Third-Party Logistics
Gregory Long
MG 5061: Systems and Logistics Support Management
Dr. Janice Spangenberg
February 28, 2016
Abstract Blanchard (2006) defined third party logistics as, “A single entity that coordinates all the logistics requirements for a given company/agency.” Today’s world business environment has become so competitive that companies in order to be successful in the market must deal with different resources for satisfying their customer need. In the past decade or so the competitive global market has made a big influence in the growing for external business. Third party logistics providers are more and more employing external companies for inventory
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According to Write Pass (2012),
A Third Party Logistics providers (3PL), can be identified as first, second, and third service providers. First party provider is the main company that provides the service or product, the second is to whom receives the service it is the consumer and the third is the company which hired the main company for provide the service between customers and company.
Third Party Logistics Information Systems
There are at least nine different systems/software that third party logistics providers use to accomplish their job. Warehouse management, cloud management services, billing management, customer visibility, document management, supply chain intelligence, fleet and transportation management, shipping, and trading partner integration. One of the developer of this software is Accellos.
Types of Third-Party Logistics (3PL) Providers
• Transportation Based:
Services extend beyond transportation to offer a comprehensive set of logistics offerings.
Leveraged 3PLs use assets of other firms.
Non-leveraged 3PLs use assets belonging solely to the parent firm.
Examples: UPS Logistics, Ryder, FedEx Logistics, Schneider Logistics
• Warehouse/ Distribution Based:
Many have former warehouse and/or distribution experience.
Examples: USCO, DSC Logistics, Caterpillar Logistics Exel, IBM
• Forwarder Based:
Very independent middlemen with forwarder roles.
The third party logistics (TPL) and fourth party logistics (FPL) act as a support system for companies to effectively formulate and manage their supply chain process.
Outsourcing the warehousing functions: In this option, all warehousing actions will be outsourced to Global Logistics (GL) and distribution will start from main warehouse at
One of the major features of globalization has been the mergence and increased importance of third party logistics providers and support industries for shipping and transport operations. As businesses become more global in their scope and supply chains grow ever wider in scope and more globally integrated, the complexities and considerations of achieving efficient and cost-effective transport and support services grows more difficult, and most manufacturing and distribution companies outsource these services to a variety of different companies specializing in specific aspects of supply chain management and operational assistance. Achieving success as such a specialized company can be easy if the company maintains proper and accurate analyses of capabilities and environments and has appropriate internal controls, however failure to ensure these components and processes are in place can be disastrous, especially when combined with an emphasis on rampant growth.
Over time, new healthcare reform measures were causing fundamental changes in reimbursement for services to hospitals and IDNs. Consequently, healthcare providers had to establish financial stability. This opened the door for third-party logistics providers (3PLs) to establish a strong presence in the healthcare industry. 3PLs? offered solutions to mitigate transportation and supply chain expenses that streamlined the order-to-delivery process and reduced expenses.
Logistics is a very important part in the world now. And it plays a major part in the supply chain process. Without logistics the supply chain is a hard to continue. In a logistics system there are some parts such as Transportation, Information systems, Customer service, Inventory management, Materials management and Warehouse management. And in this Warehouse management plays a major role in the supply chain. In the supply chain process there are some parts that needs attention. After the raw materials are provided to manufactures the goods are sent to warehouses. Warehouse is the place where they store the goods which is to be sent to customers or other businesses. A Warehouse is a place where you store goods. It’s for further processing. There are some types of warehouses such as Public warehouses, Private warehouses, Leased warehouses and Contract
Leading-edge Technology: UPS develops and implements proprietary logistical software technology that increases supply chain functionality and improves logistics management internally and externally. For customers, UPS software allows clients to send, track, and manage packages and supply chain partners. For internal clients, UPS has developed a wide range of efficiency enhancing services to reduce costs and provide shareholder value.
