition easier because you can leave the warehousing and logistics to dedicated professionals and experience the peace of mind that comes with not trying to handle every aspect of your business yourself.
Contract Warehousing Benefits
To determine if a contract warehouse is the right choice for you and your company, consider the benefits of this type of relationship:
1. Low Cost of Entry
Consider the high cost of capital expenses like the purchase of fixed assets such as new buildings or equipment. A contract warehouse takes capital costs out of the equation, land, construction, and maintenance fees are not your concern, and basically, you move right in. Even better, it’s flexible. Often your partner warehouse can increase or decrease the warehousing space according to what serves your company best at any given time. If you purchase or build a storage facility, you have to deal with the physical location’s demands; and if at some point your company fluctuates in size, the building must be sold and a new location found.
2. Trained Employees
A contract warehouse partner employs experienced workers knowledgeable in all facets of warehouse work, including OSHA standards. A full-service partner (link to our workforce management page) will manage training, hiring, firing, and all aspects of the workforce. Plus, having a skilled team already in place means you are not tasked with investing time or money to get the warehousing team in place you need.
3. Quality Assurance
Whether they’re dry or temperature-controlled, your goods are maintained by high-quality staff in high-quality facilities. With a wide range of facilities available for your every need, you are assured that your goods stay the way they are supposed to for your customers.
4. Centralization and Import/Export
If you’re not located where your customers are, or your product needs to move quickly, a contract warehouse can offer increased geographic flexibility and efficiency. Essentially you can have hubs of goods in various locations to reach customers faster.
5. Cross Docking
Using this efficient logistics practice in a warehouse means unloading materials from one mode of transportation directly to another mode of transportation, with little or no storage in between. This may be done to change the type of conveyance, to sort material intended for different destinations, or to combine material from different origins into transport vehicles (or containers) with the same or similar destinations. Using a single-touch operation model focuses on increasing speed and productivity through efficient loading and reloading processes.
NOTS Logistics Is Your Contract Warehousing Partner
Your business is where it is because of your hard work and dedication. When you partner with NOTS Logistics for your warehousing and logistical needs, you are assured you have a 3PL that will work just as hard as you do to achieve success.
Since 1981, we have been building a superior transportation and logistics company to serve the Midwest and southeast. NOTS Logistics specializes in customized supply chain solutions and is much more than just movement. With our four core services, we can take on a company’s entire supply chain with ease to offer the whole solution. Today, we operate in three strategic locations, and we provide the best turnkey 3PL solutions available.
At NOTS Logistics we are experts in warehousing, transportation management, workforce management, customized distribution, and can offer you an abundance of options for storage, workforce, and freight movement. We’ve operated in logistics for decades, so we are extremely knowledgeable and able to customize your business solutions based on your needs. Call us today to discuss all of your freight, storage, workforce, and logistics needs. We’re here to help – from dock to dock and door to door – we make your success our priority.
