During the week of 1/28 through 2/1 ProPack setup 3000 pallet positions of racking in its Tennessee warehouse. The team did a fantastic job of getting the project done in one week when the projection was for two. This racking now allows ProPack a substantial amount of expansion opportunity for Eastern US fulfillment.
Below are some pictures to document the setup process.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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