With another year about to end again, your business has probably looked back to its respective accomplishments and failures concerning logistics. While you have seen the good light, there might be some practices you have integrated into your supply chain management that badly affected your profits.
It’s important to know that there is a lot more concerning logistics other than decisions about warehousing and transportation. For one, you need to develop a winning logistics strategy that would ensure a high-quality supply chain performance just in time for the New Year.
However, with the number of things involved in logistics management, this could be quite difficult to achieve. Fortunately, there are simple and straightforward strategies a company can implement to make the supply chain process easier and effective for everyone involved. Read on and follow these 7 tips when planning a logistics strategy for the New Year.
7 Ways to Develop a Successful Logistics Strategy in time for the New Year
1. Determine your KPIs
Before implementing (or rebuilding) a logistics strategy for your company, first, you need to identify your current key performance indicators or KPIs.
Review customer order cycles, pick-to-ship cycles, or dock-to-stock cycles in order to determine how quickly and efficiently your business is fulfilling orders. You should also monitor your inventory daily to ensure your stocks are accurate. Lastly, take note of your expenses and regulate them accordingly.
Ultimately, by tracking all of these numbers, you’ll be able to come up with the right practices for your company which makes it easier to plan an effective logistics strategy.
2. Automate Processes
Logistics involves several people from different departments and industries. It also entails the knowledge of the proper systems required throughout the supply chain process. With this number of variables included, know that humans are bound to make mistakes at the end of the day. This could badly affect logistics management and in turn, your overall business.
That’s why in order to minimize human errors, it’s best to automate your supply chain process. You should integrate innovations such as cloud-based technology, track-and-trace systems, and even AI. For instance, incorporating cloud technology can help you achieve visibility in the important areas of the logistics process. This lets you spot any problems regarding inventory or delivery which allows you to react faster.
Adopting AI-integrated equipment such as smart glasses could also provide various benefits to your business. This includes hands-free route searches, voice recognition, and even face recognition which makes the delivery of goods significantly easier and hassle-free.
Overall, automated processes can not only improve the efficiency and quality of logistics management but they can also help increase your profits. With robots and machines, you can refrain from hiring other employees and even maximize the current workforce by assigning them to more delicate tasks.
3. Integrate a Warehouse Management System
Using a warehouse management system can help you achieve a highly organized and efficient supply chain process. Through this, you can quickly identify and locate products in your inventory which allows you to ship them quickly to your consumers.
Furthermore, a warehouse management system can also minimize the likelihood of errors when an item is already shipped out. It also allows you to solve problems instantaneously through trace-ordered products within the warehouse.
However, before choosing a particular system for your company, you need to assess your needs and goals first. Doing so helps you create a successful warehouse model that is scalable and flexible.
4. Build Connections
In order to be successful in the logistics industry, you should build relationships with other people. Focus on building a supply chain process that helps you connect to potential suppliers, contractors, and manufacturers around the world.
Using automated technology like cloud-based software could also prove to be beneficial for this particular goal. As it offers consistency, enhances visibility, and streamlines processes, you can meet challenges and deliver solutions in real-time to everyone in the supply chain.
5. Focus on Customer Satisfaction
Aside from the people involved in the logistics industry, you also need to nurture your relationship with your customers.
As nothing is more important than them, make sure to implement systems that would show this commitment. Start by simply interacting with your customers. This could be done either through traditional means like a phone or a digital approach such as websites or social media pages. Have a new and improved logistics service? Let them know! Likewise, if you’re offering special discounts, you should inform them.
The next step you should take is to offer real-time customer service. This covers operations such as order handling, shipment tracking, and other delivery-related inquiries. Through this, you’ll be able to provide transparency and answer their concerns immediately which leads to a satisfactory experience.
However, as your business grows bigger, the more complex customer service can get. This just means that it’s harder to give consistent and perfect service every time. Fortunately, automated processes can also help you with this problem. For one, you can use voice-controlled chatbots to assist consumers and solve whatever concerns they might have.
Ultimately, by implementing a logistics strategy with the end-user in mind, you can increase brand awareness as well as business reputation. And as more people would see the quality of service that you provide, they’ll be more likely to gravitate towards your company—resulting in higher profits.
6. Choose the Right Shipping Method
The right shipping method is also a major element in making sure your customer is satisfied with your logistics service.
For instance, if they want to receive their packages immediately, air freight is the best choice. However, if their items are considerably bigger in size and heavier in weight, using sea freight is just logical. Or if you found out that they want to ship via land but with budget concerns, you can opt to combine rail and truck freight to meet their demands.
Besides customer satisfaction, using the right courier service also increases supply chain efficiency while keeping expensive transportation costs at bay.
7. Consider Outsourcing Your Logistics
Managing your logistics and keeping them at optimum working conditions could be very difficult to do alone. There would also come a time when the customer demand is so high that your business needs to improve efficiency. However, this is almost impossible to achieve with just an in-house logistics team.
It’s best to outsource your processes and partner with a reliable courier company you can depend on. Doing so can actually cut your business spending as you don’t have to oversee expenses in warehouses, order fulfillment, and delivery.
Are you looking for such company to help your business out? Worklink Services Inc. is one of reliable B2B courier companies in the Philippines. Backed by years of experience in the industry, we can provide logistical solutions and support services through our logistics management service.
ALSO READ: 5 Reasons Why Business Logistics is Essential for Your Company
With these 7 logistics strategy tips in mind, your business would have an efficient supply chain process. This ultimately ensures that your business stays relevant in the industry.
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