Archive for July, 2009

Need a Warehouse in NJ? A Single Company Will Do

Monday, July 27th, 2009

There are a lot of steps before a product goes from factory to the storeroom floor. Storing, managing and moving inventory has a complicated process that’s best left to the professionals in the industry. What if you could hand the entire process off to a single company, streamlining packaging, warehouse storage, transportation and distribution down to a single point of contact? There’s no need to let the complexities of storing and shipping weigh you down.

If you need a warehouse in NJ, chances are you’ll need a trucking firm in NJ. Why not add packaging to the same bill? Even if the process of packing, storage and transport has many steps and many shipping points along the way, there’s no reason you can’t simplify all those steps down to a single accountable company.

Packaging can completely meet your requirements for whatever product you need if you choose to pack in an air-conditioned, food grade warehouse. In NJ, there are many options, but only a few that will also ship and store the product, as well as assist in distribution.

Too many chefs can spoil the broth, and two many companies can foil important shipping and storage orders. It’s easy to lose your product along the way only to be left wondering which company you left it in charge to. When you have a single point of contact, you can check for regular updates so the guesswork and confusion are eliminated.

Ask yourself what kind of space your looking for. Different products have different demands. Some need to follow federal, state and/or local regulations such as, pharmaceuticals ; others need to be certified food grade. When you’re working with a large distribution and warehousing network, they’ll have the resources to meet your needs, even if they should change from product to product and season to season.

When you’re working with a warehouse resource network, they’ll have the means to deal with your particular concerns, no matter the product requirements or special considerations that need to be kept in mind. They’ll have anything you need, when you need it. The truth is you just can’t plan on everything in the world of manufacturing and distribution, so it’s best to have all the options in your hands to work with.

Streamline the entire process to a business that has the resources you need to deal with challenges and logistical dilemmas. The more leverage you have to deal with the problems that present themselves in the industry, the better you’ll be able to satisfy the needs of your market when you need to.

Need a NJ Warehouse? Choose a Company with Regional Connections

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Business isn’t regulated to a single location. Sometimes you need a wide warehouse network that can serve your needs across the entire Northeast region. If you need a warehouse, NJ might be the location you need for the time being. To meet other regional markets, however, you may soon need warehouse space in Pennsylvania or New York as well. The more different companies you work with, the more confusing the process becomes. When something goes wrong, your product can get lost in any string of holes along the way.

That’s why it’s better to work with a single warehouse and transportation network that has facilities throughout the entire Northeast region. There’s a single point of contact you can go to find additional warehouse space, store product in a new city, or transport your goods to whatever location you desire.

If you ever have a question on where that product is, its estimated time of arrival, getting an update is as simple as contacting that single company. Simplifying your process by minimizing the number of companies you work with makes handling problems that much more efficiently.

If you ever have a concern, the last thing you need is to be lost in a sea of contacts. With one contact from a company that handles everything throughout the Northeast region, you’ll always be able to get a straight, fast answer to any question or concern you have.

It’s also helpful to have seasonal or promotion storage related options when you need significant short-term space. Whether you’re preparing for Christmas or a large sale, you need a warehousing network that can meet your demands as they develop. An extended network can give you options, especially at a peak time like Christmas when extra warehouse space may be difficult to come by.

Whatever your needs for a warehouse, NJ has many options being in the heart of the manufacturing industry. Chances are, however, that your needs will extend beyond NJ and encompass the entire Northeast region, not only for warehousing space but also the transportation options for delivering the product.

When you work with a company tied into the transportation and warehousing resources of the entire Northeast region, you keep all your options on the table. That gives you ultimate flexibility because you don’t know where your business will take you next.

Is Your Trucking Company Ripping You Off?

Saturday, July 18th, 2009

The costs of holding, storing, and transporting inventory are enough to make a profitable business unprofitable if they aren’t managed properly. That’s why it often makes sense to bundle all logistics together – not only because it is easier to manage one service supplier, but also because having a logistics expert involved in all aspects of inventory planning, management, storage, and transportation will allow them to add insights and leverage relationships that can save your business many thousands of dollars through greater efficiency.

While many businesses are right to look for the lowest price on the services they buy, looking at them in isolation is one of the biggest mistakes that many businesses make with regard to logistics. The cheapest warehouse, the cheapest trucking company, and the cheapest asset management services do not necessarily create the most effective logistics program. This approach is the approach of choice of the penny wise and pound foolish. Rather, storage, management, and delivery of inventory need to be considered as a totality, because sometimes it so happens that the most expensive warehouse can save businesses the most money by being closer to market, offering cheaper parcel picking, etc; or a more expensive trucking company can save money by being able to reduce the number of trips needed to keep a customer supplied.

