5 Recommended Logistics Conferences for 3PLs

While there is no question that attending conferences and trade shows is expensive and can sometimes be a time hog for top executives, the relationships that are built at these events is priceless. Logistics Conferences are a great opportunity to get in tune with new trends in the market, generate new business relationships, and give you updated insight and intelligence on the competition.

Similarly for companies looking to outsource their warehousing or transportation services, logistics conferences provide an opportunity to meet potential 3PL partners in person and get a feel for who the key players are and the strengths and weaknesses of the leading logistics providers.

Here are 5 of our highly recommended logistics conferences

CSCSMP
The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals hosts one of the biggest logistics conferences featuring over 200 Educational sessions at its Annual Global Conference

WERC
The Warehousing Education and Research Council's Annual Conference is a valuable trade show and convention focused on the latest happenings in the warehousing industry.

EyeForTransport
Online publication EyeforTransport holds a popular conference bringing the CEO's and presidents of the country's top 3PL providers together for its annual 3PL Summit.

IWLA
The International Warehouse Logistics Association trade organization has launched their Convention & Expo which is a great opportunity for 3PL providers to get abreast of the newest logistics technologies and trends in the industry. Also from the IWLA is their Sales & Marketing Conference which is a unique opportunity for 3PL providers to meet with each other and discuss emerging sales and marketing trends and learn best practices for building long lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with their clients.

Green 3PL Providers?

Theres a new trend in town with Logistics Providers and it's green.

I'm all for protecting the environment, and I'm even more for finding new ways to reduce transportation costs, but I'm not sure I can buy into the whole "green concept" just yet.

In particular regarding the purchase carbon credits (continuing to pollute the environment just as much but purchasing "carbon credits" to offset the damage your business does).

I think there are exciting opportunities out there with alternative fuels and sources of energy, but like any new technology it still seems at a stage, where it will add more cost to logistics services rather than reduce it until the offerings become commoditized.

Logistics Providers are now even putting out press releases speaking to their "greenness" as a marketing strategy.
Local Supply Chain Logistics Reduces Carbon Footprint Saves on Cost
and there is an upcoming conference titled Greening the Supply Chain

Other Logistics Bloggers Weigh In
Our friends over at 3PLwire give their two cents in The Green Supply Chain

Freight Dawg has a great post Understanding: Green vs. Carbon or check out all his Green Supply Chain coverage

Logistics Software and 3PL Providers

Every year that goes by more & more third party logistics providers begin to upgrade their inventory management/logistics software packages which if implemented properly will be nothing but a positive thing for the industry.

Because of the dot com crash of the 2000's and the general conservative nature of the 3PL industry a lot of providers have been very skeptical of new technologies, and while they have acknowledged their existence and took note, few providers actually upgraded their existing offerings and took the plunge with the multi-million dollar expenditures required.

Enter SaaS (software as a service). By leveraging web based software, 3PLs are finally able implement scalable solutions that fit within their business models, rather than the sometimes cost prohibitive software solutions of the past. Better yet, it has never been easier to test out and experiment with different software solutions before getting fully immersed with a particular provider.

Logistics Software solutions have never been more flexible to the needs of supply chains, and 3PLs in the mid-market are in a position to leverage these technologies for the benefit of their clients.

Now the next question is will RFID ever take off as it has been proposed.

Keys to a Bad 3PL Relationship

For every successful logistics partnership, there are the outsourced relationships that for many reasons just don't work out. Maybe the logistics provider didn't plan properly to take on a client's business, maybe the company had unrealistic expectations. Either way here are some of the problems that can doom some 3PL Provider relationships to fail.

• Lack of Standard Operating Procedures
  
• Poor Communication during Client Implementation
  
• High 3PL personnel turnover
  
• Service Level Commitments Consistently Not Met
  
• Poor IT Capabilities
  
• Over Reliance on Technology
  
• Unpredictable inventory trends
  
• No Cultural Alignment found between 3PL and Client
  
• Focus on Lowering Costs over Exceptional Customer Service
  
• 3PL losing focus after a big acquisition or merger
  

5 Reasons to use a 3PL Provider

While there's definitely more than 5 reasons why a company might turn to a third party logistics provider here are a few common ones.

1. To provide supplementary supply chain support to test the waters in new regional markets or countries where your company doesn't currently have a presence without taking the full plunge and opening a new distribution center.


2. If you are a company whose business is seasonal in nature using a 3pl provider allows you to scale your warehousing space, labor, and transportation to provide full support during the peak months of your business while cutting back during slower months.


3. To increase on-time performance and realize efficiencies with the management of your inventory by using a 3PL provider that has superior technology and processes than your in-house operations.


4. To take advantage of lower transportation rates provided by logistics firms that have significant buying power due to the volume of freight they deal with and their ability to leverage load consolidation and backhaul opportunities.


5. To quickly build a multi-location distribution network with lower risk, without the significant capital investment associated with building out a network on your own.
   

Top 100 3PL Providers for 2007

Its about that time of the year again. Inbound Logistics (one of the leading publications serving the warehousing and logistics industry) has announced their annual Top 100 Third Party Logistics providers awards.

I think the best thing about this annual issue is that they don't only focus on the behemoth's in the 3PL industry. Of course they have the usual suspects like APL, Kuehne + Nagel, Bax Global etc.. but they also go out of their way to get a full snapshot of the industry and shine light on some of the smaller and medium sized players that are also best in breed.

Click here for IL's Top 100 3PL List

The New Economics with 3PLs

This week there was a great interview (subscription required) with George Jones CEO of Borders in the Wall Street Journal where he discusses the company's decision to move their Ecommerce business away from Amazon and strike out on their own.

Regarding the original outsourcing of their e-commerce site to Amazon he said:

"The decision to let Amazon do our e-commerce site was made years ago when there were completely different economics involved. There weren't the options for third-party fulfillment that there are now."

That is an interesting point for a lot of organizations that have been postponing an e-commerce play or have completely outsourced their site to another company. Third Party Logistics providers have continued to build up their competencies in e-commerce fulfillment and additional value add services giving companies more options to realize savings and drive revenue. This opens up a lot of new possibilities; especially for business initiatives that didn't make sense just a few years ago.