What Is the Difference Between Transloading and Cross-Docking?

The world of logistics can sometimes be confusing to navigate. There are a lot of terms to understand, some of which sound almost identical. 

For example, what is the difference between transloading and cross-docking? Although the words are sometimes used interchangeably, they actually refer to different processes of transporting goods.

Depending on the location of your customers, the distance of your supplier, and your storage capacity, one option may be more beneficial than the other.  

What Is Transloading?

Transloading refers to the process of a facility receiving an inbound shipment, breaking down the shipment pallets, and then storing them. When the facility is ready to ship the product out, they repackage some or all of it accordingly and create their own outbound shipment.

This term can also be used to describe a shipment that requires more than one mode of transportation. For example, if you’re shipping overseas, and then across the country, you will need multiple transloading procedures.

Benefits of Transloading

Transloading is most beneficial in scenarios where the product must reach multiple different locations. The storage facility should be located somewhere near the center of all these locations. Then, when a customer orders the product, it can be shipped out quickly and efficiently. This lowers wait time and boosts customer satisfaction.

This can also be the cheaper option for many businesses, especially if you utilize a third-party logistics provider. Without needing to manage and facilitate your own storage facilities, you can save time, money, and energy. 

What Is Cross-Docking?

Cross-docking, on the other hand, involves transporting materials from one facility to another with very little storage time in between. It can also refer to delivering the goods from a facility directly to the customer. 

You can think about the word quite literally; the product moves almost directly from an inbound dock to an outbound dock. Typically, it will stay on the original pallets without being broken down or repackaged. This expedites the process.

Benefits of Cross-Docking

This option can be cheaper if your business receives multiple small shipments, which can be combined on one truck and sent out. It is also ideal if the shipment only requires one method of transportation before it reaches the customers. 

Another major benefit of cross-docking is that it tends to reduce damage the product acquires during shipping. Since there is less unpacking, transporting, and repackaging, the product is more likely to stay in perfect condition.

Finally, without the need for storing individual products, cross-docking can make inventory management more simple. 

3PL Cross-Docking Services by Cannon Hill Logistics

If your business is stretched thin managing your own logistics, it may be time to switch to a third-party logistics provider. Cannon Hill Logistics can help!

We offer expert logistics services on the East Coast, including cross-docking and transloading services. Conveniently located on the East Coast, we can ship to half of the US population within two business days using ground transportation.

Call now to discover how we can help your business thrive. 

Food Fulfillment: How to Use Data to Increase Logistics Efficiency

Running a food-related business means you deal with incredibly tight profit margins – tighter than most other industries. This leaves very little room for inefficiencies in your fulfillment processes.

To keep your business as profitable as possible, it’s essential that you leverage all the data available to you in order to streamline your operations and enhance the efficiency of your operations. Here are some ways you can do that.

Using Multiple Data Sources

Thanks to the ease with which data can be collected and transmitted, you’ve got a wide variety of transportation and logistics data points coming from a wealth of sources. Collecting and making sense of this data allows you to gain a holistic picture of your operations, end to end, and make any necessary adjustments.

If you and the vendors you partner with are collecting data, you’ll be able to view and analyze real-time information from steamship lines, rail, truckload, intermodal, and drayage operators, allowing you to make quick decisions and gain historical insights that improves your strategic decision-making.

Organizing Your Data

Collecting data without organizing it meaningfully is a huge waste of your time, resources, and money. A big jumble of numbers isn’t going to help anyone, and you need a system that collects and organizes the data you have so that you can use it to draw up reports, track trends, and make decisions.

Whenever you’re able, use automated tools rather than manual data entry. This removes a lot of room for human error, and it’s also less expensive over time than all the man hours you’d spend plugging numbers into a spreadsheet.

Additionally, an important part of data organization is being able to know (and do away with) data that’s irrelevant. Too much data muddies the waters so you have to wade through a lot of extra to get to what’s really important and relevant to your needs.

