Using a customized warehouse is value add in most industries. A company’s supply chain, chiefly warehousing and logistics, are crucial factors for them to gain a competitive edge in today’s lightning-fast consumer-driven world. Modern manufacturing now combines smart and effective products with progressive and innovative technologies, and with this, the very definition of warehousing and logistics has evolved to a much larger and integral concept. When it comes to modern manufacturing, a customized warehouse and logistics operation can add significant value.
With the growth in e-commerce, the “stay at home” economy, and altering business perspectives, the logistics, and manufacturing sectors have moved beyond the rudimentary transportation of trade goods in the supply chain. The solutions include an about-face in the utilization of warehousing to drive business profits.
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The dynamic shift between manufacturing and warehousing
Warehousing has evolved in its role in the active supply chain. With manufacturing as a key link in the supply chain, it is also responsible for driving the warehousing industry. Warehousing has become much more than off-site storage, and the customization of warehouse space is changing the relationships between third-party logistics companies (3PLs) and manufacturers.
3 Reasons a Customized Warehouse Adds Value
1. More Than Storage: Since its inception, warehousing has been utilized by manufacturing companies to manage their inventory and storage needs. In the current supply chain and retail environment, warehouse utilization isn’t limited to being a traditional storage space. Warehouses today have evolved and double as kitting and assembly hubs, contributing significantly in today’s competitive retail scenario.
Furthermore, with e-commerce players expanding their operations to meet the growing demands of the consumer, the need for warehouses has increased.
2. Speed and Efficiency: So really, these are TWO reasons. Customized warehouses have allowed companies to not only speed up their delivery and assembly processes but do so while investing less capital in the core manufacturing process. With the introduction of warehouse automation, operations like picking, packing, warehouse robots, barcode labels, and other technology-infused developments have allowed companies to cut manufacturing time and reduce expenses.
The Modern Supply Chain
The evolution of the traditional supply chain is in part due to customized warehousing developments. Manufacturing no longer ends when the products reach the warehouse. Storing, production, packing, and shipping across different distribution channels with on-time and last-mile delivery complete the supply chain.
Modern warehousing technology has reduced the need for high-cost labor while lowering operational expenses. Some parts of the manufacturing process, like assembling parts, which were earlier performed in the company-specific plants, are now completed through advanced warehousing utilization.
Today’s 3PL providers complement the manufacturing process by taking on operations that are traditionally handled by the manufacturer. By allowing 3PL experts to fully own the logistics processes, value is added right from the ‘Point of origin’ (managing the flow of raw materials) to ‘Point of consumption’ (managing the packaging, transportation, and delivery). In turn, logistics has redefined what the modern manufacturing supply chain is.
Customized Warehouse: Evolution Continues
Change is constant, and the evolution of traditional warehousing is impacting not only logistics but the supply chain as a whole. With more companies entering the retail market, businesses have to further invest in cost-effective processes to produce results better than their competitors. Customized warehousing and logistics have allowed companies to reimagine their manufacturing process and make it more robust.
Furthermore, the modern supply chain processes continue to positively disrupt the international economy and reach. By complementing the end-to-end manufacturing process, it has impacted businesses around the globe with a promising vision for the future.
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