Scalable Supply Chain Solutions
Business growth is a significant concern, but expanding your supply chain presents unique challenges. Discover scalable supply chain solutions to optimize your company's growth and learn how FreightCenter can assist you.
Scalable Supply Chain Solutions
Every company wants to grow bigger. After all, a bigger company means a more significant profit, and a more significant profit means more opportunities to expand and become more prominent as a business.
However, scalability does not always translate to applicable solutions. You have to balance your ambitions as a company with expenses, adaptability, and growth control. You also can’t just keep doing the same thing over and over again; the more a child grows, the less the old clothes fit their body.
Successful scalability is all about scaling healthily so that revenues outpace costs while not being hampered by the existing business structure or available resources. We here at FreightCenter have helped our customers grow and prosper through our services as a 3PL. Use our scalable supply chain solutions to expand and optimize your supply chain operations.
Thousands of businesses trust FreightCenter to move their freight faster, smarter, and cheaper! From unbeatable rates to top-notch service, our customers are raving about their shipping success.
See why they keep coming back!
Award-Winning Service, Trusted by Shippers Everywhere!
- 2021, 2017 & 2016 Food Logistics’ Top Green Providers
- 2021 & 2018 Supply & Demand Chain Executives’ Pros to Know: Matthew Brosious
- 2020 & 2019 Top Food Logistics’ 3PL & Cold Storage Provider Award
- 2020 & 2019 Business Observer’s Top 500 Companies on the Gulf Coast
- 2020 & 2017 SmartWay® Transport Partner
- 2020 & 2017 Food Logistics’ Champions: Rock Stars of the Supply Chain
- 2020 Best of Palm Harbor Awards for Local Businesses
- 2017 Green Supply Chain Award from Supply & Demand Chain Executive
- 2017 Tampa Bay Business Journal Heroes at Work
- 2016, 2015, & 2012 Food Logistics Top 100 Software and Technology Providers
- 2013 Tampa Bay Business 100 by Tampa Bay Business Journal
- 2013 Top 100 Great Supply Chain Partners by SupplyChainBrain
- 2012 TIA Samaritan Award Honorable Mention
- 2012, 2011 & 2010 TBBJ Fast 50 Recipient
- 2013, 2011, & 2010 Diversity Business Top Businesses
Why Choose FreightCenter for Freight Shipping?
Expertise in Freight Shipping: With over 25 years in the logistics industry, FreightCenter is dedicated to guiding you through the entire logistics process, from beginning to end. Our goal is to make freight shipping easy to understand and book. Don’t waste time researching and receiving quotes from individual carriers- FreightCenter’s got your back!
Competitive Rates with Tailored Solutions: We prioritize high-quality customer service without breaking your wallet. We utilize our relationships with regional and national carriers to offer you competitive, affordable rates while providing personalized solutions to your needs. Need a liftgate? We got you! Want to expedite your order? Leave it to us! We’re ready to provide tailored solutions that don’t compromise your freight shipment.
Personalized Customer Support: FreightCenter is committed to satisfying our customers. Our friendly customer support team is here to help you every step of the way, from initial inquiries to post-shipment concerns. We handle all aspects of logistics, including tracking, paperwork, and communication with carriers, so you can focus on your business while we manage your shipment. Choose us for our reliable service and affordable quotes!
8 Scalable Supply Chain Solutions
Scalability is a major stepping stone for fledging companies making their way up the economic ladder. Once you see your sales and production volumes grow, it’s instinctual to develop your operations to match. However, scalability is more than just increasing your equipment and labor; it’s about healthy growing your business to be more efficient and profitable.
The supply chain is a complex system consisting of multiple interconnected components. Establishing your business’s supply chain is already a significant challenge, and expanding it can be even more difficult. It’s important to manage your business growth carefully; if growth is uncontrolled, it can lead to problems such as delays in fulfilling customer orders, overproduction or underproduction, and, ultimately, dissatisfied customers.
The secret to scalability is this: long-term planning. No business can expand its supply chain without a strategy to manage its growth. An effective scalability plan will support your company’s expansion without being constrained by existing structures and resources that may hinder scaling. This approach will also reduce expenses, increase productivity, and foster a more open, transparent, and communicative environment for your team.
Whether you’re starting a new business or are a veteran experiencing significant growth, utilize our eight scalable supply chain solutions to develop a strategy that optimizes your supply chain operations.
