May 16
shawnbuckTechnology Customer Service, Logistics, P3PL, Task Management, WMS
Built within P3PL is the Task Management Tool used internally by ProPack to streamline internal processes, saving our clients valuable time and money. The Task Management Tool allows us to create task records that that can be assigned to specific departments and individuals for any internal task. These records can be related to a specific client, a specific order, SKU or job.
An example would be creating a task to monitor the progress of a carrier call tag on our clients behalf. The call tag is created and is initially assigned to the Returns Department. Once the call tag is received and logged, the task is updated and immediately in real time reassigned to the Customer Service Department (from where our clients are notified).
Another example would be creating a task for a client inventory request. Through the Task Management Tool we can schedule the physical inventory count, report the results and make necessary updates quickly and efficiently. Creating the task within the Task Management Tool will automatically notify the owner or department so that the task can be scheduled at the most efficient time of the day.
Each new task record allows us to add a category, assign a priority level, input a due date, add notes along the way and manage the time spent working on a specific task with a stop watch and direct billing feature. All of these features allow us to perform tasks more rapidly and proficiently, saving our clients and ProPack valued time and money.
May 09
alexmsnyderTechnology 3PL, Blaine WA, Canada, Freight, Fulfillment, Third Party Logistics, Warehousing
If you have a business in Western Canada that ships product to customers in the US, there is a good chance you need a quality Third Party Logistics partner on the US side of the border. ProPack offers cutting edge order fulfillment, freight forwarding and warehouse cross dock services designed to get your product to your US customers quickly and accurately. Please go to our website to find out more, at www.propack.com.
ProPack is located in Blaine Washington, less than one mile from the US-Canada border. The company has been in business for 20 years. We make use of very robust custom built technology to achieve a high level of accuracy and speed. This technology also provides online visibility to your supply chain activity. We take the stress out of the distribution part of your business to allow you more time for marketing and product development.
May 02
alexmsnyderNorthbound Forwarding Blaine, Border Clearance, Package Forwarding, Shipping, Warehousing, Western Canada
If you have a business in western Canada that brings goods in from the US, you may need a consolidation point on the south side of the border. At ProPack, we call this our North Bound Package/Freight Forwarding Service. This service gives you a US address for your vendors to ship to. Once in our Blaine warehouse the shipments can be consolidated, cleared at the border as one clearance and delivered to your door. This is a prompt and low-cost way of getting your goods across the border. With our robust custom built technology, you have complete online visibility to the entire process.
Apr 11
philsnyFreight Forwarding, Technology Billing, Freight Forwarding, Online Access, Online Interface, Quoting, Technology, Tracking
This week, ProPack is launching our new online freight forwarding interface. This new system exists within our current online WMS (warehouse management system) and is available to any of our clients who ship through our freight program. It pulls directly from our freight management system and represents real-time information about freight shipments at ProPack.
ProPack’s new freight forwarding portal contains four main value-added areas for our clients: quoting, work orders, tracking and billing.
Quoting
Clients can submit requests for quotes directly to ProPack’s freight department. Our qualified freight forwards are notified instantly when a new request is put through and respond within a hour. Once a request has been quoted by ProPack’s team, clients can then authorize those quotes through the online interface, thus directing ProPack to begin forwarding the freight. All quotes are visible online, along with built-in search and reporting capabilities.
Work Order Management
Clients can view all their current and past freight work orders online via the new interface. All details contained within the work orders like consignee and shipper information, weights and dims, and billing information are represented. Clients can search for individual work order numbers or filter the work order log based on a variety of criteria.
Tracking
All of ProPack’s freight shipments are tracked individually by our freight department. This information is entered into our freight management system and will now be available online. Clients will be able to view their “In Transit” shipments, “Delivered” shipments, tracking details and notes, as well as filter and search through the tracking records. Finally, PODs (Proof of Delivery) will be scanned into our system and made available online for download via PDF.
Billing
The final component of ProPack’s new freight online interface is billing. Clients will have online access to their pending and paid work orders. They will be able to view billing information and accessorial fees as well as reprint invoices. As with the other areas of the interface, they will be able to search for and filter by a variety of different criteria.
After seven years of providing online access to our order fulfillment customers, ProPack is excited to be offering the same technology and online visibility to our freight customers. Our new interface will add value to the services we provide and reduces the costs of our freight customers by giving them easier access to their information.
For more information please visit our website at www.propack.com.
