Maintaining a high volume of shipments throughout peak season is critical to improving customer service experiences and reducing delays. With that in mind, shippers and LSPs need to know a few things about traditional small parcel management challenges, how parcel automation promotes faster shipping, and a few tips for expanding its use.
As explained by ParcelIndustry.com, “High-volume parcel shippers have used complex and customized automation strategies to help reduce costs in their supply chain for many years. What’s new today is that many of these strategies are now cost-effective options for small and mid-sized shippers because standardized software exists for these functions.”
Top Problems With Labor-Intensive, Manual Management of High-Volume Shipping
Managing small parcel shipping is among the most complex and riskiest parts of the modern supply-chain.
Since parcel packages are smaller, they are easier to lose or mismanage. Failure to maintain control over parcels also effectively results in massive disruptions to e-commerce freight. Ultimately, parcel and e-commerce go together more than any other aspect of the omnichannel supply chain. Additional problems, including damage to parcels, misrouting, and package theft, continue to exist.
As parcel shipping volume grows in anticipation of the forthcoming peak season, relying on manual management is ineffective. As a result, interest in the automated management of small packages will naturally become a defining trend this year.
Parcel Automation Modernizes Small Parcel Management
Automated parcel management includes routing optimization, packaging, picking, reordering, inventory management, and virtually any other process surrounding small packages.
Furthermore, small packages and their associated high-volume demands open additional doors to increased risk for error during invoicing. Only tracking proof of delivery (POD) becomes another challenge. Fortunately, automated management of small packages can tackle all these challenges and more.
Leveraging automation eliminates the redundancy associated with so many packages. It supports management of the most complex and areas of the modern supply-chain. Moreover, multiple parties, carriers, freight brokers, air freight forwarders, and other entities may be involved in moving parcels worldwide due to e-commerce.
Therefore, all companies need a specific strategy that applies automation in logistics for solving those challenges.
How to Expand Usage of Parcel Automation
A robust automated small parcel management strategy considers the whole picture, collecting and analyzing data across the logistics spectrum to streamline processes.
This may include using robotic process automation (RPA) to route and bundle parcels, consolidate bundled parcel shipments into full LTL shipments, and more.
The key to success lies in using a software-as-a-service (SaaS) transportation management platform that actively seeks out and addresses inefficiencies within the supply chain. Moreover, such platforms must be appropriately integrated with an application programming interface (API) that enables real-time data transfer and supply chain collaboration.
Earn the Benefits of Faster, Efficient Parcel Automation With the Right Platform
It is possible to move more parcels at a lower cost using automation in logistics. Automated parcel management is the only way modern freight management parties can successfully augment the scale of operations and deliver on the increasing demands of consumer expectations.
Learn more about how your organization can embrace the role of automation in parcel management.
