Warehousing and distribution operations
6 February 2013
Outsourcing 3PL relationships
6 February 2013Outsourcing 3PL operations – Transportation
Outsourcing 3PL
It’s no secret that the world’s most successful companies, such as Dell, Wal-Mart and Sony, owe much of their success to outsourcing 3PL operations.
In their search for increased competitiveness and success in the global marketplace of the twenty-first century, many companies are either considering outsourcing 3PL operations or already pursuing it.
Our logistics consultants are your first points of contact for learning how you can leverage the power of third party logistics providers.
Outsourcing Solutions
VK Premium helps companies establish logistics and manufacturing outsourcing relationships. We guide you through the steps necessary to identify, evaluate, select and implement third-party relationships.
We establish the outsourcing relationship needs, and then provide the expertise to find and choose the right vendor, to outline the service parameters, to establish service agreements and to manage the partnership for long-term success.
We also work with companies needing to realign existing outsource agreements for greater savings and increased performance.
Our solutions ensure that you realize the maximum benefits from your outsourcing 3PL partner relationships.
Outsourcing as a Core Competency
Outsourcing is a management tool that shifts the organizational structure of companies and a business transformation process that can create great opportunity for improved performance. However, it can also create the opportunity for problems, issues and even failure if poorly pursued.
In the search for core competencies and non-core competencies to outsource, it’s easy to overlook the fact that outsourcing is itself a competency.
As such, it must be approached with business process knowledge and outsourcing processes experience to reap its full benefits. A company with outsourcing as a core competency can effectively develop outsourcing relationships and manage its outsourced functions.
Outsourcing Risks
There are huge potential benefits from outsourcing. There are also huge potential risks associated with each of the four major steps in outsourcing: Strategy, Selection, Implementation and Management.
Outsourcing strategy is the process of determining whether or not to outsource and, if so, what to outsource.
Outsourcing selection is the process of finding and evaluating potential outsourcing partners.
Outsourcing implementation is where the relationship between outsourcing partners is defined and established.
Outsourcing management is the monitoring and evolution of the ongoing outsourcing relationship.
Each step comes with its own unique set of risks, which, if addressed, will go a long way to making the benefits of outsourcing reality.
Transportation
Transportation is often a company’s most over-looked and under-scrutinized cost area. Year after year, surveys show that transportation is by far the biggest segment of overall logistics costs.
On average, companies spend 10 percent of their budgets on logistics, and transportation, at six percent of most budgets, is by far the largest component of logistics costs.
Companies simply must attack what is arguably the greatest potential area for savings.
Today’s shippers face more cost and service pressures than ever before. Rising record fuel costs, tight carrier capacity, new hours of service rules and a customer base that continues to consolidate and demandmore challenging “perfect order” fulfillment service levels as a starting point mean there has never been a more critical time to focus on best-in-class performance in your transportation operations.
Transportation Solutions
A euro saved in transportation costs falls directly to the bottom line. Accurate, timely information about shipments allows companies to better manage costs and improve efficiency, while infrastructureimprovements that utilize the strengths of each mode reduce gridlock.
A combined investment in technology, process and infrastructure will allow companies to reach their true potential while enhancing performance.
Understanding Transportation
At VK Premium, we use proven analytical tools and industry expertise to help you optimize your transportation operations and add value to your bottom line.
Our capabilities include the following strategic transportation initiatives:
Network Optimization
Transportation strategy development
Freight Bids—Inbound, Outbound, Lane and Spot Bids
Outsourcing—Services and Strategies
Inbound Freight Optimization
Best Practice Gap Analysis and Implementation
Private Fleet Rationalization
Transportation Modeling
Transportation Assessment
Ports and Maritime