Apr 04
philsnySmall Package Carriers 3PL, FedEx, FedEx International Mail Service, FIMS, Fulfillment, International Shipping
Many fulfillment houses, or 3PLs, limit themselves to providing basic services for a single carrier. For example, clients may only be offered UPS Ground and Air shipping. This approach limits the available options to one carrier or basic services for several carriers. When finding the best value between cost and time it is beneficial to have a portfolio of services available. At ProPack, we have worked with all the major carriers to provide a diverse services portfolio, in order to give our clients options and save them money. One of these services is FIMS, or FedEx International Mail Service.
FIMS is to international what FedEx’s Smart Post and UPS’s Mail Innovations (both provided at ProPack) are to domestic. International packages are processed and sent to a regional distribution center (DC) in the United States. From there they are sorted and shipped overseas to another DC in their destination country. Once in their consignee’s country, they are placed in the local mail system and delivered to their final destination.
With FIMS, FedEx offers a low cost alternative to more expedited services like FedEx International Priority. FIMS leverages FedEx’s expertise in getting the package overseas and into the destination country’s postal system to make the delivery. This brings the cost down while still allowing shipments to be delivered in little over a week. In addition, packages are charged a standard rate on a per pound basis no matter the final consignee’s country.
As part of ProPack’s diverse shipping portfolio FIMS acts as a low cost alternative for international shipments. With a low per-pound rate, FIMS is ideal for smaller packages going overseas. Many of ProPack’s clients have leveraged this service to provide their customers with less expensive options for their international shipments.
For more information please visit our website at www.propack.com.
Mar 26
philsnyInventory Management Cost Savings, Inventory, Replenishment, Warehousing
Inventory management can be a challenging logistical process to manage. In warehousing and order fulfillment, this is compounded by the need to both store a significant volume of inventory, while also having access to every SKU (stock-keeping unit) within that inventory at a moment’s notice. Both of these needs can be met by balancing separate bulk storage and forwarding pick areas with an automated replenishment system.
At ProPack, we have developed a replenishment system within our WMS (warehouse management system) to manage the flow of inventory between the bulk and forward pick areas in our warehouse. This is done using locations, scanning and minimum/maximum inventory levels. When a forward pick inventory item falls below a predefined minimum level, a replenishment request is automatically created to restock that inventory item back up to its maximum allowed level. Our qualified employees scan the items out of their location within our bulk storage area and then scan those same items into their forward pick locations. This process is repeated each morning.
Inventory replenishment saves our clients money by minimizing their forward pick locations and placing the majority of their inventory in our low cost bulk storage area. It also ensures that the client’s orders can be located and picked quickly within a forward pick area that is constantly restocked. Clients save money and their orders are always picked and shipped quickly.
For more information please visit our website at www.propack.com.
Mar 21
philsnyOrder Fulfillment, Technology 3rd Party Logistics, Order Fulfillment, Packaging, Returns, Shipping, Technology, Warehousing
Product returns go hand-in-hand with shipping orders. Anyone who orders a product online assumes that they can somehow return that product if it becomes defective or is not what they ordered. Thus, companies shipping product need to be prepared to receive and process returns. When these same companies use a fulfillment warehouse they need to be aware of the returns processing capabilities of their 3rd party provider.
Returns come in a variety of flavors. A shipment can be refused by a consignee and returned to its sender. Likewise, there can be a bad address, causing the shipment to be returned. In both cases the package was not opened and the product can simply be returned to the shelf in the warehouse. Otherwise, a consignee can receive a shipment and later decide to return all or part of the items in the shipment. In this case, an RMS number is often issued by the company along with an address and instructions for how and where to return the item.
The warehouse receiving the return needs to be prepared to quickly receive, identify and report on its contents and condition. Returns must be processed swiftly since the customer is waiting to get a credit back for their purchase. Online visibility is also key for the company to monitor their returns through the process.
ProPack has built a complete returns processing system for receiving, processing and providing online visibility to all client returns. Returns are first entered into our system, complete with an inventory of each item contained within. Clients then receive an email detailing the return and its contents. Once the client authorizes action on the return, its contents are then returned to the shelf, discarded, returned to the customer or held for further inspection. This whole process is visible online along with a complete history of a client’s returns.
Returns are an intricate part of picking, packing and shipping orders. At ProPack, we’ve invested in technology and systems to quickly and effectively drive our returns process. Our added online access allows clients to manage the returns process with complete transparency. This reduces costs and adds value for our clients, allowing them to focus on selling more product and shipping more orders.
For more information please visit our website at www.propack.com.
Mar 14
philsnyTechnology Development, Logistics, Make or Buy, Systems, Warehousing
Every logistics company is at sometime faced with the make or buy question. Does a company custom build their own software specifically for their business needs and incur all related costs? Or does that company purchases their software from a vendor and alter their business practices to fit within the new system’s capabilities? This is a debate that’s ongoing with companies advocating very strong for either side. In end the answer is no less frustrating; it depends.