Despite the third- party logistics was an improvement studies area in a recent business market, the studies of this area still existed some arguments and limitation (Marasco, 2008). The literature review in TPL studies based on a comprehensive literature review, which including some relevant research paper and journal paper published within the period 1990 to recent years (Selviaridis and spring, 2007). Some existing studies focus on the benefits and limitation of TPL services for company management. Leahy (1995) and other scholars were defined as the TPL is usually associated with the providing of multiple services rather than just isolation transport functions (Leahy et al., 1995). Therefore, some other research believes that the TPL services can reduce the total
The selected business functions that outsource to a third party has become a common practice in the corporate world. The function of logistics is often to outsourced and providing logistics service companies have evolved into providing a vast range of logistics functions including inventory management, transportation services and warehousing services. The companies which provides logistics services on contract to other companies are known as Third Party Logistics Providers ( 3PLs).
In recent years, Third Party Logistics (3PL) service providers play a very important role in a supply chain of an organization. A brief literature review is given in this section of the paper. Tate (1996) identified seven factors (compatibility, deep understanding of a partner's business needs, open communications, commitment, fairness, flexibility, and trust) that improved long- term relationship between 3PL and their customers. Logan (2000) used agency theory to help in bonding 3PL/customers relationships. It is postulated that, cost reduction and services improvement criteria are most expected by clients to avoid conflicts with their 3PL. Fawcett and Smith (1995) identified five criteria’s to evaluate the 3PL performance,
Unifying each aspect of a given logistics strategy to ensure overall network optimization is one of the main benefits of implementing a TMC. Implicit in this approach to logistics network planning and execution is the need for a distributed order management system capable of managing diverse inbound requirements, taking into account specific requirements of each shipment. Further, the TMC must also seek to optimize load levels and the orchestrated of 3rd party Logistics Providers (3PL) in conjunction with the overall structure and direction of the logistics strategy. Distributed order management systems also serve as the foundational element for creating greater levels of logistics and
Third party logistics is a provider that gives companies the ability to outsource their logistics services. Logistics services that may include anything throughout an organization that involves management of the way resources are moved to areas where they are required or needed. Some would say the term, third party logistics, come from the military. In the business world, third party logistics con somewhat have a broader meaning. Meaning that it can be associated with service contracts that involve shipping or storing of items. Third party logistics provide services that may be a single service such as warehouse storage or transportation related, but it can also provide a system-wide bundle of services that have the capability of managing a company’s entire supply chain. Photo provided by Robinson (2013).
With global operations, becoming more complex, companies in manufacturing, retail and technology and the consulting firms that service them, they are scrambling to hire people with Supply Chain expertise, but these experts are hard to come by. Supply Chain Management has moved from a "necessary evil" to a "core competency" at companies across industries.
Blanchard (2006) defined third party logistics as, “A single entity that coordinates all the logistics requirements for a given company/agency.” Today’s world business environment has become so competitive that companies in order to be successful in the market must deal with different resources for satisfying their customer need. In the past decade or so the competitive global market has made a big influence in the growing for external business. Third party logistics providers are more and more employing external companies for inventory management, transportation, warehousing, and other value added activities for customer services. Third party logistics ultimate goal is to provide a competitive advantage to the organization for which they are serving. According to Cardinal Logistics (2012), “Third-Party Logistics is an effective way to reduce operational costs, and allow a company to focus on their core competencies.
In the article, “Best Practices for Transporters and 3PL Service Provider”, it talks about the advantages and disadvantages of third-party logistics. It also talks about how the industry is growing now and in the future. Third-party logistics primary focus is on global expansion. Expansion in the marketplace that can have a greater impact in a company’s supply chain management function. Most businesses today choose to outsource a portion if not all of its logistics functions to third parties in the hope of achieving operational efficiencies within the supply chain area of operations. By doing this companies are able to place more focus on core business activities. Third-party logistics providers has the capability of taking
Following the paradigm shift on the role of logistics management in the recent decades, there has been a wide recognition of this as a very important aspect a business strategy in general. However due to the numerous factors promoting complexity of logistics management companies have adopted the idea of outsourcing their logistic activities to Third Party Logistics (3PL) providers. Hence, 3PLs have taken a critical role towards supply chains of heir customers.