Tag: 3PL service provider

With the massive volume of products shipped in this burgeoning e-commerce era, it is no wonder that sometimes defective items slip through the cracks. That is where sorting and inspection services come in. As a last line of defense, these services can prevent customers from encountering missorted or faulty products, help catch would-be returns before they reach the stores, and ensure that customer satisfaction is not harmed while avoiding what can be a costly mistake.

The problem of labor shortages — 73% of warehouses cannot find enough labor, according to an Instawork survey — makes performing the sorting and inspection services in-house a difficult, if not impossible, task. As a result, shippers are turning to 3PLs to provide vital sorting and inspection services.

This blog delves into sorting and inspection services, how important they are to shippers, and how a 3PL can take over those services for a shipper.

What is Sorting and Quality Inspection Service?

Although sorting and quality inspection is not a standard value-added service, it is crucial. It’s a weeding-out process that involves examining all products and removing units that do not meet a quality standard. Here are some reasons why a unit is removed:

• Missing parts or components
• An unwanted color variation
• Coating irregularities
• Cracks, chips, or scratches
• Other damages, such as mold

The manufacturer often handles these services but can turn the product parts over to a fulfillment provider for assembly. A 3PL can have the space to store the parts and the workforce to inspect, sort, and reconfigure the units. Not only can having these services done by a 3PL save time and money for the shipper, but they can also keep the image of all involved at a high standard by keeping products of inferior quality from reaching retailers or customers. Plus, the 3PL can provide the shipper or manufacturer with an accurate account of how many units were defective and how many non-defective units were transported and distributed to retail outlets.

How 3PLs Help Shippers Improve on Quality 

The sorting and inspection services are clearly a necessary part of the supply chain, but they have a high overhead and can sap a workforce that could be better off dealing with other issues. Labor shortages have meant the remaining workers are often overwhelmed with extra work in addition to their usual jobs. So any added work can adversely affect the employee’s attitude and the quality of the service because they are moving more quickly.

Shippers have begun realizing that only so much can be done in-house and that the best option to solve that situation is to outsource some services to a third-party logistics provider. Sorting and inspection services, including quality control, are a perfect example of this. Let’s look at the advantages of warehouse quality control inspections:

• Consistency of quality: While most manufacturers have stock checked for quality assurance, it’s essential to know that a product can go through a wide array of places where something can affect it between the manufacturer and its destination. With an in-warehouse quality inspection using a 3PL, there is the ability to catch any damage along the way and save a poor-quality product from reaching the retailer and damaging client relations.
• Reduced turnaround time: If a product is defective and can be fixed or replaced in the warehouse before it reaches customers, it saves one step of redistribution, saving time and money. 
• Lower return and replacement rates: When there is a problem with a product that has already reached the customer, it is substantially more difficult to make repairs. But when a 3PL’s quality control inspection team finds the concern, it can make repairs without the added wear and tear problems during the rest of the product’s journey and eliminates costs for return and replacement shipping.
• Optimized customer experience: Having 3PL quality control solve a problem in the warehouse means your product will avert a substandard customer experience, saving the time and money needed to salvage a customer relationship.

If You Want More Quality in Your Quality Control, Link Up with Port Jersey Logistics

Sorting and inspection services give the shipper another chance to avoid the hindrances and hassles that come with allowing a defective product to reach the customer — return or replacement costs, employee time to solve the problem, and a poor customer satisfaction image. But shippers are often in a bind because they lack the resources needed to provide those services. Fortunately, they can hand off those services to a 3PL service provider that specializes in that field. Port Jersey Logistics offers sorting and inspection services and over seven decades of experience using state-of-the-art systems and facilities. When it comes to quality control, there are none better. If you would like to have another line of defense that can help enhance your company’s image, please visit our website to see the many services we provide.

Over the years, the meaning of “fast” in shipping has changed greatly. It has gone from “allow four to five weeks for delivery” decades ago to just days. Unprecedented parcel and shipment volumes brought on by e-commerce and other online sales mixed with many disruptions in the supply chain to slow down the velocity of “fast.” Consumers have started to realize and accept that “fast” is not quite as “fast” as it used to be a few years ago. A BOX poll survey showed that more than half of consumers (57%) opting for free shipping consider delivery in five days to be “fast” or “acceptable.” In a poll the year before, fewer poll respondents were willing to accept five days as “fast’ or “acceptable.”

Even with that slight lessening of consumer expectations, there is still a significant demand on the supply chain to deliver things at a rapid rate. This has left companies trying to think of any strategy to streamline operations and expedite shipping. One of those ways is through reworking the product. But reworking can make it difficult for businesses to do in-house. This means companies are turning to 3PLs that provide reworking as a value-added service. Let’s now take a closer look at product rework, the challenges of going that route, and what a 3PL service provider can do to streamline the reworking process.

