From eCommerce fulfillment to brick-and-mortar shelf-stocking, much of what businesses do today relies on the efficient transportation and distribution of goods. At every stage, from raw materials processing all the way down to the retail level, logistics operations must deliver results. Since many businesses don’t have the capital to invest in private logistics, selecting the right third-party logistics (3PL) partner can be a make-or-break factor in your business’s success.
Warehousing is a particularly critical service that businesses often hire 3PLs to perform. Thus, it’s important that 3PLs offer technologies that help create warehousing excellence. From inventory to temperature control and beyond, the six we’ll talk about here are some of the most common must-haves.
This list isn’t about hard and fast rules—not every business will need all six technologies we discuss. But just about every product-based business will need at least one or two of them, so it pays to be familiar with these technologies when evaluating a 3PL.
Each business needs something a little bit different from its 3PL warehousing partners, so remember that the first step is always to take stock of the company’s needs. Once your business has a firm grasp on the unique success factors that are needed to achieve major goals, the process of shopping for a 3PL will become more manageable and more likely to succeed.