ProPack is excited to be getting more exposure in a new article from Practical Commerce that references ProPack’s Ogden, UT facility. Late last year ProPack moved one of its longstanding clients down to Ogden, UT to allow them more centralized distribution. Now in the below linked article they discuss the positive value that move had on their business.
Today FedEx released a new case study featuring ProPack and CMS Globalsoft (makers of ProPack’s manifest system, WorldLink). This article is available on the FedEx website and provides great exposure for ProPack.
Carrier pricing for package shipments is based on the shipment’s destination and time in transit as well as it’s package weight and dimensions. Since the destination is set by the customer the most often area targeted for cost savings is the time in transit (or service level). While selecting a Ground or Mail service with a longer transit time can save money it is not the only way to reduce costs. Lesser known is minimizing the size of the shipment’s packaging to save on dimensional weight charges.
Dimensional weight always applies for FedEx, UPS and DHL domestic air and international shipments. For FedEx and UPS Ground shipments it applies over three cubic feet. Carriers charge based on the greater of weight or dims. The length, width and/or height of a package can easily turn a 10 pound package into a 40 pound package, thus increasing the cost of the shipment.
ProPack has designed a series of custom boxes for use by it’s clients. These boxes have scores (or perforated lines) at 2, 4 and 6 inches down from the top of the box. This allows ProPack’s expert packagers the flexibility to “score” down a box to the exact size needed for the product inside. Eliminating any excess height to a package saves on potential dimensional weight charges.
ProPack’s custom sizable boxes help save it’s clients on their shipping costs. This is yet another way that ProPack uses innovation to add value and reduce costs in the supply chain for it’s clients.
The holiday shipping season makes December by far the busiest month at ProPack. As a 3PL ProPack’s busy when its client’s are busy and most B2B and all B2C businesses are quite active in the buildup to Christmas. ProPack is excited and ready to fully respond to this increase in volume.
ProPack will be in full holiday shipping mode the week of 12/17 through 12/21. Extra staff has been added and shifts are starting early and running late. Personnel are even pulled in from other areas of the company to help in the picking, packing and shipping of product. It’s all hands on deck to help our clients get packages to their customers.
ProPack’s flexibility to expand and adapt to a temporary surge of volume over the Christmas holiday is another great example of how the 3PL is able to add value and reduce costs for its clients.
With the addition in 2012 of the Utah and Tennessee warehouses ProPack is excited to announce it’s new 95% distribution model for order fulfillment clients. Through utilizing both ProPack’s Utah and Tennessee warehouses clients can deliver FedEx Ground packages to 95% of the Lower 48 States within two business days.
Utah is ideally positioned to service the West Coast in two business days. Tennessee is in a perfect location to service both the central US and East Coast in two days. With both locations combined ProPack sits in an amazing position for distribution. Clients can warehouse inventory in both locations then have ProPack’s system decide from which warehouse it is quickest and cheapest to distribute each individual order based on time-in-transit and cost. In addition, ProPack’s online system will allow clients to manage inventory volumes to ensure stock levels are always available at each warehouse.
The real benefit of 95% Ground service in two business days is that clients will very seldom need to pay the additional cost for Express or 2 Day services through FedEx. Customers will receive packages within an Express timeframe but with Ground prices. This helps ProPack’s clients add value to their supply chain while reducing their distribution costs.
Please see the below map for a detailed outline of what areas are serviced in one, two and three days through ProPack’s 95% Model.
Inventory accuracy is the foundation from which any efficient and cost effective warehouse is run. ProPack prides itself on keeping an accurate inventory and has numerous systems in place to ensure that clients can always count on their inventory totals within our warehouses.
One of these processes is our Physical Count system which triggers counts each morning based on differing criteria; a daily reconciliation with the client’s system, a prearranged cycle count schedule, a low inventory notification count, or a requested spot count.
When a count is triggered a user goes out and performs a blind physically count on the items in the warehouse based on SKU, Lot Number, Expiration Date and Location. If the count differs from what is in ProPack’s WMS system (P3PL) then a second person is automatically required to double-count the items. Only when the first and second counts match and the client is notified can ProPack’s inventory values be updated.
Performing counts on a daily basis helps to keep ProPack’s inventory accuracy rate well over 99% and ensure that very few items come up with discrepancies on a daily basis.
ProPack Physical Count system helps to add value and reduces costs for our clients by ensure that their inventory numbers are constantly audited and always accurate.