What is Product Rework?

In the overall scheme of the supply chain, product rework sits in the background. But it does have an important function. Product rework refers to the tasks required to alter, correct, or repair products to meet the standards needed to return the product to the market — for example, products that have been damaged or compromised. Product rework requires a highly skilled and experienced team to ensure the work is done correctly.

Here are some examples of product reworking:

• A product needs repackaging due to mislabeling.

• An imported product arrives with evidence of mold or mildew that requires remediation.
• A production error means a product needs to be modified. Fixes can include things like sewing alterations, adjusting footwear to meet a brand’s color stipulations, or replacing faulty components.
• While not defective, a product might need rebranding to give it better visibility or highlight a particularly special feature that could set it apart.

Three Challenges of Product Rework 

Product rework can turn around a problem, allowing a company to save money and keep a product from being disposed of or destroyed. But some challenges must be faced for product rework to be successful. Let’s look at three of those challenges.

Warehouse Labor Shortages Mean Smaller Staff for Product Rework

In the middle of a time when faster delivery is in demand and shipment and parcel volumes are rising, another concern has hit the supply chain world — a warehouse labor shortage. An Instawork survey from last year showed that 73% of warehouse operators said they have problems attracting employees, which was almost three times higher than the response the year before. When there are fewer employees, that means less can be done by the current workforce and decisions have to be made on where certain services have to be limited or dropped altogether. Product rework falls into that category, making it difficult for companies to do any of it in-house and restricting their ability to find reliable, on-demand rework services.

Product Rework Demands Prompt Logistics

Because product rework is a response to when something isn’t right with a product that has gone through initial production, the logistical steps needed to solve that problem must be determined and enacted promptly. Turnaround time is usually crucial to putting the product on the right path. A company can be in dire straits without an experienced logistical team to execute that transformation.

Product Rework Requires Logistics Expertise

Countless problems can fall under the product rework umbrella. It takes someone with expert knowledge to handle those many varied situations adeptly. They need not only to assess those situations and determine how they need to be solved but also to have the connections to find a partner to execute what needs to happen to make the project right.

How Does a 3PL Service Provider Help Streamline Product Rework Processes?

Few combinations are more effective than experience and knowledge. Few facets of the supply chain depend as heavily on experience and knowledge as product rework. Because product rework problems can run the gamut of troubles, the ideal response is to have someone with a background in dealing with it and the smarts to be prepared for anything. That’s where a 3PL service provider comes in handy. A 3PL with value-added rework services can help businesses focus on increasing profits while leaving time-consuming, expensive rework processes to the logistics professionals.

A reliable 3PL service provider can help solve the three challenges mentioned above. Rather than having employees who have to add another concern to their already full plate, a 3PL comes with a guaranteed workforce dedicated to solving the problem. A 3PL also has a greater capacity, both in staff and resources, to understand and quickly turn around a product that is being reworked. Along with that, you have someone overseeing a problem that is well-versed in the logistics of solving unique problems.

Want a Product Rework Process That Sings? Find Harmony With Port Jersey Logistics

While product rework is certainly not the star that grabs the spotlight in the supply chain world, it definitely plays a crucial part. Product rework breathes life back into a product and sometimes saves it from becoming waste. While reworking a product can be costly and complex, it has shown it can be a successful approach. But it’s often not easy to understand and follow through on. The expertise and experience of a 3PL service provider can make a world of difference. When it comes to that expertise and experience, Port Jersey Logistics has loads of both of them. Since 1954, Port Jersey Logistics has offered expertise with state-of-the-art systems and facilities to meet a broad range of logistics requirements. Among its many value-added services is product reworking. Visit our website to learn more about Port Jersey’s product reworking and other value-added services.

Around 250 types of products are recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission each year. So when you imagine how many millions of individual products need to be pulled back, it’s not hard to see why product destruction services can be extremely vital to a company. When you consider that a third of all recalled products are not returned or fixed, it’s even more important to keep track of and dispose of each one because businesses can suffer a tarnished reputation if these products are not removed from circulation.

Product destruction and disposal is a logistical hassle that can leave companies in a difficult situation that can become quite costly. Considering this, businesses are choosing third-party logistics providers with value-added services to ensure that those with logistics expertise handle the complexities of product destruction and disposal. This blog examines product disposal and product destruction services, along with how 3PL service providers can help companies by relieving the burden of dealing with both of those concerns. 