In the area of freight trucking companies especially, many businesses are too penny wise and too pound foolish. Enlisting the help of a trucking company to solely move goods is fine for companies that have the expertise in-house to make the management and distribution of their inventory most efficient. Otherwise, however, freight trucking customers should work with the providers of their trucking services to minimize their costs. Many freight trucking companies won’t be eager to tell you how to spend less on trucking, since they don’t offer other logistics solutions. These are companies that are, in effect, ripping you off – even if they are charging less for the actual act of transporting.

A freight trucking company that is willing to work with you on saving on trucking will offer other logistics services that will keep you their customer and save you money overall through gained efficiency. Inventory location, management, and replenishment are three factors that impact the cost of doing business far more than differences in the cost of truck mileage or trip time (since location plays in an important role in determining how far trucks will have to travel). A logistics solutions provider will be able to determine where and how inventory should be centralized/decentralized, transported, and replenished, and can be a great partner in making your business more efficient and more profitable.

For Warehousing & Logistics, Trust Jersey

Sunday, July 12th, 2009

The NYC metropolitan area is home to over 13 million people spanning the entire socioeconomic spectrum from rich to poor. That means that the New York market has an unrivaled demand for variety and quantity when it comes to the goods it consumes. Getting goods to market in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut therefore requires special attention to the management of assets. Every business owner knows, whether they’re in manufacturing or retail, that holding too much inventory is the difference between profitability and just breaking even. So serving a large market like the New York market presents a particular challenge: too much inventory and the cost of holding it eats into profits; too little, and there is a risk of shortage. On top of the challenge of managing inventory is the challenge of managing space for it, so that all space gets utilized. And on top of this second challenge is a third – getting product to market quickly and inexpensively.

All of these challenges make it seem unlikely that anyone would want to do business in the NY metropolitan area. To be sure, doing business is a logistical nightmare to anyone but a logistics expert; but the shear size of the market makes it a very lucrative prospect for businesses that manage to keep costs of inventory, storage, and transportation under control, while ensuring they have plenty of products on hand to sell.

One of the secrets of large and successful consumer products companies who do business in NY is to follow the lead of manufacturers and importers, whose ‘behind the scenes’ operations are run almost entirely out of New Jersey. A shadow of its former self, Brooklyn doesn’t have the industrial capacity or proximity to the city needed to serve all of the city and metropolitan areas. But port cities like Port Elizabeth and Newark, along with industrial hubs like Dayton and Somerset, provide capacity and proximity that allow businesses to hold adequate inventory just minutes from NYC and a short trip by road or rail to Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and Washington DC markets. A total NJ warehouse solution will be supremely flexible, capacious, and hassle-free. Because of the large capacity of New Jersey warehouses as a whole, there is all types of space available at all times – if you know where to find it: rail and truck trans load, , climate-controlled, paper rolls, lumber… it’s all available. The easy availability of NJ warehouse space makes it possible for sellers to pay on an almost as-needed basis for space to handle seasonal spikes in volume, while asset management offerings from logistics providers like TSI make it possible for them to track inventory movement in real time and adjust transportation or production accordingly.

For sellers looking to get into the NY market, or looking to reduce costs on overhead and inventory, employing the help of warehousing and transportation experts can save tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollar per year on inventory, transportation, and associated asset management costs, while ensuring hassle-free reliability when it comes to getting goods where they need to be on time.

For Access to NY, NJ Ideal

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

For most companies, New York represents one of the largest and most lucrative markets – especially the metropolitan area. For importers, that means that cargo destined for the area will usually make its way there via ports like Port Elizabeth or Port Newark, or via big warehousing centers like Jersey City or Elizabeth. And for other manufacturers or distributors looking to get their goods to the metropolitan marketplace, keeping inventory in those same places makes a good deal of sense, since they’re so close to the city and to interstate highways that facilitate the transfer of goods to southern markets like Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and Washington, DC markets.

NJ warehouse space certainly isn’t glamorous or pretty, but the location of some of the industrial parts of New Jersey puts them in an absolutely ideal location for doing business in the Northeast’s major metropolitan markets, south of and including New York City.

For a total NJ warehouse solution, manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors looking to get their goods to market quickly, cheaply, and safely – without tying up too much operating cash in inventory – should consider partnering with a logistics company that operates in the NJ and/or NY metro area. Companies dedicated to warehousing and transportation will be able to provide the most comprehensive warehouse solution to meet the needs of businesses whom need logistics services for the northeast’s major metropolitan markets. This includes, but isn’t limited to, providing warehousing space, asset management, order fulfillment, and bulk size packaging. An experienced partner will also be able to provide solutions that take into account seasonal spikes in volume (due to promotions or seasonal factors) without requiring long-term space commitments and will also be able to arrange for storage of special materials like hazmats and perishables, which might require controlled atmosphere or cold temperature environments.

