When you outsource your fulfillment activities to a third-party logistics (3PL) provider, the entire point of that move is to relieve your organization of the complications that go along with fulfillment. Tasks like stocking inventory, keeping track of levels, and processing returned stock consume lots of time, and if you can find a great provider who can do all that for you reliably, your organization can focus its attention on what it wants to–that is, growing and generating more revenue.
With that being the case, you don’t want to take the time to investigate what inventory management software and practices your 3PL provider is using; you just want everything to work correctly! However, if your current 3PL partner’s systems are less than optimal, they could be wasting your money on a monthly basis.
Forgotten Inventory
You’ve paid to produce materials and you’re paying to have those materials stocked on shelves. But if those materials don’t ultimately make it out the door and into the hands of paying customers, or in the case of B2B fulfillment, into the hands of retail partners who can use those materials to generate income, they represent wasted money.
Forgotten inventory can be the result of one of several mistakes. The simplest is disorganization on the part of the team managing the inventory. The software being used to track inventory might show that there are units in stock, but if that stock is not sitting on its designated shelf, it’s easier to assume the software is incorrect and adjust those numbers rather than going on a search through the facility to locate the stock. All it takes is an employee putting the stock on the wrong shelf or leaving it sitting in a corner on a pallet where it doesn’t belong in order to cause it to be forgotten.
Even if that stock is finally located later on, by that time more units have probably already been ordered and paid for to replace them. Now, not only has capital been spent on units that weren’t needed, but the original stock has to be put back into inventory and stored when it may not be ordered again.
Another common mistake is simply overestimating how much of a certain product or material is needed. The less agile and powerful an inventory management system is, the harder it will be to get stock levels close to optimal levels at all times.
Missed Opportunities
Modern inventory management software has powerful features that 3PL providers can use to maximize efficiency for their clients. You might be assuming that your current fulfillment partner is at the forefront of the technology that’s available in this regard, but that may not necessarily be the case. A provider might simply continue with the same software they have been using for years because it’s expensive and difficult to switch. In that case, they will be using outdated methods of tracking stock and predicting how much you need on hand to meet demand at any given time.
At Spectra, the software we use to manage our clients’ inventory makes full use of the advantages that detailed data and metric analysis can provide. The more time our team spends moving your inventory in and out of our facility and the more we learn about your relationships with your end users, whether B2B or B2C, the better we get at predicting demand and knowing precisely when is the best time to reorder stock.
Combining these powerful tools with the practical fulfillment knowledge that our experienced team brings to every project, Spectra becomes a truly game-changing partner for organizations that have been just “getting by” with fulfillment in the past.
Unique Benefits From Spectra
An organization that chooses to switch from their 3PL provider to Spectra will also get some unique benefits that are sure to translate into greater profits. One of those is visibility. The advanced inventory management software that we use in our fulfillment facility connects with an intuitive online portal that the client can access at any time. That portal lets the client see in real time how much inventory is in stock and what has been happening with customer orders.
Being able to view this data means that decision makers in the organization can take action without having to set up a meeting with the 3PL provider, review data that is already old, and try to react to trends that happened some time ago. Instead, they can know exactly what’s happening now. This allows for much greater agility in implementing ideas, assessing their success, and changing course accordingly.
Another unique benefit of working with Spectra is the ability to use our in-house print facility for integrated projects that involve both print and fulfillment. Our print experience is just as deep as our fulfillment experience, and our facility is fully equipped to print top-tier quality materials, including postcards, catalogs, books, posters, and more.
The variable data capabilities of our print facility also allow our team to print fully personalized pieces that can be included with kits of materials that need to be sent to specific recipients. This level of personalization greatly increases the value of Spectra’s fulfillment offerings, giving clients the opportunity to serve their B2B end users with very high quality service.
Find Out More About Spectra
When you establish a fulfillment relationship with Spectra, you’ll never have to wonder if more could be done to maximize your inventory management. Our team will actually be coming to you with ideas for improvement based on what they’ve learned about your processes and the products you work with. Our clients regularly make beneficial upgrades to the way they order materials, store them, and ship them out to end users based on our expert recommendations.
You can review Spectra’s fulfillment offerings, read case studies, and get more information about the company at spectraintegration.com. There you can also email us to set up an in-person meeting and discuss your fulfillment needs. We look forward to working with you!