What is Product Destruction and Disposal?

Many people combine the terms “product destruction” and “product disposal” as one concept, and others use the terms interchangeably. While they both work hand-in-hand to make up the process in which certain products get destroyed and then disposed of to ensure that they are not resold or utilized illegally, each term conveys a separate task. Product destruction is concerned with breaking down the product, and product disposal focuses on removing and putting it in an appropriate place.

Why are product destruction and product disposal needed? Some products need to be removed from the market because they are dangerous, illegal, or are being replaced by an updated version. Let’s look at some products that end up under that umbrella:

• Recalled products
• Expired products
• Confiscated products 
• Defective products
• Products that are being replaced by a newer product line
• Products with packaging that is no longer used

Most of the products mentioned above need to be destroyed before they can be disposed of, and there are several ways to accomplish destruction and disposal properly.

Incineration

One of the main ways to destroy unusable products is through incineration. This method can be used on combustible products, particularly those that are hazardous if not destroyed. The process involves burning products in a specialized facility. However, certain items cannot be incinerated safely, such as batteries, glass products, and electronic devices.

Waste-to-Energy

While many incinerators release fumes into the atmosphere, others use waste to their advantage. Waste-to-Energy is a type of product destruction that takes non-hazardous waste — slated to go to a landfill – and combusts it internally to generate steam for heat or electricity production. By doing so, businesses can use less energy and reduce their carbon footprint. The leftover ash is processed to recover metal for recycling, while gases are filtered to minimize environmental impact.

Composting

For organic materials, composting is another environmentally conscious way to destroy products. Composting materials results in nutrient-rich soil instead of sending food waste to landfills. In some cases, even hazardous waste has natural compounds that break down into healthy substances that replenish the earth. It is a win-win because it can actively improve the environment while eliminating the organic waste rotting on your premises.

Crushing

Often some products can’t be burned or composted. That’s where crushing can come in. It solves two problems. Crushing reduces the space the items are taking up in your facility and ensures the product is no longer usable. This method of product destruction works well on large items such as industrial machinery and computer-related equipment. For example, demolishing hard drives eliminates the risk of private information falling into the wrong hands. When it comes to appliances and some industrial tools, destroying them prohibits people from repurposing something that is unsafe or letting it sit around where it could become a danger.

Shredding

Of all the forms of product destruction and disposal, shredding is the one that deals mainly with information in the product rather than the product itself. Outdated documents, such as proof of cold chain custody of temperature-controlled shipments, need to be disposed of, but simply tossing them out in the trash is not the answer. Some paperwork might contain valuable information about clients and your business. That’s where shredding is a cut above.

Shredding your files eliminates the risk of your data falling into the wrong hands. The process of shredding turns your papers into scraps that are almost impossible to reassemble.

One of the challenges to product destruction services is knowing the correct method that suits the production. As mentioned above, certain products require a specific process. Also, you must either find a certified partner to deal with the disposal correctly and provide proof the destruction has occurred, or you must choose a 3PL service provider that can handle the logistics of destroying and disposing of your product.

How Can a 3PL Help Businesses with Disposal and Product Destruction?

Knowing all the ins and outs of product destruction and product disposal can be a difficult and time-consuming undertaking. From identifying that something needs to be disposed of to choosing the correct form of destruction and disposal to selecting a partner that is right for the job, the whole process can cost a company quite a bit of time and money to mitigate the problem. But there is a way to put all these procedures into expert hands. Partnering with a 3PL service provider that offers product destruction and disposal as a value-added service can leave the complex logistics to professionals. Outsourcing allows businesses to ensure that their workers can focus on creating value, rather than wrestling over how to break things down.

When Product Destruction Complicates Logistics, Businesses Can Turn to a Top-Tier 3PL Provider: Port Jersey Logistics 

If product destruction and disposal are done poorly, it can not only leave a company with a tarnished reputation but could also be extremely costly and put people in danger. All product destruction and disposal must be handled with the utmost care and due diligence. When so many factors are involved in those processes, it can be easy to slip up on one that results in an expensive problem for your company. To make sure that is not the case, you should partner with a 3PL service provider to ensure everything goes smoothly. One of the best in the business is Port Jersey Logistics. Providing logistics services since 1954, Port Jersey Logistics has a staff of dedicated experts and a litany of value-added services designed to meet your needs, including product destruction and disposal.
With Port Jersey Logistics on your side, you can find ways to break down products, recycle products and dispose of them as safely and cost-effectively as possible. To start your path to solving product destruction and disposal concerns and to view all the other services Port Jersey Logistics offers, check out our website today.