Lean on 3PL Cross Dock Freight Shipping

Peak shipping season is now upon us and, as a shipper, your goods need to deliver quickly to your retail store. As we all know, however, “quickly” isn’t always possible in 2020. Truck capacity is tight due to COVID-19 and other factors, making it an especially challenging year to fulfill your retailer requirements. Thankfully, third-party logistics (3PL) companies that offer cross-dock freight solutions can help you keep your product moving throughout peak season and beyond. In this article, we’ll look at some of the major benefits of 3PL cross docking.

3PL cross dock freight solutions

With traditional retail system, your trucks pick up the product from a warehouse and transport the product to a retailer store at a designated appointment time. Sounds quite simple. But what if your driver is ready to make the delivery earlier – like days earlier than the appointment? From your perspective, and the drivers, it would be ideal to make the delivery early and then get to the next loads on the docket. From the retailer’s perspective, however, that’s not going to happen. The appointment is set, and your delivery is limited to that precise window.

This is where cross docking comes into picture. With 3PL cross dock freight solutions, your driver can unload your product with a 3PL located near your destination. The 3PL stores your product for a temporary period of time and then make the final delivery to the retailer on your behalf. This frees up your driver to get to additional loads instead of tying up his or her time and equipment.

Cross docking is common all year round but is especially useful in the peak season where shippers have lots of product heading to retailers and they can’t afford to have trucks sitting idle.

Some Other benefits of cross dock freight solutions

In addition to the above mentioned benefit, the following are additional benefits of cross docking services.

Cross docking helps with late appointments. Cross docking can also pay dividends when a driver is late to an appointment. When that happens, the appointment will likely need to be rescheduled – often several days after the original one. Instead of tying up the driver and truck while waiting for that new appointment time, the driver can offload the product at a 3PL warehouse and come back for it later or let the 3PL handle the final delivery.

Cross docking helps when problems arise. If items are loaded onto a trailer in such a way that the driver can’t reach the product he or she needs (e.g., items at the front of the trailer need to be unloaded first), the driver can turn to a 3PL to unload, organize, reload, and/or palletize product. Or, if the delivery isn’t up to retailer’s standards (e.g., product is leaning in the trailer or not settled properly), the driver can take the trailer to a 3PL for rework services and final delivery.

Cross docking helps to avoid demurrage for imports. 3PL cross dock freight solutions can help importers avoid demurrage penalties if the container is not returned to the port on time. With cross docking, your drayage carrier can bring the container to a 3PL facility for unloading and temporary storage and then quickly return the container to the port. You can then work out the final delivery details of the product without worrying about demurrage charges.

Lean on Tenaxx Logistics for cross-dock freight solutions

Cross docking has long been a key logistics service offering of ours, and we have space and the expertise to make it happen for your company. To learn more about our cross dock services, contact us today.

Essential Guidelines for Warehouse Inventory Management

Managing inventory operations can make all the difference to productivity within your supply chain. By organizing your warehouse operations effectively, you can get benefit such as
• Maximize the use of storage space
• Save time
• Keep the record of stocks
• Fewer Overheads and increased cost-benefit

You can get all these benefits by implementing some very simple steps within your workflow. Let’s take a look at some of the best ways of achieving a more managed warehouse inventory.

• Arrange the warehouse properly

There are certain stocks which used more frequently than other stock, plan your warehouse space with these stock in mind. Always put the most commonly used items in an easy to access location. By making all these necessary arrangements, you can save the time it takes to load and unload such items.

• Demand forecasting

Some times of year will be busier than other times, especially the peak season, so plan ahead and accordingly for your business seasonal demands. Forecast the demand based on past sale records and ensure that you have enough stock for that time period to avoid any delay.

• Be Flexible to the change

Business demand change over time, what may have worked for your business earlier may not work in later years. Examine how your warehouse operations carry out every year, check your stock records and new changes in your business throughout the past few years. Evaluate every area very carefully to make the necessary changes to run it more effectively.

• Implement Cross Docking

Cross-docking is a form of supply chain management process in which the products from a supplier or manufacturing unit are shipped directly to a customer or retail chain without any requirement for the storage of goods in the warehouse in between. That means a quick turnaround for your business, saving time and money. It is not ideal for all needs, but it saves cost and time for a certain stock.