1. Analyze Your Process
When businesses first experience prominent growth, their first instinct is to hire more labor to expand production. But this is actually inefficient! If your supply chain operations were designed to suit a set number of laborers, adding more laborers could create problems with production down the line if market demands wane. In other words, adding more workers won’t work out if your supply chain operates the exact same way it did when you had fewer people working.
When your team is ready to expand operations, first take a look at how your supply chain processes currently stand. What’s working? What could be improved? Research what each team in your supply chain is doing and what they believe are areas of concern in operations. You need a complete picture of your processes before you can make any substantial changes.
2. Set Obtainable Goals and Strategies
Once you have an idea of what areas your operations could expand and improve on, set your goals for improvement. These goals should align with your business vision; trivial changes will only increase inefficiencies. Your team may also suggest their own strategies; incorporate any agreed ideas into your plans carefully.
Prioritize areas with the most significant impact on growth. Once these areas show improvements, other areas will be easier to fix or will improve naturally. Be sure to use metrics and KPIs to track and review progress as scaling continues. The established parameters should be achievable, as setting impossible standards can lead to inefficiencies.
3. Optimize Your Network Design
An often overlooked aspect of the supply chain is the location of everyone in the supply chain network. This includes the locations of suppliers, warehouses, distribution centers, terminals, and transportation modes. If these areas are too widely dispersed, it can lead to increased fuel and transportation costs.
Maintaining your manufacturing and distribution network within the same area, such as the same city or state, can help reduce travel costs and enhance service levels. Consider using scenario analysis and virtual simulations to gain a clearer understanding of your network design and to identify optimal locations for your supply chain.
4. Leverage Technology
Taking advantage of advancements in supply chain management can help in scaling your business. This includes technological achievements like AI, machine learning, and automation– these technologies can help with repetitive, laborious tasks that eat away at addressing core business needs.
For example, warehouse management systems (WMS) can save on labor costs by handling the more challenging aspects of warehousing, including finding products within the warehouse, picking them out from the shelves, and cataloging new arrivals and departures. The industry is also experimenting with innovations, like self-driving trucks and VR visualization.
To create value for our customers by delivering customized shipping solutions that meet their unique needs and to fulfill shipping demands from simple to complex with expertise, guidance and ingenuity.
Trust the experts at FreightCenter to give you the best prices and the most comprehensive options for all your LTL freight shipping needs.>
We deliver optimized solutions for full or partial truckloads and competitive dry van, flatbed, and refrigerated freight pricing. We can cover your full truckload shipping needs.
Nationwide Expedited Trucking services move your freight securely and rapidly. Your freight requires fast delivery; our freight shipping experts can get your shipment fast, whether in one large box or a full truckload.
The most reliable Specialized Freight Services rates from all the top carriers are just a few steps away. From white glove service to international shipping, we've got you covered.
5. Simplicity is Best
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the numerous freight products, software, and tools available today. Many of them come with excessive features that you might not need, and they can also be complicated to use. This not only creates confusion within your team but also wastes valuable resources that could be utilized more effectively.
To avoid these issues, steer clear of logistics products, software, and tools that are overly complex or packed with unnecessary features. Doing so will help conserve resources for more major areas of concern, save time and money, and keep logistics and freight shipping simple and efficient for businesses.
6. Communication and Collaboration Matters
Of course, no expansion or scalability project will work without the assistance of your team. To successfully grow your company, you first need to create a connected, collaboration-friendly environment that creates a real-time flow of information for all teams, partners, and others involved.
By having your team communicate with one another effectively, there will be less room for manmade errors and mistakes. You will also have access to accurate data and results, allowing for more precise decision-making that is not based on insufficient assumptions and outdated information.
7. Review and Adjust Processes
Once you have implemented your plans, analyze your metrics and KPIs and discuss the results with your team. What insights have you gained after scaling your company to a level you find satisfying? Has your growth been healthy, or have you encountered challenges that threaten to undermine your business?
Remember, scaling is an ongoing process; it’s not a one-time task. Continuously review your strategies, monitor market trends, keep track of your company’s growth, and make necessary adjustments along the way. You will need to keep adjusting your practices as political, economic, social, and technological changes within the freight industry occur over time.
