Third Party Logistics
Leverage Opus as a network of secure, 24/7 accessible mini-warehouses. This allows 3PLs to offer e-commerce clients greater flexibility in last-mile delivery. Customers can choose to pick up their orders at an Opus location near them, anytime, even outside regular business hours. This eliminates reliance on daily deliveries, streamlines logistics for 3PLs, and empowers customers with convenient pick-up options.
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Third Party Logistics (3PL) is a term for the outsourced provision of a number of logistics services and can include key elements such as receiving and storage of goods, pick and packing of goods, shipping by a parcel carrier and reverse logistics.
3PL’s offer services to all sizes of business and whilst many are in the Ecommerce sector; services also cover key sectors such as Health, Defence, Aerospace, Automotive, Tech.
Businesses may outsource services to a 3PL to achieve cost saving, take advantage of expertise, add flexibility, tap into global presence and to focus on the core elements of their own business such as product sourcing and development.
3PL’s may have their own delivery fleet but will also have links to the major parcel carriers to offer the end to end service their customer requires.
Challenges
The benefits that a 3PL brings with scale and flexibility helps to reduce costs but can lead to warehouse solutions being consolidated in one location, putting the clients products further away from their customers. Whilst this is less an issue in Ecommerce for specialised industries such as the supply of parts for engineers or critical manufacturing parts both cost and risk increases.
For engineers for example, the delivery of critical parts may be to home, to a locker or to another site for collection. This requires pick & pack of small orders, frequent deliveries and a next day or same day service which all adds cost and drives up deliveries and therefore impacts on vehicle numbers and pollution. Additionally, the risk of stock out and failed installs increases.
The Opus Possibility
Our Opus technology enables a purpose-built container or a clients stores to act as a forward stock location i.e. mini warehouse. Holding an array of key items and essential buffer stock, all made available on-line for engineers or a procurement team to ‘order’ and collect with a unique code, from an environment supported with CCTV and alarm systems.
Benefits of OPUS forward stock locations are a reduction in deliveries, improved quantities to pick, pack, despatch and deliver, reduce carbon output as a result and associated reduction in costs and that risk of stockouts.
Speak to our team:
If you specialise in the 3PL sector and would like to learn more about Opus, speak to our client success team who will be happy to discuss implementation and capabilities.