Are you still sticking to your resolutions for optimal transportation practices in a new year, from shipping order to final delivery?
Whether the New Year goal was weight loss or more exercise, few of us set our sights on perfection. However, today’s supply chain managers must deliver perfection every day, with very real consequences for anything less.
What Is a Perfect Shipping Order?
How do you define a perfect shipping order? One of the fundamental requirements is an on-time delivery. Late shipments mean lost sales. According to the Food Marketing Institute, grocers lose $75 billion a year in sales, or 10% of the industry total – due to out-of-stock and unsaleable goods.
Delivery Windows and Ship-By Dates Enforced
Many companies have tackled the quest for the perfect shipping order by requiring that suppliers arrive within specific delivery windows.
Failure to do so can result in fines of as much as 3 to 5% of the value of the shipment. Even Amazon is taking steps to ensure delivery windows are met. In the past, sellers could notify Amazon three days after the expected ship date to confirm shipping had occurred. Now, sellers must confirm the shipment BY the expected ship date. A seller who does not comply with this requirement for at least 96% of their orders is at risk of losing their privileges to sell via Amazon.
Damages, Invoices Are Also Aspects of the Perfect Shipping Order
Top Four Tips for the Quest to Achieve the Perfect Order
So, how do shippers, 3PLs, and carriers achieve the quest for the perfect shipping order?
- Establish parameters early in the relationship. How does a specific carrier or shipper define on-time? Does everyone have the same understanding about contracts, when or why exceptions may be allowed?
- Ensure connectivity. Make sure that all links in the supply chain are connected with technology and there is communication throughout the shipping process. One solution is to combine the use of a transportation management system (TMS) with other systems, such as ERP or WMS.
- Maintain visibility. By using a TMS that serves all transportation modes –including parcel — with a single platform, you can follow your order from beginning to end, even if it is routed as part of a multi-mode or multi-stop move. This visibility allows supply chain managers to take action to prevent an issue before it occurs.
- Manage by exception. With very large volumes of orders, monitoring each one manually can be daunting, if not impossible. However, if you let your TMS do part of the work, only notifying you of exceptions – like an invoice that does not match a bill of lading – your workflow can be more efficient and the outcomes more consistent.
To learn more about how a TMS can help you reduce costs and improve customer service, download this research brief by the ARC analyst firm.
