While in the process of building your business, you might have come across the need to select a 3PL partner to help you with shipping and fulfillment. 3PL stands for third-party logistics. They are the people that help you with inventory, order fulfillment, shipping, exchanges, and returns.
As your business grows, you will find doing this on your own is very difficult if not impossible because there will be too many business operations to manage.
Instead of having to find and manage your own warehouse, you can use third-party providers to do all this work for you.
The main question is trying to figure out how to best find these providers.
Do I Need a 3PL Provider?
If you are not sure whether you need a 3PL or not, you can answer these questions to see if one might be able to help you or not.
- Do I have more than 20 orders a day? If yes, you need to start outsourcing some of the inventory and shipping processes to others. Try finding a 3PL that uses an automation system to make all the processes even easier.
- Do I have enough space for inventory? If you do not have enough space for storage and inventory, you need to find a 3PL that is able to help you with storage. Estimate the cost of using a 3PL with the current price you are paying for a warehouse. You’ll be surprised to find that using a 3PL is usually cheaper.
- Do you have space for more demand? If you suddenly experienced a surge in demand, would your current warehouse be able to hold the inventory? If not, you might need to find a 3PL that manages your inventory and warehouse space.
Take your answers to the questions above to determine if getting a 3PL is right for you.
Benefits of 3PLs
3PLs do more than just help you manage your inventory and shipping. They have a variety of different ways they can help you run a more successful business. One of the main benefits is that they are able to help you sell new products.
You can hire a 3PL specifically for finding new product markets whether it be overseas or in your current area.
You can also move all your products and capital out of the current warehouse since storage space fees are often very high. You might be wasting your hard-earned money paying for these fees every month.
You also don’t have to be tied to a lease for a warehouse which is very helpful if you suddenly find you need much less or much more space.
Lastly, hiring a 3PL reduces current overhead costs by automating systems.
If you are looking to outsource some of your current processes and want to look into 3PL logistics, contact us today at American Manufacturing Solutions. We are able to help you with a variety of different operations including assembly, packing, and shipping.