• Give the right training to your staff

A staff that understands warehouse inventory operations will keep it better and manage the business more efficiently. By having knowledgeable staff, you can ensure that your workforce maintains a properly organized warehouse inventory.

• Label your items

Put SKU(stock keeping unit) numbers on every item in your stock in the warehouse. It clear labels ensures that it’s easy to identify products, before moving or transporting them. A barcode system can also be used, depending on the needs and size of your business. Whatever you use, ensure it’s up to date and that no numbers are re-used inappropriately.

Benefits of Choosing Tenaxx Logistics

Tenaxx Logistics provides customers with the finest in 3PL Warehousing, Transportation and Distribution Services. We comprise a team of expert, dedicated, and highly experienced staff who specializes in providing integrated logistics solutions. We help the company make better choices about warehousing, order fulfillment, and transportation decisions, so they can streamline costs and manage their supply chain more efficiently.

The services we offer at Tenaxx Logistics include:

1. Retail Distribution In Canada

Tenaxx Logistics ensures seamless deliveries and accuracy of the cargo for different retailers. Our retailing services include retrieval of your cargo from the ports, sorting and packaging of the load upon arrival, providing the receiving report with actual goods quantity and SKU as received, labeling of the load and timely deliveries.

2. Order Fulfillment/ Pick and Pack

Tenaxx provides a more flexible and efficient pick and pack services. We offer a wide range of packaging options and strive to give a cost-effective and accurate solution for all your distribution and packaging needs from anywhere in Canada. Our warehouse is large enough to house a wide variety of products and our team works effectively within our system to ensure products are handled carefully. Our warehousing offerings are scalable which allows businesses to grow at their own pace without worrying about increasing costs.

3. Shared Warehousing

If you can’t afford your own warehouse or you need extra warehouse space for all your logistics needs then a shared warehouse solution can fit all of your requirements such as storing your products, minimize costs and sufficient storage area for keeping your products. We have various warehouse facilities in different locations, specified for shared and dedicated warehousing. The services we offer in shared warehousing provides a complete package of dedicated staff, inventory management, quality assurance, yard management, and distribution. Contact us today for your shared warehousing needs.

4. Dedicated Warehousing

If your warehouse storage and processing needs are larger, we can implement a solution designed around a dedicated facility and workforce. We can source and manage large-scale facilities for individual client needs. The Tenaxx warehousing and distribution facility management team brings decades of experience to help you manage and keep your inventory moving.

5. Transportation Management

Tenaxx Logistics provides distribution services to every location in Canada. A combination of our customized services, dedicated and expert staff, and advanced equipment make us your number one go-to logistics company to meet your Transport management needs. Our services include
• Selection of carrier, competitive pricing, and performance management
• Tracking of electronic shipment and updates
• Costing by, product, lane, and customer
• Freight bill audit
• Initiating and reporting OS&D claims

6. Cross Docking and Transloading

If you are looking for a delivery service that requires little to no handling and mid storage of goods in the warehouse, then cross-docking is the right solution for you. Tenaxx Logistics has various docking terminals where inbound merchandise is unloaded and arranged according to the final destination. Screening is done, and with a forklift, pallet truck, etc., the cargo gets transported to the external dock. With a central docking terminal, similar goods are efficiently sorted and arranged, before delivery to their various destinations. Sometimes for smooth delivery of massive loads, we adopt deconsolidation arrangements so that we break down the large loads into smaller parts, which is a more manageable and effective solution for transporting goods safely. It is a suitable logistics solution especially for those who are transporting perishable goods. With the reduced need for storage space, attributed to this method, it saves a lot of transportation and warehouse costs.

Tenaxx Logistics: One-Stop for all your Supply Chain need

Tenaxx Logistics is the best place where you can meet your supply chain needs. We ensure that our clients receive the wholesome package at competitive rates. Whether you are in need of a warehousing solution for your business or need to track your shipping, our lines are open 24/7. Improve the efficiency of the management of your businesses’ supply chain by partnering with us, today.