Managing the Q4 Peak: Considerations and Recommendations for your Supply Chain
In a time that has seen UPS impose shipping restrictions on major retailers to maintain performance (not to mention covid-19 vaccine distribution), it is all the more important to take preparatory measures to build flexibility and buffers into supply chains. Below, we discuss considerations for your network, transportation, and warehousing segments of your supply chain.
Strategy
Locations: Balancing the Workload
Shipping from the closest fulfillment center isn’t always the best option. There are a whole host of considerations: Do we stock that item here? How many pending orders for that location? Can it be batched with other orders? Rate of on-time delivery? Profit based on shipping costs? and many more. Rethinking distribution strategy can lead higher on-time delivery rates and maintaining service level goals.
3PL: Are you top priority?
What we like to call finding the 'right fit' is important for these times of the year. It requires a balance to find a 3PL that is both technologically advanced and connected across the country that is also flexible enough to work with the specifics of your business and will prioritize you when you need it the most.
Transportation
Flexibility: Expeditors, Plan B Carriers
Understanding your relationship with your carriers and where you fit in to their network is key to success during peak season. There will undoubtably be shipping emergencies during peak/holiday season. Testing out alternative carriers and expeditors during off-times will bring confidence they will deliver in your time of need.
Surcharges
Another consideration is peak-season surcharges. Discuss planned volumes with your providers in advance to minimize surprise and therefore surcharges. Overloading carriers' networks with unpredicted volumes is exactly what these charges try to avoid. By working with carriers in advance, you can negotiate these surcharges down.
Dedicated Fleet
Depending on the size of your business and the distribution of your customer base, a dedicated fleet may be a legitimate option for you. This extra ownership over the delivery of product to customers could offer redundancy and potentially present freight cost savings.
Warehousing
Layout and Organization
Before peak season is the time to revisit warehousing setup & storage media. Organizing the facility, utilizing space efficiently, and giving everything a place creates necessary space to succeed in peak volumes.
Extra Shifts/Staffing Agencies
What shifts are you currently running? Can you operate another shift over the weekend or extend the hours during the day? As staffing issues plague warehousing & distribution companies, especially during Covid-19, it is important to exercise all of your options. Check with local staffing agencies to potentially supply you with temporary workers.
Technology
If staffing does not solve the problem, consider tech solutions. Those solutions could be picking aids like voice picking, pick-to-light, and RF scanners or it could be AMR's or AGV's that move product on their own. These technologies simplify the human warehousing element, minimize error, increase efficiency, and can operate consistently for longer than 8 hours.