Efficient and intuitive software is key, but it is also essential that warehouse staff know how to handle the products they have received.
Where your products arrive, and how they are handled is extremely important to you as an online entrepreneur. What happens inside the warehouse is key for the products to reach your end customer. If the warehouse is in chaos and there is no order, it is very likely that your customers’ orders will arrive incorrectly or/and late. For this reason,as per MyXBorder, finding solutions that take that weight off your shoulders is important.
3PL companies have the responsibility of guaranteeing a unique and versatile solution. In addition to offering greater security and control in all operations. With that being said, we would like to share with you some of the characteristics of how warehouses work in 3PL companies.
How do warehouses work in 3PL companies?
Each 3PL company has its own strategies and equips its warehouses based on what it offers. For example, the warehouses can be equipped with pallet racks that accommodate most shapes and sizes, making it easy for warehouse staff to find everything and providing direct access to all merchandise.
Another option offered is inventory tracking software, a tool that helps organise and manage stock, orders, sales, and product deliveries in real-time. For any warehouse to be efficient, it has to be able to adapt to the multiple existing strategies.
5 aspects that you should take into account about warehouse management
Technology helps us in an impressive way in various aspects of our lives, and the management of your products in warehouses is no exception. Here we share the 5 characteristics that you should take into account when selecting a warehouse:
1. Connect the warehouse with technology:
To connect the customer, their products, and the warehouse, many 3PL companies choose to create a dashboard. In this way, the dashboard becomes an essential part of the communication and management of stocks. When you send the products to the warehouse it is important that you know what is happening with them, if they have already been processed or sent to your customers.
The best way is to have two dashboards that connect to each other, one that you have as a customer and another that the warehouse staff has. In this location, you can make shipments with the goods you intend to deliver to the warehouse. The personnel will be able to see the shipment’s specifics, such as the arrival date of the goods, among other information.
However, when your goods arrive at the logistics centre, you can also keep track of the action the warehouse is taking, such as whether or not it has been accepted, unloaded, etc.
2. Efficient and intuitive software:
We have established and learned over the years that user-friendly, straightforward software is essential for superior performance. The mission of the 3PL company software must be achieved, processes must be made simpler, and a quick fix must be produced.
Make sure that in the control panel that you use, you have the option to define the shipping conditions. This information tells the respective warehouse what type of stock it is going to receive and process. Some details are as follows:
- The respective SKUs
- Type of merchandise
- If your goods are packaged on pallets or cartons (you must declare the dimensions and weight; this helps the warehouse allocate a space)
Once all the information is entered in the dashboard, a delivery ID must be created and assigned to identify the shipment that will be received by the warehouse.
The details on the Delivery ID screen must show all the information about what’s in your shipment. Once the ID is generated, the control panel must create a sticker for you to place on the outside of the pallet or box. It helps to identify the box easily.
Something as simple as your product description gives the warehouse a lot of information about how to handle what gets into the hands of warehouse staff.
3. Warehouse personnel must be trained:
What we mean by this is that it is not only important that they know how to unload the products and process them. It is essential that they know how to distribute them correctly, and how to handle the software that manages the number of products that enter and leave the warehouse. These details, not as small as they seem, are part of a successful supply chain.
The control panel communicates to the warehouse personnel how to handle the products, and they are in charge of verifying that all the merchandise that has previously been entered into the control panel has arrived at the warehouse.
4. Order matters
Order is key, especially when handling large numbers of SKUs. Make sure that the 3PL company that manages your products has an organised warehouse and, above all, that it clearly knows where each product is located.
When the products arrive at the warehouse, they are assigned a space within it. Here, it is of the utmost importance that no mistake is made since you do not want your customers to receive the wrong products. To avoid these errors, warehouse personnel must be trained to define how to accommodate the product.
5. Returns are also managed by warehouse staff
In the case of returns, the products, depending on the 3PL company but in all probability, are returned to the same warehouse where they were sent. And it is important that the staff know what to do with these products and especially where to return them. Either they put them as a priority to go out in the next order because they have an expiration date, or they return them to their designated space.
Conclusion
One of the biggest responsibilities of a 3PL company is making sure your customers’ products arrive safely at their final destination. And for this process to take place, it is necessary to have an order about what enters and leaves the warehouse. Outsourcing your logistics to a third-party company has its advantages, you only have to take care of processing the products within our dashboard, and that’s it.