With competition and warehouse costs rising, shippers can’t afford to settle for less than prime warehouse efficiency and operations. But too often, complexities like preserving inventory accuracy and legal compliance deter shippers’ efforts toward attaining these efficiency levels and hinder their ability to cut costs and grow.
Supply chain consultants empower shippers with the data-driven strategies and industry best practices they need to streamline warehouse facilities and processes. From optimizing layout design and space utilization to integrating automation and advanced inventory management, the right supply chain consulting partner can accelerate operations, cut costs, and boost overall efficiency.
Escape the costs of poor warehouse management
Warehouses are incredibly high-cost spaces. And every additional square foot of space can significantly impact firms’ bottom lines, putting pressure on them to optimize space usage and minimize costs. Efficient space utilization through better layout design, inventory management, and automation can mitigate some of these financial pressures.
An experienced supply chain consulting team helps shippers improve warehouse efficiency and reduce expenses. For instance, CTSI-Global’s Supply Chain Consulting team can handle all logistics necessary to effectively relocate shippers’ existing warehouse operations to a location more appropriately sized—and priced—to their exact warehouse needs. Along the way, the team can facilitate any requests for proposals (RFQs) and leverage benchmarks for negotiating more favorable warehousing rates, so shippers can turn their focus to other high-value business tasks and minimize logistics downtime.
Solve operational challenges to bolster productivity
Every day, shippers can face warehouse challenges, such as cluttered layouts, mixed shipments, inadequate scanning systems, and infrequent cycle counts. These bottlenecks often compound, delaying home and retail deliveries—while damaging customer relationships and further driving up warehousing costs. Avoiding these negative outcomes demands shippers leverage direct experience in optimizing warehouse efficiency to overcome persistent obstacles—another area where supply chain consulting can provide transformative benefits.
Consider the case of one global electronics manufacturer. After running out of space in their Chicago area facility, the company was forced to store much of the inventory to be shipped to the Americas at a third-party off-site location. This drove up costs and delivery times, since the company was placing products farther away from their destinations.
CTSI-Global’s Supply Chain Consulting team examined the electronics company’s volume and accompanying logistics to identify precisely what they could improve. With this information, the team was quickly able to:
- Determine that the company would require a second distribution center
- Select the distribution center city optimal for both rail and air logistics
- Expedite critical parts shipments for efficiency and cost-effectiveness
- Execute an RFQ for warehouse locations
- Open the electronics company’s new distribution center in Los Angeles
This new warehousing arrangement not only took enormous pressure off the company’s Chicago operations—it improved their access to imported materials and positioned their products closer to customers, significantly increasing overall warehouse efficiency. In addition, this drastic shift also managed to reduce the company’s costs per carton shipped by 33% and duty and customs fees passing through a Foreign-Trade Zone by 25%.
Optimize warehouse efficiency with CTSI-Global’s supply chain experts
When CTSI-Global’s Supply Chain Consulting team steps in for shippers, the warehouse efficiency benefits speak for themselves:
- Layout improvements. By analyzing shippers’ existing warehouse layouts, the consulting team can find ways to streamline warehouse staff’s existing inventory storage and retrieval processes, saving them time and money.
- Enhanced scanning systems. When warehouses have access to more advanced scanning systems, inventory accuracy and the velocity of movement through warehouses dramatically increase.
- Regular cycle counts. Shippers see further inventory accuracy improvements by performing regular cycle count processes that the consultants tailor to their business, rather than larger inventory audits that disrupt productivity and logistics schedules.
But these are just the start. The Supply Chain Consulting team offers a litany of additional services that help shippers net further warehouse efficiency gains, including:
- Personnel management and training
- Location analysis
- Site selection
- Supplier negotiations, selection, and contracting
- ERP systems knowledge
- Inventory management
- Lead-time impact for inbound materials
- Cross-border operations and inspections, including between the U.S. and Mexico
Boost warehouse efficiency with a helping hand from trusted experts. Contact us to learn more about how our Supply Chain Consulting service can bolster your warehouse operations to secure your bottom line now and in the future.