Developing standards for what data you need to keep and how it should be organized will go a long way toward helping you make quick, educated decisions to protect your business’s profits.

Prioritizing Data Collection

Rather than treating the data you collect on your transportation and logistics as something that’s nice to have, prioritize it and invest in tools that make the process faster and, over time, less expensive. 

To make sure your data offers you the most value, it’s essential to invest in real-time dashboards, analytics, and reporting so that you can analyze and visualize all the information that moves through your logistics process with ease. Automated tools and programs built specifically for these purposes are far superior to attempting to collect and analyze this information on your own, giving you better insights and leading to more informed, profitable decisions.

Your Food Logistics Partner on the East Coast

At Cannon Hill Logistics, we know how difficult it can be to operate a food-based business on thin profit margins. You need all the help you can get to create a supply chain that works for you instead of against you, allowing your business to grow and thrive. That’s where our experienced third-party logistics team comes in. We can help you manage every aspect of your logistics, whether you need help with one piece or end-to-end service. Contact us for a quote!

3 Challenges to Health & Beauty Logistics

The health and beauty industry has grown explosively in the last few decades, but that growth has not come without its challenges.

Beyond facing strict compliance and regulatory requirements from governmental bodies, there are some key things that complicate the logistics process. Here are a few of the unique challenges that health and beauty companies face, and how third-party logistics (3PL) companies can help.

Temperature Control

Many formulations in cosmetics and wellness products are temperature-sensitive, so they must be transported in carefully controlled conditions. 

In some cases, substances can withstand a range of temperatures without risking damage or spoilage. Others, however, require a very strict temperature range in order to stay good enough to be sold and used. 

When managing your own logistics, finding temperature-controlled warehouse space and transportation can be difficult—and expensive. By working with a 3PL, you get access to these resources at a fraction of the cost of securing them on your own.

Traceability

Consumers want to know where the ingredients in their health and beauty products come from. This includes you being able to pinpoint which companies and vendors are involved in each step of the fulfillment process, from ingredients all the way through delivery.

Finding out all the information you need can be incredibly time-consuming, taking your time and attention away from the important parts of running your business. When you work with a 3PL, on the other hand, you gain access to information you need to trace all your products without doing any of the leg work.

Condition Monitoring

Similar to temperature control needs, monitoring all the conditions that may impact your products is essential to ensuring you can sell them all. This may require specialized equipment and specialty shipping, which can get expensive.

If you partner with a 3PL, though, you’ll be able to have all the specialized equipment and other things needed to protect your products without the hassle and extra costs. Since your 3PL works with multiple small businesses, they’re able to spread out the costs of the equipment to all their clients, so you get access to more for less cost.

Top 3PL on the East Coast

At Cannon Hill Logistics, we work hard to make sure we’re supporting your business in the ways you need us to. From handling one aspect of your fulfillment to managing your entire logistics process, we’ve got the resources and experience you need to succeed. Call today for a quote!

3 Ways a 3PL Can Decrease Your Warehouse Management Challenges

Managing a warehouse on your own is challenging. You’ve got to keep track of all the inventory on the shelves, make sure it’s easy to find for picking, and keep the space running, all while dealing with the unique issues that come with employing people.

Rather than tear your hair out trying to keep everything going, partner with a third-party logistics (3PL) company to handle your warehouse management tasks. Here are 3 ways choosing a 3PL can help you overcome warehouse management challenges and boost your business:

Reduce Labor Costs

More than half of companies have trouble finding and keeping skilled, qualified, dependable workers for their warehouses and distribution centers—a problem that’s only gotten worse with global labor shortages in all industries. And when you are able to keep workers, the costs of paying them wages and benefits, as well as training costs, can make your budget balloon out of control.

A 3PL maintains all the necessary warehouse workers for you, and you benefit from their skill and training. You never have to worry about who’s taking a vacation day or who didn’t show up for work; you just see the results of your 3PL’s hard work and dedication.

