Logiwa Guide

3PL Warehouse Management System Guide

3PLs Face Unique Challenges in Managing Customers and Warehouses

Order fulfillment is an essential part of any ecommerce business. However, as an online business grows, so do the complexities of fulfillment procedures and pressures to meet demand, making it a real challenge to tackle in-house logistics without the right technology. And that’s not even getting into the unique challenges faced by (3PL) third party logistics operations.

Our guide walks you through everything you need to know when selecting a 3PL Software.

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Among these challenges are making optimum use of warehouse space, satisfying different fulfillment needs of multiple clients each using multiple online channels, and working to maintain serviceable inventory levels across multiple fulfillment centers, especially in the face of supply chain disruptions and bottlenecks. Warehouse management for a growing 3PL can fast become a very complex endeavor.

And as you are more than well aware, warehouses and 3PLs (third-party logistics) are not the same things. In fact, they are hardly even comparable.

Things like stock picking from the supply chain, managing the shipments of goods, compliance around transportation laws, warehousing fulfillment services (ex. picking, packing and dispatching), and last-mile delivery are all benefits of a 3PL warehouse management system.

As a third-party logistics service, you take on the majority of the responsibilities for achieving warehouse management and distribution excellence on behalf of your clients. In this, technology becomes key.

Warehouses serve first and foremost as storage locations, whereas 3PLs act as an outsourced logistics service managing many fulfillment functions for one or many clients simultaneously.

3PLs Require Specific Technologies to Succeed

Being so different from standard warehouse operations, it makes sense that 3PLs need their own unique software solutions to succeed. Because, as a third party logistics provider, you don’t just manage multiple sales channels and distributors… You manage multiple clients who have multiple sales channels and fulfillment expectations themselves!

Luckily, unlike traditional warehouse management systems, the right 3PL Warehouse Management System (WMS) can handle all aspects of order fulfillment for all your different customers, regardless of how big or small your operation is. In addition to order fulfillment, the ideal 3PL WMS supports other critical business processes, as well e.g. billing, branding and sales. But how important is this? Does it really make that big of a difference if you switch to a 3PL Warehouse Management Software?

Why Choosing the Right 3PL Warehouse Management System Matters

With so many moving pieces to keep track of, choosing the right 3PL management software solution is the only guaranteed way to meet the demands and challenges of your operation. Typical warehouse management software, even in tandem with other platforms, just doesn’t cut it once you’re dealing with inbound, outbound and internal 3PL-specific functions for one or more clients… especially if you intend to take on more customers and broaden your fulfillment network in the future. The larger your operation becomes, the more control and visibility you will inevitably need.

Technology that may have gotten the job done when your business was smaller just won’t cut it once you start to experience real growth – not when compared to a 3PL warehouse management system (WMS). The risks of using outdated or lackluster solutions inevitably catch up to you, and they can lead to oversights and unnecessary mistakes within your 3PL processes.

If not handled properly, your blunders can inevitably affect the success of your relationships with customers, suppliers, and carriers, as well.. And that can amount to irreparable damage to your brand reputation and customer satisfaction. Why not take risk out of the equation and meet your 3PL challenges head-on?

The Real Power of 3PL Warehouse Management Systems

Beyond just the management of your client’s various fulfillment stages, you have the distinct responsibility to oversee a lot of data as a 3PL. But bad data in reporting makes it impossible to give your clients dependable updates about their operations… and a lack of real-time visibility can lead to risky setbacks in other areas, as well. This restricts your ability to convey the value of your business.

So the fact remains: accuracy is everything. You need to be flawlessly reliable for your clients and the customers they serve. You need high-functioning, multi-layer visibility into all the different components of your 3PL operation to ensure all areas are flowing smoothly. If you want to be able to add new warehouses successfully into your system, or manage unique customer rules for different picking, packing and shipping requirements – a 3PL Warehouse Management Software can get it done. It will even allow you to manage inventory, orders, and execute billing tasks with confidence.

By using a 3PL warehouse management system, everything that revolves around your stocks (including your other systems) can be integrated into one, accessible platform. This technology connects you with your shippers, giving unified visibility into progress, inventory, and documents virtually. When combined with a 3PL warehouse management system, inventory management and ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems can also easily be seen through a web portal. That way, you always know exactly what is going on throughout your various partnerships.

3PL solutions tend to be equipped with robust analytics tools to monitor everything going on throughout your fulfillment network, including live updates during each stage of your individual client’s fulfillment processes. This streamlines billing, allows for customized customer portals and branding, and automates many processes that once could only be done manually. Nothing gets left to chance with a 3PL Warehouse Management Software, so guess-work can become a thing of the past.

Your Next Move

The bottom line is that a 3PL Warehouse Management System helps you increase your margins by increasing productivity and lowering costs in your supply chain. It simultaneously increases customer retention and loyalty through optimizing the way you manage warehouses, shipping, billing and more. It is a win-win for you and your clients.

That said, if you are just starting out, or you are looking to switch 3PL solutions, it can be a complicated decision-making process. That is why we have broken down some of the major headaches faced in 3PL warehouses and exactly how the right 3PL Warehouse Management Software can alleviate those issues. We want to show you the real ways technology can handle universal 3PL issues, along with some guidance on optimizing your current processes.

LOGIWA‘S ability to connect to every aspect of a warehouses’ operations means we can implement advanced fulfillment strategies to help you ship more, faster. This guide will walk you through the 3PL functions to consider when selecting a 3PL software, as well as address the most prevalent challenges you face: scalability, customer specific rules, order routing, temporary workers, billing, and more.

As you will soon see, the solution is a 3PL Warehouse Management System solution. Your warehouses handle everything from everywhere and anywhere. Shouldn’t you have a 3PL Warehouse Management Software that can do the same?

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