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“Looking at the world through a sustainability lens not only helps us ‘future proof’ our supply chain, it also fuels innovation and drives brand growth.” Paul Polman

Shipments that don’t fill an entire truck are called Less-than-Truckload (LTL) or Less-Than-Container-Load (LCL). These happen across the country every single day. It’s a great way to ship items because it allows for shippers to be more flexible. It can help save money, time, and be a more environmentally friendly option.

Helps Small Businesses

LTL is helpful for businesses that often don’t have shipments that require a full container to ship. Usually, these shipments are paid for based on volume, and they are consolidated into other shipments. It’s a tremendous option for small businesses because they can ship fewer items while spending less money. LTL brings with it the benefit of shipping with a professional freight company without the high price of unused space.

Environmentally Friendly

LTL also results in fewer trucks used, because multiple LTL shipments can be consolidated to create fuller truckloads. This in turn causes reduced emissions and lowers the carbon footprint for all businesses involved!

Perfect for Demand Fluctuations

With the demand increase that ecommerce has brought, businesses need to be ready to meet the needs of their customer base. When companies use LTL, it helps eliminate the need of waiting for each shipment to fill an entire truckload.

Consolidation

There are times when an LTL shipment can cost as much as a full truckload even if it only takes up ½ or ¾ of a truck. This is when it’s important to build a relationship with a shipping partner that can handle consolidation. This means that multiple LTL shipments from several suppliers will be combined at a cross docking warehouse like Unibox, into a single truck that is headed to the same retailer. Most consolidation programs will have a consistent schedule and will need a connected lead time for retailer expectations.

There are many benefits to consolidation that coincide with LTL. Cost savings, speed to market so your freight gets delivered on time, and environmental friendliness are just a few. When dock space is limited, consolidation ensures that less trucks are required for pickups, rather than needing to accommodate several LTL shipments from multiple providers.

Unibox Warehouse can be treated as a consolidation center to help reduce costs and increase efficiency. With a close proximity to the Port of Chicago, our cross dock is often used for pallet fixing and redelivery, as well as consolidation or LTL shipments.

There are rigorous guidelines for food storage and transportation. Moving food from the farm to the processor, to the store, can be quite the process. A food-grade warehouse brings a much-needed link between these steps. When deciding which of the three types of warehouses you might need (Cold or Frozen Storage, Dry Storage, Chilled or Refrigerated Storage), and establishing a connection with a specific warehouse, there are some aspects to look at before making the final decision.

Temperature Controlled Storage

The fact that your food products need to be stored and shipped at specific temperatures is obvious. Some aspects, however, aren’t so easy. For instance, did you know that the ideal temperature for ice cream to be stored according to the International Ice Cream Association (IICA) is -20° F? There are also so many different types of products that may require cold storage like artwork, candles, plants, film, cologne, cosmetics, and seeds. When these products can be stored together and when they need to be kept separate from certain foods is something food-grade warehouse experts can help with.

Timing & Distribution

Some foods and beverages can stay in dry storage for years, and others will need to be refrigerated and shipped within a few days. With the many differences involved in food grade storage, a warehouse will bring a helpful expertise when it comes to creating a storage and distribution plan. Every food-grade warehouse should have a system in place for tracking “first in, first out” to ensure inventory is rotated properly.

Dedicated Transportation

Time management in the food industry is extremely important, which means that the correct means of transportation must be always ready. Fleets of dedicated dry van and refrigerated options are an essential part of what makes a food-grade warehouse successful. From storage, to cross-docking, to final delivery, there’s no time to waste trying to procure transportation options from someone else’s fleet. Set up a food-grade transportation system with a warehouse that has specific dedicated assets of their own.

Cross-Docking

Many fruits and vegetables won’t be stored at all. They will go from one truck to another using a cross-dock to reach their final destination in the least amount of time. This requires a system that keeps track of what is being unloaded and what is being loaded. There are laws in place that require certain foods do not travel with other foods. Moving food is more than just efficiency. The cross-docking warehouse needs to be an expert in food moving of all kinds.

Food retailers know the seasonal fluctuations involved with the industry. Whether that be the increase of certain beverages during the summer, or the decrease of certain fruits in the winter, certain aspects of the food selling cycle will always repeat themselves (unless of course a world-wide pandemic occurs). Utilizing a food-grade warehouse to weather the different seasons can be extremely cost effective and eliminate a lot of the stressors that may come.

It’s no secret that the world moves at a different pace than it did just 30 years ago. Horst Schulze, CEO of the Capella Hotel Group, says that in 1980 the average person could wait in a hotel lobby for 4 minutes before being assisted and still consider it good service. Today, that time has gone down to 17 seconds! For many businesses and logistics companies, the solution to this is the cross dock.

What is a Cross Dock?