Additionally, spreading out the costs of employing and training a labor force among all of a 3PL’s clients means that you’re paying just a fraction of the amount you’d pay if you handled your own warehouse labor.

Improve Standardization

When you handle all your warehousing yourself, it can feel as if you’re just cobbling together systems and ideas without any real plan. You may have one way of organizing a set of shelves, but then someone else comes along and organizes it a different way.

This lack of standardization means you’re wasting your time and money every moment of your working day.

Over their years in business, a 3PL has become a master of their craft. They use data collection and analysis tools to help find the most efficient, quickest, and most cost-effective methods in all areas of their business. They’re always evaluating their processes and making adjustments, and your business benefits from all this time, effort, and expense.

Better Responsiveness

Shopping seasons shift quickly, and experiencing an unexpected upturn in demand for your products (or a downturn in demand) could spell a huge financial issue for your business. Managing all your warehousing and inventory management yourself means you’ve got to be constantly on your toes, ready to respond to shifts in demand.

A 3PL, however, can help you determine the right amount of stock to keep at any given time. And, their larger amount of storage space means you can manage a little bit of overstocking without a huge issue for your space.

Through months and years of collecting demand data and tracking trends, your 3PL works with you to help you figure out just how much of each product you need to have in stock, and when to ramp up production in anticipation of a boom in demand.

Your Warehouse Management Partner on the East Coast

For more than 30 years, Cannon Hill Logistics has been helping small businesses just like yours with all their warehouse management and logistics needs. We can help you custom-design a solution to meet your needs and budget. Call today for a quote!

Auto Parts Logistics: Costs of Internal Fulfillment vs. Using a 3PL

Managing your stock of auto parts can be done in-house, which makes it easier to quickly grab items your customers need. However, as your business grows, you may reach a tipping point where handling things on your own may not make sense.

When your inventory of stored parts outgrows your current storage space, or your demand for parts exceeds the amount of labor you have dedicated to picking the items, it may be time to consider outsourcing your auto parts logistics to a third-party logistics company (3PL).

If you’re considering outsourcing your auto parts logistics, here are some things you need to keep in mind:

Calculate Your Cost Per Order

The first step toward evaluating whether it makes financial sense to outsource your auto parts logistics is calculating how much each order costs you.

Some things to include in this calculation include:

  • Cost of goods sold
  • Shipping costs
  • Storage costs
  • Marketing/advertising costs
  • Custom packaging

You’ll add up the total costs for groups of orders, then divide by the number of orders, to determine the cost per order. The higher your cost per order, especially when compared to the price of each order, the less profit you’re making overall.

Calculate Your Overhead Cost Per Order

While your cost per order includes some of the variable, tangible costs of fulfilling orders, the overhead cost per order includes some of the intangibles of doing business. Some of these expenses include:

  • Salaries
  • Benefits
  • Training
  • Insurance
  • Infrastructure costs
  • Specialized IT
  • Utilities
  • Rent

You may not have a concrete number for this metric, but it’s important to do your best at estimating how much overhead each order requires so you can get a more accurate accounting of your profit margins. The higher your overhead, the less you’re making on each order.

Predict Future Costs

Costs change from year to year and, sometimes, week to week depending on the cost of energy, real estate, and other factors. While it can be difficult to predict these fluctuations, it’s important to attempt to at least get a round number you can use when you’re future planning.

This number allows you to create a budget and understand whether or not it’s feasible for you to continue handling all your order fulfillment in-house.

Compare to Costs of 3PL

When you get a quote from a 3PL company, the number can feel high because you’re used to all the smaller costs hiding in your books. But by calculating the cost per order, adding overhead, and then predicting potential future costs, you can better see that working with a 3PL for your auto parts logistics may actually save you money in the long run.

