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Distribution & 3PL Logistics Solutions

Evolving Logistics for 3PL's and LSP's

Worldwide demand for 3PL (third-party logistics) services is being driven by the explosive rise of e-commerce. The worldwide 3PL market, which was estimated to be worth about $1 trillion in 2020, is anticipated to surpass $1.75 trillion by 2026.

However, the expansion of 3PL has also raised customer expectations for precise and on-time delivery, creating new challenges.

As a result, the logistics strategies of 3PL and distribution companies will need to evolve in order to adapt to best practices and use the appropriate technologies, to solve new problems.

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Here are 5 3PL challenges you can overcome with the right solutions.

3PL Challenges & Solutions

Fleet costs

Last mile delivery

3PL companies must boost productivity and save money to meet delivery costs in order to stay competitive. By offering costed delivery options, customers can chose what's convenient for them and retailers can charge accordingly for deliveries. Some individuals will pay for the convenience of having something delivered where and when they want. Reducing costs while improving service will depend upon a company's approach to last-mile deliveries.

eCom Warehouse & yard management

Warehouse & yard management

The requirements for speedy fulfilment will be met in large part by a robust yard and warehouse management system. A well-organised warehouse facilitates swift inventory management and product retrieval and will enable you to pick, pack, and dispatch your products to customers as soon as feasible.

Visibility

Creating end-to-end visibility

Creating visibility within your blockchain is a challenge. Selecting the right end-to-end visibility solutions will give retailers and distributors a thorough understanding of the product delivery process from purchase orders to warehouse receipts.

Cost cutting

Cost-cutting in the supply chain

It might be difficult to reduce costs throughout your supply chains. However, when you adopt the correct solutions, cost reduction is feasible at every step of the supply chain, including last-mile delivery, warehouse management, transportation management, and more.

Predictive analysis

Increasing need for delivery efficiency

Today the consumers are in charge. As internet rivalry rises, many firms provide similar items. Retailers must offer competitive prices and cost-effective delivery options at the moment of sale. Using the correct logistics software, merchants can provide costed delivery options based on existing commitments, delivery capacity, and new orders.

Uniting the People and Technology that Move the World

Descartes cloud-based technology solutions supports thousands of organisations with end-to-end supply chain and logistics solutions. From local deliveries to international trade and from warehouse operating systems to denied party screening.

Logistics Software Solutions for 3PL's and LSP's

Leading distributors and third-party logistics companies around the world rely on Descartes’ market leading supply chain solutions and innovations to enable them to compete at the highest levels to succeed and grow.

Our routing and scheduling solutions can assist you with increased productivity, decreased costs, and improved customer experience whether you are a distribution or 3PL company operating a network of fixed routes or routes that are optimised daily.

We are aware that distribution firms and third-party logistics (3PLs) are struggling financially, therefore it is crucial to make sure the appropriate products are delivered at the right time to the right location. It is not an easy undertaking to combine it with the need to maintain high levels of customer service while also balancing the demands on labour and transportation costs in order to draw in and keep clients.

Our solutions give you the tools you need to go past manual procedures and other disparate systems. assisting in the better management of your inventories, assets, staff, and necessary business papers.

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Solutions for Distribution and Third Party Logistics:

  • Fixed routes

    Fixed routes can degrade over time as traffic flows change and minor alterations are made to schedules, using our software to check and improve on static routes will ensure you are keeping the costs down in your fixed route network. The management of routes and deliveries can be completely automated, or planners can manually alter routes for specific deliveries. Either way the systems optimises deliveries based on a combination of time, cost and many other factors.

  • Dynamic Routes

    The manual calculations required to produce dynamic multi drop routes for distribution channels is a lengthy and complex process. Our solution automates this into minutes, freeing planners’ time to deal with any problems or exceptions. Our algorithms and AI systems factor in the latest traffic conditions and restrictions, time of day, type of vehicle, priority deliveries, time of delivery and many other factors to produce the most cost efficient routes based on the available resources available for deliveries. This is a continuous optimisation process, recalculating each time an order is added to the system. This constant recalculation helps prevent you from over committing to deliveries and enables you to see, well in advance, when extra resources or hired in vehicles may be required, not the night before as inferior batch processing systems might otherwise do.

  • System integration

    Our solution will easily integrate with your other existing business solutions with established links to all the major ERP, SOP, WMS and vehicle telematics systems plus a number of the other less well known systems, meaning that our solution can be quickly employed, while any issues will be resolved by our experienced implementation team.

    It can also take advantage of drivers’ hours data from Descartes SmartCompliance.

  • Additional solutions for distribution companies

    The breadth and depth of our cloud based, software as a service (SaaS), solutions that we provide through our Logistics Technology Platform are unparalleled in the market. We can help you run best-in-class distribution operations with solutions that span:

  • Cloud based Software as a Service

    Descartes Automated Route and scheduling optimisation is a SaaS cloud-based solution, enabling the operation of the software from any location with an internet connection. This is useful for route planners who for various reasons might be required to work is different office locations or from home.

 

Contact a 3PL and distribution expert today.

 

Customer Successes