Doing business in and around NY makes a lot of sense for companies looking to generate serious profits from the large volume that the NYC area and nearby southern metropolitan areas can support with their populations. But high sales volumes should be supported with scalability, not high overhead. Partnering with a company with years of experience  managing warehousing of all kinds of products – paper, food, consumer goods, industrial metals, and more – is one of the best ways that businesses can keep overhead costs down while profiting from the scalability of a New Jersey warehousing solution and acquiring a more competitive cost structure over its competitors.

Calculating the True Cost of Chicago Warehousing

Monday, July 6th, 2009

Whether your business is transporting inventory to or from the Chicago market, you’ll need a Warehouse in Chicago that suits your needs. Knowing what you need and what you don’t will allow you to get the best value for your money. Keeping these considerations in mind should help you to make an informed decision that could save your business a lot of money in the long-run.

First and foremost, you need space suited to your product. This should go without saying, but I am often surprised by how many perishable food distributors look for general warehouses rather than cold storage, and how buyers of industrial metals will look to store them in a warehouse rather than a much cheaper scrap yard. Hazardous materials, perishables, industrial materials, and pallet-packed consumer products all have different footprints and characteristics that are handled by specialized warehousing.

Second, location is key. Choose a location that will allow you to transport your goods to market as quickly as possible. Transportation is paid for by distance and/or time, so being closer to market reduces costs drastically. In rare cases, where inventory needs to be stored rather than moved on a regular basis, it makes sense to take less expensive warehouse space further from market. Either way, performing a quick analysis of how much it will cost to get inventory to market should quickly reveal whether a space is worth its price versus another. The point is, never consider cost per square feet in isolation, since location usually impacts the overall costs of storage and transportation far more than just the basic storage cost.

Third, consider capacity. For a warehouse in Chicago, inventory capacity usually isn’t an issue, but having flexibility to change inventory amounts on an as-needed basis will make it easier to deal with spikes in demand caused by promotions or seasonality. But another type of capacity that can have an impact on costs and smooth business flow is capacity for transportation. Ensure that your warehouse has enough truck docks or enough cranes to makes sure that your parcels, pallets, or containers are getting where they need to go on time. A line of trucks that runs around the block is usually a sign that capacity is tight.

Fourth, consider special services you need. Certain types of goods require certain handling equipment. And certain businesses will need the warehouse to break out parcels for them to sell in LTL batches, which can allow them to run more regular, predictable deliveries to their customers (which usually saves money.) Often the costs for these services can be far greater than the storage itself, so make sure to factor this in to your analysis of the true cost of a location.

These tips for scouting warehouses in Chicago are a good starting point in looking at the true cost of a certain warehouse. For a more detailed analysis or for a full logistics solution, businesses can enlist the help of a logistics solution provider – it can save them a lot of time, money, and hassle in the long run.

Chicago Logistics Tips

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

When it comes to choosing a warehouse in Chicago, shoppers have a lot of options. Even within specialty areas like cold storage, grain storage, hazardous materials storage, chemical storage, and controlled environment storage, there are usually a few options to choose from. Determining which warehouse best suits your business’s needs usually depends on a thorough consideration of your logistical needs more broadly. Asset management and transportation are two of the biggest factors that determine the decision about where to ultimately warehouse product, yet the factors in calculating the cost of each of these are variable and often unknown, so having a logistics expert as a partner in your selection of a Chicago warehouse can save your business a lot of money even over the short-term.

Logistics specialists can often manage all of your logistics on a contract basis so that your business pays either cost-plus pricing or a flat rate over the longer term. They can typically handle all transportation to and from warehousing, asset management, parcel order fulfillment, tracking, and inventory re-ordering, so that you can focus less on logistics and more on making your business better. Just imagine having more time to work on product development or corporate structure instead of having to deal with the grit of sourcing a warehouse in Chicago, determining it is the most cost-effective, employing an asset management solution, and organizing deliveries on a day-to-day basis.

More advanced logistics solutions providers will even be able to provide consolidated inventory reports and make more strategic recommendations about regional and even national logistics, rather than just focusing on one local. By consolidating inventory or decentralizing it – whichever transportation and other costs justify – smart providers of logistics solutions can save companies huge sums on the cost of doing business, allowing them to put more money back into the business or back into shareholders’ pockets.

Because there are a number of options for warehousing goods and materials in Chicago, it is more prudent for businesses that aren’t versed in logistics or who could benefit from having more time and focus paid toward their core competencies to employ the help of logistics specialists. Aside from being able to source the best pricing on trucking and warehousing, they are also able to increase the efficiency with which your company transports, stores, and manages inventory, freeing up cash to invest in growth or pay in dividends – and time to spend it.