Your East Coast 3PL Partner

At Cannon Hill Logistics, we understand how difficult it can be to balance cost and the needs of your business’ growth. Whether you need some extra warehousing support or you want someone to handle the entirety of your auto parts logistics, we’ve got the skill and experience to take your business to the next level. Get your quote today!

Apparel Logistics: Balancing Cost and Customer Service

Managing logistics for an apparel business is a delicate balancing act. In many cases, your profit margins aren’t particularly large, leaving little room for error in your pricing and fulfillment.

These slim margins make it difficult to determine just where you should splurge—and where you should save.

Exceptional Service Makes for Repeat Customers

If there’s any area where you should focus on spending a little bit of extra money, it’s in creating an exceptional customer service experience. Customers have so many choices when it comes to apparel retailers, and if you don’t give them a customer experience they’ll remember positively, they’re sure to go elsewhere the next time they need a new wardrobe staple.

Finding ways to add extra funds to boost the speed of your returns or have extra people answer your customer service emails can go a long way toward giving your customers a positive experience. And this may mean cutting reasonable costs elsewhere in your business so you have the resources to funnel toward your customers.

One way to help cut some of your operational costs down a bit is to partner with an experienced third-party logistics (3PL) company for your warehousing and fulfillment.

Sounds counterintuitive, right? You’re just going to spend a ton of money hiring a 3PL when you could just as easily keep things the way they are for less, right? Not necessarily.

Hiring a 3PL Is Often Cheaper Than Managing It All Yourself

One thing many business owners don’t realize is that hiring someone else to handle some of your tasks, including warehousing products, picking and packing, or returns processing, is likely to save money in the long run. Take shifting your warehousing tasks to a 3PL, for example. Your single fee that’s paid to the 3PL means you’re no longer paying money separately for:

  • Warehouse space
  • Staffing
  • Utilities for the building
  • Maintenance and upkeep
  • Employee benefits
  • Fixtures and equipment for the warehouse
  • Taxes
  • Warehouse management software
  • And more

By partnering with a 3PL, you’re joining a group of small businesses just like yourself, spreading the costs out to make them more manageable for everyone. And the savings you realize by partnering with a 3PL can be spent on the things you need to keep your business growing.

If improving your customer service is one of your big business goals, the money and time you’ve saved with a 3PL could be used to:

  • Hire more customer service reps to answer phones and emails
  • Pay for a higher-tier chatbot on your website to allow customers to ask questions 24/7
  • Improve your website to make items and information easier to find
  • Offer faster shipping so customers get their items more quickly
  • Develop new products

All these little extras really add up when it comes to the experience your customers have with your business, and can earn you loyal customers and fierce advocates of your brand.

Your East Coast Logistics Company

If you’re looking to make your apparel logistics easier on you and your team, trust Cannon Hill Logistics. We have more than 35 years of experience serving small businesses just like yourself, and we’re committed to finding a customized solution to meet your needs. Contact us for a quote!

How to Overcome Supply Chain Disruptions

Disruptions to the supply chain can come in many forms: Natural disasters, transportation issues, cyber attacks, and of course, global pandemics. 

Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic began, disruption has become the new normal. And with the resulting labor shortage and record-high gas prices, many businesses are still struggling to return to business as usual. 

The key to a swift recovery is to always be prepared. Here are 6 tips you can rely on to overcome supply chain disruptions. 

Rely on Your Contingency Plan

In the event of an emergency, your contingency plan is your best friend. 

This is a plan you’ve created that lays out alternative steps in the supply chain. The goal is to minimize risk, disruption, and dissatisfaction from the consumer. 

When creating this plan, consider alternate shipping routes, nearby suppliers, and different inventory options. Think about every “what-if” scenario you can imagine. While some of these events may seem unlikely, having a plan will save you from having to scramble at the last minute. 

Prioritize the Customer

When disruptions occur, your ultimate goal is to make sure the customer is none the wiser. You should aim to deliver the same high-quality product at a reasonable time.

