In communicating with prospective fulfillment clients, our team at Spectra finds that there is a great deal of misunderstanding out there concerning the nature of warehousing. In general, organizations tend to make assumptions about how a third-party fulfillment provider is handling their inventory. Those assumptions are a big mistake, especially if the inventory in question is sensitive to environmental factors or has certain handling requirements.

Read on to find out some of the common misconceptions about warehousing, and what terms you should keep an eye out for in order to understand exactly how your fulfillment partner is handling your stock.

Climate Control

This is the biggest factor that organizations take for granted when choosing a fulfillment partner. We are so accustomed to every indoor space we encounter being air conditioned and heated that it comes as a surprise to most people that not all warehouses are climate controlled. 

What does that mean for inventory? There are some items that can be safely stored in a warehouse that is not climate controlled, but not as many as you might think. A facility that gets freezing cold in the winter or swelteringly hot and humid in the summer, depending on the geographical location of the facility, can have a degrading effect on many different kinds of products.

If your B2B or B2C fulfillment involves products that are sensitive to environmental conditions at all, such as liquids or solids that can melt or break down in high temperatures, climate control is a non-negotiable. Don’t make assumptions! Find out for sure if the fulfillment partner you are considering offers climate controlled space for your stock. At Spectra, we have had new clients sign on with us after discovering that thousands of dollars’ worth of inventory was ruined by sitting in a warehouse without climate control.

FDA Registered

FDA registration comes into play when a client’s inventory includes non-perishable foods, cosmetics, medical devices, supplements, or some pharmaceuticals. For these items, the FDA imposes certain parameters for safe storage between the manufacturer and the end user. If your organization produces or sells these products, it’s essential to work with a fulfillment partner that is explicitly registered with the FDA to meet those parameters.

Spectra maintains the inspections and documentation necessary to register with the FDA, meaning that you can trust our team to handle your products in the following categories in accordance with federal guidelines:

• Non-perishable foods. Spectra is not a cold storage facility, so foods that must stay refrigerated or frozen are excluded. However, non-perishable foods can be stocked and shipped from our fulfillment facility.
• Pharmaceuticals and supplements. We maintain the pest control, humidity, and temperature conditions mandated by the FDA for the safe storage of supplements and pharmaceutical products–again, excluding medicines that must be refrigerated or frozen.
• Medical devices. Some medical devices can be damaged by high or low temperatures, or by unusual humidity levels. We are able to safely stock medical devices under our FDA registration.
• Cosmetics. We are able to store aerosols, liquids, and other cosmetic products within environmental parameters to preserve their integrity until they reach the end user.

Value Added Services

One of the most unusual features of Spectra’s fulfillment system is our ability to provide what we term “value added services.” Any organization that has explored the possibility of a 3PL relationship has found that it is difficult to get assurances that special requests will be honored.

• For small, low-cost warehousing operations, there is simply not enough staff, infrastructure, or experience in-house to keep up with special requests like spot testing, rework and refurbishing, or assembly. 
• For very large 3PL companies, the focus is on moving inventory into and out of the facility as efficiently as possible. Any task that requires staff to take time inspecting individual items, implementing an additional step while receiving stock, or other activities outside the standard protocols will either be denied or will come with high added fees.

Spectra falls into the “sweet spot” between these two ends of the spectrum. We are small enough to offer detailed, personal services that the large national and international services simply can’t offer at affordable costs, but we are also large enough to keep up with those services in terms of staffing and equipment. At any given time, we have multiple clients for which we are providing spot testing, specific pest control protocols, unusual assembly needs, rework, restocking, and other specific tasks.

We encourage every new client to let us know exactly what wishes they have for the handling of their inventory. Some potential partners have been discouraged by constantly being told that those wishes are impossible to keep up with, at least while keeping services affordable. At Spectra, we do things differently, and we take pride in figuring out a way to make it happen if at all possible while keeping the monthly contract within the client’s budget. 

Print Services Integration

Spectra is more than just a fulfillment provider. We also operate a SOC II Type 2 certified, HIPAA compliant print and mailing facility that can be fully integrated with our fulfillment services. What does that mean for our fulfillment clients? Often our B2B and B2C clients need to include print collateral with their kitted shipments to end users. Rather than having those materials printed by another third-party provider and then sent to us for kitting, they can have Spectra print the materials in-house at our state-of-the-art, fully equipped print facility. This integration saves money and greatly reduces the time between an order coming in and its fulfillment.

Is it time to review your current 3PL relationship? If you’re not sure about any of these parameters as it relates to your provider’s warehouse, it may be time to schedule a call with Spectra. We’re ready to learn about your fulfillment needs, tell you how we can accommodate your special requests, and get started with a fulfillment partnership that moves your company forward rather than holding it back.