Managing Your 3PL Performance
Choosing a reliable 3PL provider with years of experience in the field, a comprehensive understanding of the supply chain and logistics processes, and the know-how to devise lasting solutions to many of your needs are greatly paying off. But just how well are they performing? The numbers you receive show all is as it should be but there has to be a way that you can personally track performance and other KPIs for your benefit.
There are numerous methods out there that help you keep track of your 3PL provider’s performance and many things you can do to make identifying KPIs easier for yourself. One of the best ways to keep track of performance is to make sure you develop and maintain a strong relationship with your 3PL provider. Communication itself is one of your most powerful assets when discussing and establishing what performance indicators are most crucial to you. But working in supply chain management, you understand this. So, what are the other ways to gauge the performance of your 3PL providers?
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How to Manage Your 3PL Performance
Setting expectations at the beginning of a partnership with a 3PL provider and in other facets of your business is a great way to create an informative and communicative environment. It also helps to define how issues are to be resolved and what KPIs are being utilized to achieve and track expectations. This is a great way to establish future goals with your 3PL provider and get them familiar with what you plan to accomplish. Set up meetings periodically with your 3PL to go over the data and to make adjustments where needed.
This can be applied in other areas of your company as well, but having a designated point of contact for your 3PL services can make gathering data much more efficient and can prevent the fragmentation of this data if you were to have multiple points of contact. This will help eliminate potential confusion and typically leads to a quick resolution. Be sure to inform your provider of any changes or new products added to your inventory, so they can adjust for these changes as soon as possible. Have an escalation protocol or process in place for the rare instances that a customer is not satisfied with the process.
KPIs to Keep Track of With Your 3PL Provider
The KPIs you keep track of regarding performance can vary from company to company. The following areas are a great start when keeping track of performance and customer satisfaction.
- Customer Satisfaction Rate
- Shipment Accuracy
- Inventory Accuracy
- Hour/Days of Operation
- Safety Record
- Customer Complaints
- Missed “Same Day” Shipments
- Quality Control
- Prompt Communication of issues
Why Use FreightCost?
The team of supply chain management experts at FreightCost in Chicago have over 40 years of experience helping companies transport and manage their goods, improve their efficiency, and set them up with reliable and versatile 3PL providers. FreightCost uses the latest technology and methods to ensure that your supply chain is well managed and saves your business money. To learn more about what FreightCost can do to simplify and optimize your logistics, call (888) FRT-COST today.
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