If the disruptions are so severe that you cannot fulfill these expectations, you should communicate with your customers as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Let them know the situation and how you plan to remedy it. You can even offer refunds, coupons, or some other incentive to keep them happy.

Keep Communication Open

While you’re managing a crisis, there are a lot of moving parts to juggle. The best way to stay on top of these responsibilities is to keep communication open and productive.

Stay in the loop with every element of your supply chain, including the production team, fulfillment sector, employees, and, of course, the customers. End-to-end visibility will keep everyone on the same page and working toward the same goal.

Conduct Regular Audits

Creating a supply chain is only the first step in a business plan. You also need to maintain it and check frequently for issues. 

Conducting regular audits of your supply chain process is crucial because it can resolve vulnerabilities before they become major issues. With the information provided by an audit, you’ll know your investments are going toward the right improvements. 

Build Back-up Inventory

When things are going well for your business, you should still always be preparing for the worst. One way you can do this is to build your backup inventory. 

You should keep an amount of inventory that is just slightly over the amount regularly needed. That way, when there is a disruption to the production process, you can send out this backup inventory and minimize delays to the customer. 

Learn From Past Disruptions

Finally, do your best to learn from this disruption and all disruptions you’ve already overcome. Thoroughly document the response procedure and remember areas that were particularly difficult. 

Then, moving forward, you can update your contingency plan or any sector of the business in need of improvements. Learning from the past will help you recover faster the next time you face disruptions.

Trust a Fulfillment Partner to Minimize Disruptions

Managing a business is hard enough. Do you have a partner who can manage your fulfillment and distribution services in these difficult times? 

Contact Cannon Hill Logistics to be your East Coast 3PL provider! For more than 35 years, we have helped small businesses by providing the tools and personalized services they need. Conveniently based in Frederick, Maryland, we can ship to half of the US population within two business days using ground transportation.

Call now to learn more! 800-822-4747

6 Tips for Managing Supply Chain Crisis Ripple Effects

There’s a reason the supply chain is called what it is—all separate units rely on each other to work efficiently. When one part of the chain faces disruption, its inefficiencies ripple throughout all other parts of the system. 

And in the past two and a half years, there has been a lot of disruption to the global market. The pandemic and labor shortage, in combination with skyrocketing demand in e-commerce, has sent many businesses scrambling.

Having robust supply chain management is crucial to prevent compounding losses. Here are our 6 tips for minimizing supply chain ripple effects.

Keep Up-to-Date Information

You can’t always predict distribution emergencies before they happen. But by keeping the most up-to-date information, you can be better prepared for when they do.

Get to know the most important entities in your market, their struggles, and their goals for the future. Note how they deal with disruptions, and how that affects you. Keep up-to-date on news regarding your industry and the state of the global supply chain.

Conduct Audits for Vulnerability 

Managing a supply chain is about much more than just optimizing for the best-case scenarios. You should also frequently analyze your distribution strategies in search for areas that need improvement. 

Conducting regular audits can expose vulnerabilities in your supply chain. With this information, you can invest in changes that will have the most advantageous results. 

Create a Contingency Plan

When one part of your supply chain faces setbacks, the best way you can keep running business as usual is to adhere to a contingency plan.

This is a back-up plan that lays out the steps to deal with setbacks in your distribution chain. When forming this plan, consider the following: 

  • When and how will you alert customers of potential delays?
  • How will you estimate inventory levels?
  • Who can you contact for back-up supplies, delivering, or distribution?
  • How much will delays in each segment of the chain cost you?
  • How can you stock up on inventory to recover?

Build Relationships in Your Market

Building effective communication throughout your supply chain is another key to success. When disruptions arise, you’ll find it much easier to recover if the line of communication and trust is already built with your suppliers, vendors, and manufacturers. 