A cross dock exists to get products from point A to point B in less time. Generally, it acts as a point in the supply chain process where one business is outsourcing their movement of goods either to an end user or to another step in the process quickly and efficiently. Locations are essential for cross docks because they need to be near where products are to be shipped. Products using a cross dock are typically perishable, pre-tagged products, promotional items just being launched, low demand variance products, etc. Cross docking has many benefits like:

Time Saved — Instead of using multiple sources for warehousing and shipping, generally the best warehouses have a cross dock attached so expedited shipping can be handled under the same roof. Products go straight from one truck to the other, ending up at the destination faster.

Reduced Costs – Renting warehouse space long-term, paying for packing & labeling, and other warehousing services is a great option for many, but sometimes companies can skip this process and simply ship straight to the cross-dock. This can greatly reduce labor costs.

Reduced Risks – The less people that need to be involved, the greater the chances for success. How many times has a shipping company lost your package at one center or the other after going from stop to stop?

Reduced Pollution – Cross docking helps consolidate multiple Less than Truckload (LTL) shipments into one larger shipment going to the same area so as to increase efficiency and decrease the number of trucks needed.

Types of Cross Docking

There are several types of cross docking available depending on what businesses need.

• Retail Cross Docking for receiving products from multiple vendors and shipping them out to individual retail stores (think Wal-Mart or Kohl’s).
• Manufacturing Cross Docking where companies ship different parts to a different manufacturing facility for assembly (think parts for a vehicle)
• Distributor Cross Docking involves the consolidation of products from vendors into one shipment for a customer
• Transportation Cross Docking is when multiple LTL shipments are consolidated to increase economies of scale
• Opportunistic Cross Docking is for transferring inbound shipments straight to outbound

Types of Cross Docking

Scheduling conflicts can cause issues if a cross dock is particularly busy and any particular shipment has been delayed. Another issue may arise when one mode of transportation is meeting another (truck to airplane etc). The quick nature of a cross dock can also cause a particular carrier to run out of assets to utilize.

Make sure your cross docking warehouse has assets to help, is in a great location near your frequent shipping areas, and that they have the ability to accommodate any type of load (reefer, step deck, etc.). And finally, make sure your cross docking warehouse will treat you like you are their only customer. There are way too many variables in the shipping world for your business to waste time putting out fires.

The answer for when to use a warehouse is… NOW! Just kidding, maybe. Now more than ever, with the current virus causing extreme market fluctuations like we haven’t ever seen before, it may be extremely beneficial to consider if outsourcing to a warehouse is the right move for your business.

Spending has increased:
35-40% for in home fitness products
20-25% for medical supplies
15-20% for in-home entertainment
15-20% for groceries
10-15% for pet supplies

Consideration Number 1: Spending
It always begins with the bottom dollar. Consider your current costs for storage and handling in house. What is the cost of space? The cost of equipment (surveillance system, forklift, management system, etc)? What is the cost to pay the employees? What are the shipping/labeling costs? All of these are valuable questions to answer, but there are other considerations that may be harder to measure. Not only should a business measure cost, but there is also a lot of time spent on warehousing. The opportunities for other ventures the employees could be doing are completely lost due to the time it takes to receive orders, locate, label, and ship packages. All in all money & time should be measured.

Consideration Number 2: Potential Threats
Fires/Natural Disasters — There are several issues that can be avoided by outsourcing. According to the founder of the Supply Chain Risk Management Consortium Greg Schlegel, fires & explosions “happen more than you would think.” He also says “20% of all companies that experience a moderate to severe natural catastrophe in their regions go out of business 15 to 18 months after.. And another 15% go out of business in 2-3 years.” Cyber & Burglar Threats — Cyberthreats are also a big security risk. They don’t happen often, but if they do happen it causes huge issues. On average a cybersecurity breach will cost a company $6-7 million to fix. This is without mentioning the rick of burglary and theft. Demographic Shifts — Demographic shifts can also impact the supply chain risks. Bob Trent, a management professor at Lehigh University says “we’re just not seeing as many young people go into the trucking industry.” From February to April alone, trucking jobs fell by 8% according to Convoy. This makes for unreliable access to different shipping methods. In these cases, it’s nice not to have to worry about how you will ship products.

Product Damage – The best part about outsourcing is that any liability from product damage is now the responsibility of the warehouse. Whether the claim be damage, loss, shortage, or concealed damage or shortage, there are so many ways a business might need to deal with the hassle but it can be avoided.

Consideration Number 3: The Potential of Your Business
Whether you are a small business just starting out, or a multi-million dollar company, something to consider is where your business is going. Storage runs out, the wrong inventory may get shipped, inventory management for products in/out can be a headache. Working with a 3PL gives a new ceiling for growth area. If your business has a vision for growth, the following ways can be of benefit for you:
-Faster order fulfillment
-No relocating warehousing
-Inventory management
-Save time/money for other activities
-Benefit of experienced experts
-Flexibility to Expand
At the end of the day, it may be worth doing a cost/benefit analysis for outsourcing your businesses products. If you’re looking for more details, just let us know!