ProPack is proud to announce that on October 1st of this year we opened our newest warehouse just north of Nashville, Tennessee. This warehouse completes our expansion plans for 2012 and when combined with our Salt Lake City, Utah warehouse provides a very attractive supply chain model for our clients.
The Tennessee/Kentucky area proves a very attractive location to service the East Coast via FedEx or UPS Ground services. From our warehouse north of Nashville we can service the entire East Coast with exception of northern New England in two days ground. When combined with our Utah facility our two warehouses can service 95% of the entire lower 48 states in two business days Ground.
Our new Nashville warehouse also boasts an impressive 100,000 square feet with a 24 foot clear ceiling and temperature control. Starting this January we will be installing racking in half the warehouse with a capacity of over 3000 pallets. As of now all systems are up and running and we’re pushing out hundreds of orders on a daily basis.
ProPack is excited to have completed our two warehouse model and to be servicing 95% of the US in two days via FedEx Ground. Both our Utah and Tennessee warehouses are growing with new business yet still poses a great amount of expansion possibilities. We’re excited for what the future holds for ProPack and the total of three new warehouses we opened this year as well as the added value and cost reduction this will net for our current and future clients.
As of this past June 11th, ProPack’s new warehouse in Ogden, UT has been live and running. Located 45 minutes north of Salt Lake City, Ogden is ProPack’s first out of state expansion from our corporate headquarters in Blaine, WA. As well Ogden represents the first step in ProPack’s goal to build a distribution model that can reach the whole Unites States in two days ground.
ProPack’s Ogden warehouse consists of 45,000 square feet with room to grow. The facility offers warehousing, order fulfillment, cross docking and storage to our clients. All inventory is location managed and all orders are scanned at the location, SKU and lot number level.
The main benefit of Ogden is its ability to deliver FedEx Ground and UPS Ground packages in two business days to all zip codes west of Colorado. This positions Ogden, UT in a prime location to save clients on air shipments to West Coast customers.
ProPack is excited about its new Ogden facility and the added value and reduced costs Ogden will offer to our clients.
Things have been very busy at ProPack over the past year. The exposure from the website we launched has been bringing on business almost faster than we can keep up. Our existing clients are also doing well and expanding their businesses together with ProPack. Four months ago our Blaine, WA facility was busting at the seams allowing very little room for additional product storage. We needed to expand.
So ProPack is excited to announce two new warehouses going live in 2012.
The first is nine miles south of our current location at the Grandview Business Park in Ferndale, WA. This building is 45,000 square feet complete with offices and a number of loading docks. We started staffing the building in February and it is now fully setup as a mirror of our current operation in Blaine. The Grandview warehouse represents a great location for our larger and growing clients who still want to be in the Washington area.
Our second warehouse is scheduled to go live on June 11th of this year in Ogden, UT. Utah represents a great geographical location for distribution. FedEx and UPS ground packages can be delivered from Utah in two business days to anywhere on the west coast. ProPack will be setting up in a 45,000 square foot warehouse in the Ogden Business Depot and we’re excited to make the geographic advantages of this new location available to our clients.
ProPack and our clients are expanding. It is exciting to see what the future will hold.
At ProPack there are several different methods for submitting orders into our online order management system. Clients can enter them manually online, with our QuickBooks interface, using Web Services, or by emailing them to our OrderBot in an Excel spreadsheet.
ProPack is now excited to announce that we have added another method to make submitting orders even more fast and easy. Clients can now use Batch Entry to import their orders into P3PL from an Excel spreadsheet online in real time from a file saved on their computer. Along with the new Batch Entry Tool we have also added a few new order options, like Payment Type.
When selecting Payment Type clients can leave the field blank for prepaid, enter Collect, or 3rd Party.
Clients can now enter a Unit Price as well. Entering a unit price will override the existing unit price that we have recorded in P3PL for the specific item and for the specific order. The unit price is the value that is used when creating a commercial invoice when shipping internationally.
One other addition to the new orders import template is the Signature Required field. Entering Yes in this field will automatically add Signature Required Service when we are processing your order for shipping.
Also on the new Batch Entry page are links to the new order import Excel template and a list of all country, state, province, and territory codes.
Watch a short YouTube video below demonstrating how the new online Batch Entry Tool works. Access the Batch Entry Tool by logging onto P3PL, click on the Orders button, and click on the Batch Entry button.
We hope that you find the new Batch Entry order importing method a valuable addition to P3PL that improves the speed and ease in your order submission process.
For more information about ProPack services please go to www.ProPack.com.
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