Keep up-to-date on their practices and changes in operation, and build respect by meeting their standards as well. This respect will pay back when your business is struggling. 

Be Flexible With Substitutions 

When the product will not be delivered on time, and expedition is not available, be flexible with making substitutions. 

Of course, you will want to stick to the original plan as closely as possible. But understanding the overall goal of the finished product will allow you to adequately designate substitutions.

Work With a 3PL

It can be difficult to manage resources between managing your supply chain and running your business, especially with the ongoing labor shortage. A third-party logistics company is built around distribution, so it has more access to workers, and it can more easily absorb supply chain disruptions. 

>> Learn more about how a 3PL can help during a labor crisis!

A 3PL partner can help you perform the most effective inventory management, warehousing, and delivery services. 

Trusted 3PL Provider on the East Coast

Don’t trust just any 3PL to deal with your most vital operations. Trust Cannon Hill Logistics to help your business thrive. 

We have over 30 years of experience helping small and medium-sized businesses with all their fulfillment needs. With a headquarters conveniently located in Frederick, Maryland, we have access to the entire East Coast! Call now to learn more.

How High Freight Costs Impact Your Small Business

The pandemic caused such a sudden disruption to the global supply chain that is still unsteady nearly two years later. 

One of the most obvious effects of this lasting ordeal is the high cost of freight. The cost of shipping and transporting products to businesses, carriers, and customers is higher than ever. 

There are a few causes for this. One is rising gasoline prices, and another is the imbalance of supply and demand. As more people are staying home, they are shopping more online. But there is also a labor shortage, which means there aren’t enough workers to help deliver the goods.

Large companies have a better chance of taking on the increased cost of supplies and continuing business as usual. But for small businesses, these challenges are more threatening. 

Read on to discover how high freight cost impacts your small business – and your customers.

Increased Prices of Goods

Business owners understand the importance of balancing low prices with high profits. But as freight costs increase, this margin is growing slimmer and slimmer. 

The only option some businesses have is to respond by increasing the price of their products. Because this is the case in most industries, customers are relatively understanding that their favorite businesses are charging slightly more. 

But even the most loyal customers have a limit when it comes to increased prices. Try not to pass the full burden of freight costs on to the customer. Instead, look for other places you can save money and search diligently for cost-effective freight options. 

Changes to Customer Behavior

That being said, customers are more lenient on higher product prices than they are for higher shipping prices. Research shows that customers tend to see free shipping as a better deal than greater amounts of savings offered in the form of discounts. 

This subconscious thought process can be used as a promotional tool to your advantage. Offering free or discounted shipping whenever possible will increase customer interest. 

Another factor of behavior to consider is how many products people buy at once. Customers tend to be making larger purchases of multiple items so they only pay once for shipping. Offering flat-rate shipping and other incentives for this purchasing habit can help boost your sales. 

The Need for Flexibility

In the past, high availability and low transportation costs made fast and frequent deliveries the norm. This method, known as “just-in-time” delivery, was the most profitable way to deliver products. 

But the pandemic has shown that this business model is extremely precarious, and when unexpected disruptions arrive, the process of recovery is very difficult.

This has shown small businesses the need for flexibility. For example, working closely with carriers and considering multiple suppliers can help ensure there are multiple methods of delivering your products. That way, if one route is unavailable, the supply chain can still continue. 

Businesses should also consider nearshoring sourcing strategies to minimize the distance traveled by their products. Designing packages to be more shipping-friendly is another way businesses can be more flexible.

How Small Businesses Can Adapt

Here are a few other ways small businesses can adapt in the age of soaring freight costs:

  • Shop around to make sure you’re receiving the best freight prices 
  • Book freight orders early 
  • Buffer expected delivery dates for possible transit delays
  • Stay informed and communicate with your freight supplier regularly
  • Hire the manpower you need to accept goods in a timely manner
  • Use a third party logistics provider to minimize inventory management costs 

Read more tips for how to make your supply chain more resistant here!

