FEATURE Supply chain, packaging & logistics
How we can label success T
hird-Party Logistics (3PL) providers play a vital role in today’s supply chains. They execute fulfilment for many
brands across an array of industries. They handle the receipt, storage, picking, packing and delivery of goods for customers. Further, for many growing ecommerce businesses, they are essential for growth. The key to the successful running of these complex operations is ensuring warehouses are meticulously organised, that senior management and warehouse staff have a strong handle on inventory at all times, and that staff can pick, pack and ship goods accurately on-time for clients to their customers. Distribution Centre (DC) throughput ultimately supports revenue and profitability for 3PLs and their clients. Many factors drive success. People,
strong operational processes and technology are playing an increasingly vital role. With 3PL staff in short supply, automation technology proves valuable, and fundamental technologies like barcode scanners and label printers continue to keep warehouses in order. The 3PL market is ripe for the picking. Statista says the global logistics market was worth 8.4 trillion US dollars in 2021 – whereas by 2027 it forecasts that this market will exceed 13.7 trillion US dollars. The supply chain technology provider, Extensiv, recently published its 2023 Third- Party Logistics Warehouse Benchmark Report too. It shares insights about growth opportunities available to 3PL companies; saying that acquiring new customers is the greatest opportunity for 86% of the companies it surveyed. Additionally, 50% of companies say that automating processes in warehouses is key; and 46% cite growth related to ecommerce as the third greatest opportunity.
Opportunity doesn’t come without its challenges though. The same research points out that the top challenge for many 3PLs will be managing costs (48%). Other challenges cited include: finding new customers (36%), finding and retaining workers (32%), operational efficiency (32%), technology implementation and integration (29%), growing revenue (27%), inflation (18%), finding and acquiring warehouse
22 October 2024 | Automation
space (15%), customer retention (10%), and customer communication and requests (7%). It is clear that technology has a key role to play in supporting operational efficiency within 3PL and wider supply chain organisations. It offers benefits at all areas and levels; ranging from transportation operations, to warehouse operations and to knowledge workers within distribution centres. We see order management systems (OMS), warehouse management systems (WMS) and transportation management systems (TMS) taking the lead in organising warehouses and providing vital information to staff about goods - and the state of the distribution centre - as stock is picked, packed and shipped to customers for 3PL clients. Most of these technologies are cloud-based and offer fulfilment centre operators and their clients analytics about stock passing through their DCs. There is one set of tools that continues to be core to the successful functioning of many 3PL businesses. This is where the likes of label printer and barcode scanning technologies show their prowess. Essentially label printers across the supply chain print labels with key information on them – including 1D or 2D codes – according to requirements set out by various manufacturers, retailers, and shipping companies. They get stuck onto pallets, boxes and stock as they are unpacked, delivered and pass through the supply chain. 1D and 2D codes carry the key information that aligns with
Minimising downtime within 3PL and supply chains: Jeremie Brocas, BIXOLON Europe, discusses the role of high quality labels
many OMS, WMS and TMS systems. They provide a single source of truth that scanners can work from, allowing the supply chain to communicate and organise itself. Today label printers can be found at many locations within a 3PL. Stationary desktop label printers are often located at areas where pallets are received from clients before they are unpacked, labeled and redistributed through the fulfilment centre (FC). They can generally be located at packing stations too – where goods are packaged and labeled according to an array of shipping companies’ preferred label configurations. Mobile printers are also widely used to support the relabelling of racks or awkwardly shaped goods that are too bulky to fit at packing stations. Additionally, many label printers support the growing trend to use RFID to help ensure inventory management and traceability within DCs or FCs is more accurate in real time. The RFID labels can be coded with vital SKU data and be printed on with standard 1D or 2D codes where required; to provide a failsafe for when the RFID system is down. This RFID approach helps further automate inventory management in real time, and provides an accurate view on throughput.
While many senior management teams
across 3PLs and their customers refer to cloud-based dashboards from their supply chain software providers, to gain a deeper understanding of the performance of their
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