Consumer Goods Logistics Blog

Check out the marketing claims of many third-party logistics providers (3PLs) and you’ll see the words “flexible” and “scalable” used regularly, and often together.  The fact is, most are good at one or the other, but not both.

What did you do to celebrate CX Day earlier this month?

Wait…what?! You’ve never heard of it?

CX, of course, is short for Customer Experience. CX Day celebrates those customers. You know, the people who keep the lights on. The day itself moves around a bit, making it hard to get traction for this particular celebration.

If you are a user of third-party logistics (3PL) services, you know that 3PLs tend to have a metric for just about everything – productivity, accuracy, timeliness, costs….

3PL metrics are used as a barometer of performance and to inform continuous improvement programs. But should these same numbers be used to measure the success of your 3PL/Client relationship?

Lip Service.  According to Merriam-Webster, it’s a belief “expressed in words but not backed by deeds.”

There’s a lot of that going on when it comes to programs for continuous improvement in logistics. Some companies do quite a good job presenting the image of a quality-driven operation. But too often the banners, slogans and award certificates – the eye candy – don’t translate into real cultural change.

Every logistics operation will say safety programs are a priority. But many such claims are lip service only. Safety solutions, over and above OSHA-mandated programs, cost money – for training, equipment and software. Many companies struggle to invest money in things that might happen.

Are you happy with your logistics performance?

A pretty simple question that calls for a yes or no answer.

Unfortunately, among us logistics types, our operations and engineering brains rely on formulas, not feelings, to provide the answer. 

As third party logistics (3PL) distribution center professionals, we all have logistics KPIs (key performance indicators) that are either directed by our customer or are an internal measure of success.  The goal: to keep our KPIs operating in the green.  However, there are two KPIs that I have seen consumer packaged goods (CPG) customers attempt to manipulate, and I struggle to understand the logic. 

Noted logistics educator Dr. Thomas J. Goldsby is the Harry T. Mangurian, Jr. Foundation Professor in Business, Professor of Logistics, and Chair of the Department of Marketing & Logistics at the Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University. He is an academic advisory board member to the National Center for the Middle Market located at Ohio State. We recently talked to Dr. Goldsby about some of the challenges and opportunities associated with logistics for middle market companies.