Custom building software from the ground up is time consuming, full of surprises and delays, and enormously expensive. Small companies can become swallowed in the cost overruns that enviably accompany any complete business system project. $50,000 systems can turn into $500,000 systems with still no end in site. For these smaller companies it is often better to purchase existing systems with set prices and support contracts.
Off the shelf systems limit their users to the system’s capabilities. These system can often be modified, but modifications are almost as expensive as building systems from scratch. The rule of thumb is purchased systems can supply the user with 90 to 95% of what they need to perform their business function. The problem is that extra 5 to 10% could provide the business with the additional edge they need to be competitive in their marketplace. This is why for larger businesses it is often better to custom build their software to ensure that their exact business needs can be met.
So what does the medium sized business do? They are not large enough to allocate the funds to building completely customized systems. Yet they need the competitive edge provided by customized technology to meet their specific business needs, stay competitive and continue growing. They’re stuck between being too big not to do anything and to small to be able to weather unforeseen cost overruns.
At ProPack we’ve met this challenge head on! The answer is to divide your systems between those that add value to your business and customers and those that simply run you business operations. Thus accounting, payroll, time keeping, email, etc can all be handled by industry standard systems which are widely available, reasonably price and easy to support. However, systems for forwarding freight, receiving packages, managing inventory, picking orders and shipping packages are very unique and critical to our operation. We’ve custom built or heavily modified these systems to service our unique client base and give ourselves that extra competitive advantage.
Choosing the “make” option can be a challenging avenue to head down. Yet the reward for both the company and their clients/customers is substantial. With ProPack’s technology we’ve been able to rise above our competitors and offer our client’s with business solutions that reduce their supply chain costs and add value to their brands.
For more information please visit our website at www.propack.com.
Mar 07
philsnySouthbound Forwarding British Columbia, Canada, Consolidation, DHL, FedEx, Southbound Forwarding, UPS, USPS
ProPack’s Southbound Package Forwarding is a service that provides Canadian businesses a way to get packages to their U.S. customers in a cost-effective and efficient way. This service allows Canadian clients the flexibility to pick and pack from their own location in British Columbia, then consolidate their shipments together and courier them down to ProPack’s facility in Blaine, WA. At ProPack the shipments are broken apart and shipped out on domestic services.
The service is broken down into these cost-saving and value-added steps:
- Flexible timing for consolidated pickups in the lower mainland
- Border clearance through your Customs Broker, or one of our Customs Broker partners
- Domestic U.S. shipping to your clients using your choice of carrier (e.g., UPS, Fed Ex, US Postal Service, DHL)
The entire process is technology-driven, providing you with online access to tracking information, charges, history and much more.
ProPack’s southbound consolidated forwarding program reduces the cost for Canadian clients directly shipping their product into the states. It also adds value through giving them online visibility throughout the process as well as access to their historical information through reports and statistics.
For more information please visit our website at www.propack.com.
Feb 28
philsnyOrder Fulfillment DHL, FedEx, Inventory Management, LTL, Order Fulfillment, Order History, Order Release, UPS, USPS, WMS
History logging in any system is handy. However, when dealing with 3rd Party Logistics and Order Fulfillment the history of an order through a system from receipt to billing is invaluable. Many challenges can face an order in its travels and careful documentation of the steps along the path can avoid frustrations for both the client and the fulfillment house.
At ProPack our WMS system, P3PL (ProPack 3rd Party Logistics), tracks the history of each order that moves through our system. Some of the basic steps recorded are:
- Order received date/time, method and by whom
- Date/time inventory successfully allocated and any troubles in this area
- Date/time scanned and/or picked
- Date/time processed (shipped on FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL, or LTL)
- Date/time closed (order finished and final charges applied)
When everything goes smoothly with an order it’s history is almost never reviewed. However, when challenges arise order history becomes a vital source for troubleshooting.
Say an order is unable to move through the allocation process at ProPack because one or more of its items do not currently exist in inventory. ProPack’s order release specialist notifies the client via email each time this happens. But assume the client does not get the email for any of a variety of reasons.
Several days later the client is wondering why the order has not shipped out. They can check the online history for their order in P3PL and see that ProPack has tried to allocate the order each day for past several days. This is possible because the order history reflects each time the allocation process fails and an email is sent to the client. At this point the client can work with ProPack to adjust the order in addition to looking into why they were not receiving their email.
History is beneficial for both clients and fulfillment houses when anything out of the ordinary happens along a systemized process. At ProPack, in addition to our order fulfillment process, we work to incorporate history into all our core system functions. These histories are made available online for our clients to take advantage. We do this to add transparency to our processes and build value for our clients.
For more information please visit our website at www.propack.com.
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