8. Partner with a 3PL (like FreightCenter!)
Finally, consider finding a logistics provider to partner with. Freight shipping is challenging for businesses inexperienced with logistics or lacking the capacity to handle their supply chain alone. Having a partner like a 3PL lessens the burden on the business’s part while also cutting expenses down, handling demand fluctuations, and keeping operations efficient.
When deciding what type of 3PL provider you need, consider the level of assistance you require. Suppose your team has experience in logistics and only needs support for a specific kind of freight shipping, such as international or expedited shipping. In that case, a freight forwarder may be the better choice. However, if your business prefers to have a provider manage all aspects of the supply chain, then a 3PL would be more suitable.
If you are looking for a 3PL that can provide you with a seamless freight shipping experience, why not try FreightCenter? With over 25 years of experience, we utilize our connections with our carrier partners to provide discounted rates and freight solutions tailored to your specific business needs. We can help you find scalable supply chain solutions that are achievable and healthy while also guiding you through the intricate world of logistics.
Some of the services we offer for businesses include:
- Our free online quote tool: Just plug in some information on your shipment, and we’ll provide reduced quotes from our network of carriers. You can then compare them and choose the rate and carrier that works for you.
- A variety of shipping options: We offer LTL, full truckload, intermodal, international, expedited, and heavy haul shipping. With so many options for freight shipping, you won’t have trouble finding the right fit for your business needs.
- Solutions for all your shipping needs: Need a liftgate? No problem! Need to ship your items discreetly? We can help with that, too! No matter what issues you may have with shipping your products, we have a solution for you that will make shipping your freight easy and convenient.
- Guidance from our team: Our team of professional, friendly agents is on standby, ready to help you with any problems you encounter along the way. We’ll help you with booking, tracking, filing paperwork, and more so that your team can focus on your core business objectives.
Ready to grow your business to its fullest potential? Call us at (800) 716-7608 to speak to one of our account managers, or try our free online quote tool to find and compare quotes instantly. FreightCenter is here to make scaling your supply chain easy and affordable!
Guaranteed competitive pricing every time you ship.
Frequently Asked Questions about Scalable Supply Chain Solutions
Q. Why does planning out scalability matter for my business?
The goal of any business is to sell your products to your target audience. The bigger that audience grows, the more resources you’ll need to make that growth sustainable. However, growth can also be damaging to your bottom line if you are still utilizing processes that no longer work for your growing production volumes. Coming up with strategies to scale your business healthily will not only result in a prosperous business but will also cut costs and increase efficiency.
Q. What are some KPIs I can set to help with scalability?
While many KPIs can be helpful, your business growth depends on your goals as a company. Some of the broader KPIs you can use for scalability include:
- Inventory Accuracy
- Inventory-to-sales Ratio
- Order Accuracy
- Warehouse Space Utilization
- Average Transportation Cost
- On-Time Final Delivery
These are just a few examples of KPIs you can use to grow your business. Do your research and discuss with your team what metrics are essential for your business.
Q. How can I ensure my company’s logistics partners are scaling with us?
To ensure that your company’s growth aligns with that of your partners, it is essential to review and discuss each other’s expectations. Your partner’s performance may help or hamper your growth, and failing their expectations of you will create issues that can also sabotage your scaling efforts. That’s why it’s essential to go over your expectations for each other and to use data and results to assess your performances.
Q. How can scalability be integrated into a supply chain’s sustainability strategy?
A significant concern when it comes to scalability is how it will impact sustainability efforts. Implementing new technologies and expanding production may also increase the amount of pollution created. The key to successfully integrating scalability in your sustainability efforts is balance; you must design flexible systems and implement technologies that can increase productivity while minimizing environmental impacts. You can also create metrics and KPIs specifically designed to monitor and analyze your sustainability strategies, and make adjustments as needed.
3 Advantages of Using FreightCenter for Supply Chain Optimization
25+ Years of Service
We have over 25 years of experience, as evidenced by our large network of professional carriers. Our knowledgeable team of shipping experts is ready to help you optimize your shipping experience.
Customizable Shipping Options
Need a liftgate? No problem! Need to ship your products quickly? We got you covered! Our FreightCenter agents can offer tailored solutions for your specific shipping needs while offering affordable rates you can’t find anywhere else.
Friendly Customer Support
Our customer support team has the answers to many of your shipping questions and concerns. We’re here to help you through every step of the shipping process, from initial inquiries to post-shipment issues.