Your 3PL Partner on the East Coast

Here at Cannon Hill Logistics, we have more than 30 years of experience helping small businesses reach the East Coast and beyond. Our strategies are optimized to withstand recent supply chain disruptions, including high freight costs. We can help your small business offset costs and deliver products more efficiently. 

Call now to learn more!

7 Critical Components of Your Logistics RFP

There are a lot of moving parts that work to make a business successful. If you are planning to outsource part or all of your logistical operations, you know just how true this is.

That’s where an RFP, or request for proposals, can help. This document outlines the requirements and expectations for a potential business partnership. It is a professional and convenient way to find the right third-party logistics (3PL) provider, shipping company, vendor, or supplier to fulfill your business needs.

When drafting your RFP, it’s important to be as specific as possible and cover all the necessary information. Here are 7 critical components you need to include in your logistics request for proposals:

Background Information

Begin with a detailed introduction to your business. Tell the potential bidders a bit about your history and mission. Then explain your products or services and give an overview of your business model.

You also want to state the objective of the RFP. Briefly touch on your goals for the company and where the benefits of the partnership will lead you. 

Business Needs

This section will comprise the bulk of your RFP, and where you’ll give more detail about the services you are requesting. Define the problem that needs to be solved. 

Explain your business model and the exact limitations that structure it. Does your product require low-temperature shipping? Do your vendors rely on you for huge quantities of products? Do you have seasonal peaks of demand that need to be met? All this information is important to include. 

In this section, you will also want to describe a little bit about your customers, vendors, suppliers, stakeholders, and other ongoing partnerships. 

Relevant Data 

Remember, it’s good to be as specific as possible, giving potential bidders the most complete picture of your business. If they can clearly understand the areas needing improvement, they are better able to come up with innovative solutions and make a solid partnership. 

Include any relevant data and visuals to get your point across. This would include freight volume and frequency, types of products you provide, demand over time, and central areas for delivery. 

Requirements for Partnership

In this section, spell out any requirements for the potential bidders to comply with. 

For example, your partner might need to have certain technological capabilities in order to be a good match. Or perhaps there are certain licenses or certifications needed to transport your products. Or maybe you just want to rule out any partnerships that don’t have a strong financial background. 

This section will prevent unqualified businesses from sending over their submissions, saving you time in the review process. 

>> Learn about the common ways the 3PL relationship breaks down, and how to fix it.

Detailed Questions 

Next, you want to include a detailed questionnaire for the potential logistic partners. You are essentially conducting an interview to see if they can meet your business needs. 

Ask about their capabilities, history, reach, size of operations, length of commitments, scalability, and anything else that will guide your decision. 

You will also want to ask about their terms of billing and payment. Finally, don’t forget to ask for the legal information, such as proof of insurance, relevant certifications, or claims and safety records.

Evaluation Plan

Include a plan for how you will evaluate the success of the partnership. This will take the form of detailed KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators. Make sure the standards for evaluation are specific and measurable. 

These KPIs should follow a timeline that is also detailed in this section. This will provide a strategy for implementation and rollout. 

Terms of Submissions

Finally, specify the format you would like to receive submissions in. This will streamline the proposal evaluation process by making all the information uniform and easier to compare.

You might consider including a template for the pricing breakdown, as these numbers will be the most vital to evaluate side by side. Or you can just specify what numbers you need and how you would like them presented.

End your RFP with your contact information and the mode of submission (email, snail mail, contact through website, etc.) that you prefer. 

Reliable 3PL Provider on the East Coast

If you are looking for a reliable and experienced 3PL provider to take on your fulfillment, distribution, and warehouse needs, look no further than Cannon Hill Logistics!

Conveniently located on the East Coast, we can deliver to a half the US population in just 3 days! For over 30 years we have provided personalized service to small businesses and large corporations alike. 

Give us a call today to learn how we can help your business grow!